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Royals drop two of three to Detroit; claim former D-Back Thompson off waivers

By artoodeetoo
09/01/2025

8/29 -- Royals hold off Detroit in nailbiter: With one in the second and two in the third, the Royals had to make that stand up throughout the entire game, and behind a strong start from Michael Wacha and some excellent situational bullpen work, they held Detroit off in a 3-2 series-opening victory at home.

Jac Caglianone, who has had a solid month of August in posting a .244/.333/.463 slash in forty-one plate appearances this month, was responsible for their first run on an RBI double against Jack Flaherty in the second. They scored on back-to-back at-bats in the third, with an RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr and sac fly from Vinnie Pasquantino.

In going 0-for-3, Pasquantino's seventeen-game hitting streak came to an end, but still played a role in getting a key victory over the divisional front-runners with what ended up being the deciding run.

"Just gotta do what I can to help us win games," he said. "Am I sad that the streak is over, yeah, but even going 0-for-3, need to find ways to contribute even if it's not in the box score."

Michael Wacha was brilliant after a rough time out against these same Tigers in Detroit last week. Over 6 2/2 innings, he allowed just one earned run (two total) with eight strikeouts and a walk on seven hits. The eight punchouts were the second-most he's recorded in a game since June 25th, a nine-strikeout performance in a 3-0 loss to Tampa Bay.

8/30 -- Opportunities squandered in extras loss to Detroit: It has become a theme lately -- the Royals are very good at getting players in position to score; but are struggling to actually get them in, even with their best hitters at the plate.

In the first nine innings, they managed to get three of their six runners in from scoring position with less than two outs. In extras, they only managed to score one of five that were in scoring position with less than two outs; and the one was the ghost runner in the 10th inning, Mike Yastrzemski, as the Royals dropped a 5-4 decision in eleven innings.

"Despite giving up the run in the 10th, we had them on the ropes when Bobby hit the double to lead the inning off to bring the lead runner in," said a clearly-frustrated manager Matt Quatraro. "They brought in the lefty to face Vinnie, and we loaded the bases with one out after that, and then hit a couple of grounders. I know I've said it before, but our situational hitting just isn't good right now, especially from the seventh and eighth inning on."

In the 11th with Angel Zerpa on the mound, Colt Keith hit a comebacker with runners at first and second, but Keith hustled down the line to prevent the twin killing. Kerry Carpenter then hit a sac fly to score Riley Greene from third, and the Royals made things interesting yet again in the bottom of the frame only for the rally to fizzle out.

They had runners first and third with one out against Thomas Szapucki, who was on the mound for the previous Royals' rally in the 10th. But he managed to get Yastrzemski on a fly out before fanning Bobby Witt Jr to end the game with the tying run stranded on third.

All-in-all, the Royals wasted a fine effort from Noah Cameron, who allowed just two earned runs in six innings, allowing just a half-dozen hits with no walks while fanning seven. After back-to-back poor starts, including last week at Detroit, Cameron came back with a much better effort at home.

"Honestly, I felt better going into last week's game than I did tonight," he said with a chuckle. "But aside from the homerun early on, they weren't able to square me up as much as last time out, so it was an improvement in that regard."

8/31 -- Royals claim Ryan Thompson from Arizona: Ahead of the September 1st roster expansion deadline, the Royals have added 33-year-old veteran righty Ryan Thompson off waivers. He has been added to the 40-man roster this morning to get him playoff-eligible, but will not be available until September 2nd when the Royals host the Angels.

Thompson was on the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2023 NL pennant-winning team, but was out for the season at that point and missed about 80% of that year, including the entire postseason run. He's controlled through next season, meaning the Royals have the option to bring him back for 2026 if they so choose.

Kansas City is on the hook for about $500K of his total $2.95 million contract through the end of the season, and he is likely to get a small raise in his final year of arbitration eligibility with Fangraphs projecting a $3.1 million figure for 2026.

He doesn't bring the big strikeout numbers, but a 51% groundball rate and peripheral marks of 3.89 (FIP) and 3.84 (SIERA) run a bit higher than his ERA (4.45) in 2025. Veteran relievers such as Michael Fulmer, Justin Dunn, Joey Krehbiel, and Stephen Nogosek have all been brought in for depth in Triple-A, but only Nogosek has been at least league-average in Triple-A (ERA+ of 98), so the Royals felt compelled to bring in another veteran with at least some postseason experience, and a player under Matt Quatraro as bench coach in Tampa Bay back in 2020 to boot.

In thirty-six appearances, Thompson has pitched 32 1/3 innings, striking out thirty with just a dozen walks. He's also been decent at limiting homeruns, with just four in that time frame.

8/31 -- Bullpen falters in loss to the Tigers: Holding a 3-1 lead heading into the seventh, a Riley Greene-led rally put five runs on the board for Detroit in that half-inning, and they held on to hand the Royals another close defeat, falling 6-5 in the rubber match of the final series between these two teams this season.

Despite ninety-four pitches heading into the seventh, Michael Lorenzen stayed in to pitch to the bottom of the Tigers' order. He sandwiched a pair of walks around a one-pitch flyout, and was replaced by John Schreiber with runners on first and second and one out to try and get the twin killing to get out of the inning.

He wasn't helped by his defense, as Maikel Garcia flubbed a relatively easy chopper to third from Jake Rogers, getting charged with an error to load the bases. Zach McKinstry then singled home a run before Riley Greene smacked a grand slam to deep right field, some 400 feet from home plate.

"We definitely played for the double play there, (Jake) Rogers was a good candidate for one," manager Matt Quatraro noted. "We even got the groundball we needed; it may not have been easy, but that's a ball that Maikel usually gets and makes that play. Without that, we were forced to leave John in against lefties, and they made us pay for the error."

Quatraro was then asked why not just keep Lorenzen in to face Rogers, and then bring in someone like Daniel Lynch or Sam Long to get the lefties in the lineup. Quatraro noted that Lorenzen was already at 110 pitches, a season high, and that Schreiber has been "one of the best out there" at inducing groundballs.

Once again, the Royals had a chance to win in the late innings, but fumbled the ball deep in the opponent's territory. A leadoff single from Kyle Isbel in the ninth, followed by a double from Adam Frazier put runners on second and third with no one out, but aside from a wild pitch that brought Isbel home, the Royals failed to get the ball out of the infield the rest of the inning, as Will Vest struck Luke Maile and Jorge Mateo out, followed by a groundball out to short from Jonathan India to end the game.

"Guys are clearly pressing," said Quatraro after the game. "They're trying to come up and win the game with one swing; and especially with no one out, that's not a recipe for success. A single from any of them ties the game at that point, and who knows what goes on to happen. That error earlier in the game also came back to haunt us a bit, as the wild pitch is the tying run in that case, and not just a run that gets us back to within one."