The Royals' Achilles heel may have finally turned a corner after horrendous losing streak

The Kansas City Royals no longer sit dead last in the AL Central and only trail the division-leading Cleveland Guardians by 2.5 games. They bounced back from a series loss in Sacramento with a series sweep against the Seattle Mariners on the road, getting back on the right track. The bats looked more potent than usual, but it was the bullpen locking things down late that kept the door open for the lineup to produce. In fact, after a miserable start to the season, the Royals' bullpen has quietly become one of the best run-prevention groups in baseball.

Through Kansas City's first 11 games, the bullpen ranked 26th in ERA with a 6.17 mark, walking batters at the fourth-highest rate in the sport and inducing the lowest chase rate among all major league bullpens. The Royals were giving games away in the late innings, and the fans knew it. The team went 7-16 at its worst point and dropped seven straight, a stretch that prompted serious questions about whether this roster had any real shot at a division race before Memorial Day.

The epicenter of the concern was closer Lucas Erceg. He entered 2026 as the heir apparent to Carlos Estévez, who was placed on the injured list after allowing six earned runs in a single appearance to open the year. Erceg stepped into the role and converted his first five saves smoothly. Then, in back-to-back appearances against Detroit and Baltimore, he blew both leads, two gut-punch losses that felt bigger than their individual box scores. It was the same number of blown saves in 10 appearances that he had managed across 23 appearances during his dominant 2024 run. The trend line was pointing in the wrong direction.

Matt Strahm was supposed to be part of the solution. The Royals acquired him from Philadelphia in December specifically because he could generate swing-and-miss, a skill their bullpen had ranked 26th in by chase rate the year before.

"We have, for the most part, been a pitch-to-contact type of staff," Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said at the time of the trade. "Matt, his strikeout rates, fits the bill."

Through his first handful of appearances, Strahm posted a 5.79 ERA, and his strikeout rate had fallen below 10 per nine for the first time since 2021. His homecoming, after making his MLB debut in a Royals uniform more than a decade ago, had been clouded by the early on-field results.

But then, something changed.

Since April 24, the Royals' bullpen owns a 1.52 ERA over 29.2 innings, the second-best mark in MLB over that stretch. Opponents are hitting .157 against them, the best mark in baseball, and they have allowed only one home run in this recent span. In a season that has felt like a slow bleed, it is the most encouraging seven-game run the pitching staff has produced.

Lucas Erceg, Matt Strahm have finally looked the part in strong stretch

Erceg's nine saves are tied for second in the majors, trailing only Padres' closer Mason Miller and his 11 saves. Strahm has been even more quietly impressive: his eight holds are fourth in baseball, and he has logged 10 scoreless outings across his 13 appearances this season. The 34-year-old lefty who spent three seasons becoming one of the best setup men in the National League with Philadelphia has started looking like exactly what the Royals thought they were getting. His 14-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 11.2 innings is the kind of profile Picollo had in mind when he made the call.

The cautionary note, and it is worth including one, is that seven games is the smallest meaningful sample size a bullpen can produce. The underlying Statcast metrics on Erceg still flash some concern: his chase rate and whiff rate remain well below where they were during his dominant 2024 stretch with Oakland and Kansas City. The ERA is real. Whether the approach generating it is sustainable over 100 more appearances is a question the calendar will have to answer.

But the Royals are 13-19 with a Cleveland homestand on deck, and they badly needed something to feel good about in the late innings. For seven games, at least, their Achilles heel has looked more like a strength. In a season of grinding disappointments, that is not nothing.

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