[jksander]

May 5, 2025: Kansas City is the hottest team in baseball right now, and we’re the crusty grunge most teams are trying to scrape off the shower floor in the clubhouse. So when Ryan Walker (1-3, 3.09 ERA, 32.0 IP, 22 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) faced off against Alex Marsh (1-1, 2.12 ERA, 29.2 IP, 23 K’s, 0.88 WHIP) this evening in front of more than 30,000 fans at Kauffman Stadium, nobody expected us to do much of anything but to lie down and beg for mercy. So it was no surprise that they took the lead in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI double by Salvador Perez, But Michael A. Taylor tied it up with a solo homer in the top of the second, and Weber kept us in this one deep into the evening. Jonathan Cannon took over in the bottom of the sixth, still tied up at 1-1, where it stayed until, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth they took the lead with a homer out of left by Salvador Perez to put the Royals up 2-1. Cannon tried to get the final out and gave up a two-run slam out of right to rub it in our faces, this time by Kyle Isbel. Martin Perez took over to get the final out in the inning, and in the top of the ninth Lenyn Sosa loaded the bases with a walk on two outs, but again we bombed when given a golden opportunity on a platter. Michael A. Taylor struck out swinging and we lost 4-1. Jonathan Cannon took the loss, falling to 0-4 with a 4.31 ERA despite getting us through 2.2 innings with five hits, two strikeouts and the three earned runs, all of which came off homers. We outhit them 10-8, making the loss all the more frustrating because we had chances. Taylor had hit twice with a run and an RBI, but he couldn’t come through in the clutch moment against his former team.

May 6, 2025: For game two of the series we started Sean Burke (0-5, 6.21 ERA, 29.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.52 WHIP) against the Royals’ Seth Lugo (1-1, 3.89 ERA, 41.2 IP, 34 K’s, 1.32 WHIP). The Royals scored quickly with a two-run homer by Vinny Pasquantino in the bottom of the first, and they added on in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by Dairon Blanco, to lead 3-0. Lenyn Sosa got us on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI single, and in the top of the seventh Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single to get us back within a run! Mike Clevinger took over in the bottom of the inning, Lenyn Sosa hit a sac fly in the top of the eighth that let us tie the score, and we stunned the home crowd into choruses of boos when Joey Gallo scored from third on a wild pitch to put us into the lead! Clevinger got three quick outs to shut them down in the bottom of the inning, and Brandon Eisert took over in the ninth, ending the game with Nelson Velazquez grounding into a 6-4-3 double play that let us cap off the 4-3 upset victory! Burke was once again denied a win, but he went six innings with four hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three earned runs. Clevinger instead took the “W” with a two-inning effort, one strikeout, no baserunners as he improved to 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA through 29.1 innings over 19 appearances. Eisert saved his sixth in a row, allowing one hit on four pitches as he remains unscored upon. We outhit the Royals 7-5, led by Joey Gallo, who came alive tonight with three hits, a walk and two runs scored.
 
May 7, 2025: Trevor Bauer (0-3, 7.85 ERA, 18.1 IP, 20 K’s, 1.75 WHIP) could really use a solid outing, going up against KC’s red hot ace Kris Bubic (4-1, 3.29 ERA, 41.0 IP, 43 K’s, 1.17 WHIP). He certainly didn’t start smoothly, and the Royals took advantage, taking the lead on an RBI double by Salvador Perez that would have been a triple if he wasn’t such a slow baserunner. But we held them to just that one run, and we tied it up in the top of the third with a sac-fly by Austin Slater. In the top of the fifth, Lenyn Sosa led off with a homer, and Mike Tauchman batted in a run with a single later in the inning to put us up 3-1! We kept it going, adding on a run in the sixth with an RBI double by Sosa, and Bauer got an out in the bottom of the inning but then gave up a homer to Velazquez, so with two outs and nobody on we brought out Jonathan Cannon who got us into the seventh with the two run lead still safe. But in the bottom of the seventh they tied it up on two outs with a two-run homer by Bobby Witt Jr., and this one was suddenly a nailbiter.

Cannon got us into the stretch still tied 4-4, and Mike Clevinger took over in the eighth as rain began to fall. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Clevinger gave up a curveball to Freddie Fermin that didn’t curve thanks to the slick ball, and Fermin hit it into left for an RBI double and the lead. In the top of the ninth, Otto Lopez led off with a walk, and then Austin Slater left the home fans in KC completely livid when he power-bombed a two-run homer into the right field stands to shoot us back on top! A sac-fly into center by Gallo allowed another run to score, and Kyle Teel hit a blistering drive into left field to push through another ... the Royals were in shock ... with the bases loaded and just one out, Grenier struck out swinging and Lopez, batting for the second time in the inning, grounded out to the shortstop ... but we’d built an 8-5 lead for Brandon Eisert to protect. He struck out three batters to get around a leadoff single by Jonathan India, and as hard as it is to believe, we beat KC 8-5 for our third win in four games!

Bauer lasted 5.2 innings with six hits, six strikeouts and two earned runs, a more confident performance that improved his ERA to 6.75. Cannon blew the save for him, setting up Clevinger for another win -- he’s now 3-1 with a 1.48 ERA, and Eisert now has seven consecutive saves and a 0.64 WHIP through 9.1 innings in 10 appearances. They outhit us 12-11 in a real battle, and Lenyn Sosa came through in a big way with three hits, a run and two RBIs, while leadoff man Otto Lopez, still new in town, got himself two hits and two runs, giving him a .359 average overall and half a game of war -- he’s only played in nine games all year, but he’s quickly earned his starting spot for us.

May 8, 2025: With a surprising lead in the series two games to one, we went into this afternoon’s final game in Kansas City riding a wave of confidence, with Yu Darvish (4-2, 3.67 ERA, 41.2 IP, 33 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) facing Kansas City’s Michael Wacha (3-3, 4.83 ERA, 41.0 IP, 30 K’s, 1.51 WHIP). The Royals took the lead in the bottom of the third with a sac-fly by Vinnie Pasquantino, and they added on with an RBI single by Dairon Bianco. Another sac-fly by Pasquantino scored Maikel Garcia, who had reached earlier on an error by Otto Lopez at second, and we went into the top of the sixth trailing 3-0 ... but Darvish got us through the sixth without further incident, and we went OFF in the seventh with an RBI double by Lenyn Sosa that scored two and then tied the score with an E5 error that put Cadyn Grenier on base! Sosa scored the go-ahead on an RBI single by Otto Lopez, and then Chase Meidroth hit a two-run single, shooting us into the lead 6-3 as we went into the stretch! Darvish gave them a run back with a two-out single by Bianco, but we went into the eighth leading by two and Shane Smith took over in the bottom of the eighth, and he kept the lead unchanged. Mike Tauchman hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth to extend our lead to four, and Kimbrel came out for the non-save opportunity and put them away efficiently as we closed out the 8-4 win!

Yu Darvish had the best game any of our pitchers have had all season -- seven innings with 10 hits, five strikeouts and four runs (three earned) as he improved to 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA. Smith had his second hold of the year, and he and Kimbrel did the job we asked of them, and though we were outhit 11-10, we stranded a ton of their runners, and got a balanced hitting performance from pretty much our entire lineup. Lopez (two hits, a run and an RBI) and Michael A. Taylor (two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI) led the way, but everyone in the lineup got at least a hit except Gallo, and he got on base once with a walk.

The series win doesn’t shoot us back into contention, but we’ve won four of our last five games, which has been a huge confidence boost. We return home for three this weekend against Miami (15-22, 5th NL East) and then will have a much-needed day off Monday before a road trip that takes us to Cincinnati (21-17, 2nd NL Central) and back to the north side for three against the Cubs (16-22, 4th NL Central).