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👑 Friday, September 19 • Game 1👑

Kansas City patches the rotation, but Pittsburgh walks it off in the ninth.

Kansas City Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates | PNC Park
Weather: Clear skies, 55 degrees | Wind: Out to center at 10 mph | Attendance: 23,661 | First pitch: 6:40 PM ET
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Pregame Memo (Manager's Desk)

Pat Rose delivered the report this morning, and it landed about as heavily as expected: Zach Eflin has shoulder inflammation and will miss roughly two to three months. That means the 60-day injured list, no return this season, and a realistic target of 2026 after rehab, preseason work, and spring training buildup. It is not Tommy John. It is not the Cole Ragans-level disaster that turns a whole plan into ashes. But that almost makes the decision harder. He is not broken beyond use. He is not clearly safe either.

That leaves the front office chair in a bind. Extend him, and he could return as the same stabilizing arm who helped carry us through this playoff chase. Pass on him, and he could give that same season to someone else, maybe even help another club reach the big show while we regret letting him walk. But pay him, and the shoulder goes again, and suddenly we are carrying a major contract with no return on the back end. These are the decisions you know might come, but you still hope the baseball gods leave them for winter. They did not. They dropped this one on my desk at crunch time.

So, the rotation had to be rebuilt in real time. Montgomery, Singer, Brown, and Avila are now the main pieces, with Turnbull holding swingman value. Alec Marsh gets the first call as the emergency swingman option from Omaha, while Anthony Veneziano goes down, and Noah Cameron comes back up as a third left-handed relief arm. I am also reducing starter pitch counts and innings where possible, trying to buy fatigue recovery and injury mitigation without handing games away. With the inconsistencies in the bullpen though, it feels like trying to nail jelly to a wall, but that is September roster management right now.





The lineup is not clean either. Drew Waters and Salvy have both been fighting it, but my confidence has not vanished. We will keep adjusting the batting order with Paul Hoover, looking for the right BA/OBP flow and trying to keep innings moving. Meanwhile, rookie-ball season is ending, and coaching changes are beginning below the surface. Pimental is out as ACL pitching coach, and Chris Rayborn has a preliminary two-year offer on the table. Even while the major-league club is trying to survive the week, the system still has to be shaped for the next one.

Tonight, though, was about stopping the skid. We left New York, swept and wounded. Pittsburgh was supposed to be the place to steady the ship.

Pittsburgh Pirates Series Snapshot

We opened a three-game road series at PNC Park, a pitcher-friendly park with a listed capacity of 38,362. Pittsburgh entered at 69–77, fifth in the NL Central and 20 games back. Their offense had scored 668 runs, 10th in the National League, with a .249 batting average ranking 9th. Their run prevention profile was middle of the pack: 707 runs allowed, 8th in the NL, a 4.56 starters’ ERA ranked 9th, and a 4.36 bullpen ERA ranked 5th.

The projected series board opened with a heavyweight matchup and two more tests behind it:

LHP Jordan Montgomery vs. RHP Paul Skenes
RHP Brady Singer vs. RHP Kyle Nicolas
RHP Hunter Brown vs. RHP Mitch Keller

Pittsburgh's top group still starts with Skenes, and that mattered tonight. Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jack Suwinski, and Oneil Cruz give them enough punch to spoil a road series, and Cruz wasted no time reminding us of that.
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Series Matchup Board — Game 1

• LHP Jordan Montgomery — 15–8, 3.99 ERA entering the series vs. RHP Paul Skenes — 8–10, 3.73 ERA entering the series

Montgomery did not have his Houston finish in this one. He worked 4 innings, allowed 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, struck out 6, and gave up the first-inning homer to Oneil Cruz. The strikeout count was there, but the traffic, balk, wild pitch, and fourth-inning damage put us behind early enough that the offense had to chase.

Skenes gave Pittsburgh the cleaner start, even if we made him work. He went 6 innings, allowed 7 hits and 1 earned run, walked 2, struck out 4, and gave up Michael Massey's solo homer. The Pirates' bullpen nearly let it slip when Ian Gibaut surrendered the seventh-inning game-tying homer to Christian Arroyo, but Cy Nielson stabilized the final 2.1 innings and earned the win after Pittsburgh's walk-off.


Game Day Log — Royals vs. Pirates (Game 1)

Inning-by-Inning Beats (Dugout View)

1st Inning
Skenes gave us an early opening when Davis Schneider singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Mark Payton grounded out, and the chance died. Montgomery's first inning started worse. Oneil Cruz got ahead and drove a solo homer to right, only 346 feet but enough in PNC's shape to put Pittsburgh ahead 1–0. Termarr Johnson followed with a bunt single, but Montgomery struck out Bryan Reynolds, Max Wagner, and Jack Suwinski in order. Damage was limited, but the Pirates had the first punch.

2nd Inning
Michael Massey gave us the answer immediately, working deep into the count and then sending a solo home run 416 feet to left. His 30th of the season tied the game and gave the dugout a needed jolt. Austin Meadows singled, stole second, and moved to third on Kyle Isbel's sacrifice bunt, but Sam Haggerty's lineout to left turned into an out at the plate when Meadows tried to tag. The rally became a run, not a lead.
Montgomery answered with a clean bottom half, getting Steer, Bellinger, and Hayes. For one inning, the game felt like it had been reset.

3rd Inning
Dillon Dingler singled, and Garcia followed with another single, putting two aboard with nobody out. Pasquantino struck out, Schneider flew out, and Payton lined out. Against Skenes, that was the kind of missed chance that lingers. Montgomery allowed a two-out single to Johnson, who stole second, but Reynolds grounded out to end it. Still tied, 1–1.

4th Inning
Kansas City went quietly in the top half, and Pittsburgh took control in the bottom. Wagner doubled, Montgomery balked him to third, and after Suwinski struck out, Spencer Steer doubled him home. Bellinger flew out, but Montgomery uncorked a wild pitch that moved Steer to third, and Ke’Bryan Hayes singled him in. Two runs, three hits, and too much self-inflicted movement. Pirates led 3–1.

5th Inning
Haggerty opened with a double, and Pasquantino later walked, but Schneider grounded out to end another threat with two aboard. Noah Cameron took over in the bottom half and immediately gave up a leadoff double to Johnson, but he struck out Wagner and Suwinski to strand him. That was a strong first impression after the call-up shuffle.

6th Inning
Massey singled and Meadows walked, putting two in scoring position after Isbel's groundout. Haggerty grounded out, and again we left a chance sitting on the table. Cameron gave us a clean bottom half, striking out Bellinger and getting Hayes to fly out. The bullpen was doing the job. The offense was still waiting for the right swing.

7th Inning
That swing finally came. Salvy pinch-hit and flew out, Garcia grounded out, and then Pasquantino doubled with two away. Christian Arroyo, already forcing his way into more September trust, jumped an Ian Gibaut pitch and sent it out to right for a two-run homer. The game was tied 3–3, and for a moment, the dugout had the kind of lift we needed after the Bronx.

Jacob Lopez took over in the bottom half and gave up a leadoff single to Ali Sanchez, but Oneil Cruz forced him at second, Johnson flew out, and Reynolds flew out. Tie game held.

8th Inning
Cy Nielson quieted us down while working around a Drew Waters walk. Lopez delivered a sharp eighth, striking out Wagner and Ty France before getting Steer to fly out. That inning felt like the setup for one more late push. Instead, the ninth became another wound.

9th Inning
We went down in order: Perez flew out, Garcia struck out looking, and Pasquantino flew out. John Schreiber took the bottom half, and Pittsburgh built the ending one base at a time. Endy Rodriguez flew out, but Hayes doubled. Sanchez singled him to third. Schreiber got Cruz to fly out, holding the runner, but then walked Johnson to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds came up, and Schreiber could not find the zone. Four-pitch walk. Hayes scored. Pirates walked it off, 4–3.
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Final

Royals 3, Pirates 4
Royals (9 H, 0 E) | Pirates (10 H, 0 E)

Player of the Game: Paul Skenes

Notable Royals: Massey opened Kansas City's scoring with his 30th home run of the year, and Arroyo tied the game in the seventh with a two-run homer, his second of the season. Pasquantino doubled and scored on Arroyo's blast, Haggerty added a double, and Meadows stole his ninth base.

Notable Pirates: For Pittsburgh, Cruz homered to open the Pirates' scoring, Steer and Hayes drove in fourth-inning runs, and Reynolds drew the bases-loaded walk that ended it.



Winning Pitcher: Cy Nielson, 8–2
Losing Pitcher: John Schreiber, 0–1
Blown Save: Ian Gibaut, 2

Kansas City Pitching Scoreline
Pitcher             Dec            IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PI    ERA
J. Montgomery                    4.0    6    3    3    1    6    1    80   4.05
N. Cameron                       2.0    1    0    0    0    3    0    23   2.45
J. Lopez                         2.0    1    0    0    0    2    0    22   2.68
J. Schreiber      L (0-1)        0.2    2    1    1    2    0    0    22   3.75

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Front Office Note / Takeaways

The ninth inning found us again.

• The Eflin diagnosis changes the shape of everything. Shoulder inflammation is not the worst possible outcome, but two to three months ends his 2025 and freezes the extension discussion in a much different place. We now have to decide whether the upside of retaining him outweighs the medical uncertainty.

• The rotation patch is now live. Montgomery moves into the top chair, Turnbull is forced back into a larger role, Marsh comes up as swingman, and Cameron returns as a left-handed relief option. This is not the ideal postseason staff map, but it is the one we have.

• Montgomery was not sharp enough. Four innings and three earned runs forced the bullpen into early duty. The balk and wild pitch in the fourth were small details that helped Pittsburgh turn pressure into runs.

• Cameron and Lopez gave us the bridge. Four combined scoreless innings from the two lefties kept the game alive and gave the lineup time to tie it. That matters with the bullpen being rebuilt daily.

• Arroyo keeps earning trust. His two-run homer in the seventh was exactly the kind of late swing this lineup needed. He may not have opened the year as a central piece, but September keeps creating roles for players willing to grab them.

• Schreiber's ninth hurt. The double, single, walk, and walk-off walk turned a salvageable road opener into the fourth straight loss. We did not get beaten by a grand swing; we got walked off by losing the strike zone.

• This was another spoiler loss. After New York, Pittsburgh was supposed to be the reset. Instead, we are now carrying a four-game skid, a missing ace, and one more late-inning loss toward the final Detroit checkpoint.


Around the League

Washington's postseason hopes officially ended, marking the Nationals' sixth straight playoff miss and their first elimination note since last appearing in October in 2019. September keeps closing doors across the league, and tonight, Washington's was shut for good.

Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio had one of the loudest nights on the board, going 5-for-5 in a 10–2 win over Arizona. Chourio singled in the first, homered in the second, doubled in a run in the fourth, added singles in the sixth and eighth, and walked in the ninth. He is now hitting .277 with 28 home runs, 76 RBIs, and 87 runs scored.
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👑 FOR THE CROWN — ALWAYS 👑
Kansas City Royals | Regular Season 2025 - Game 148



(OOTP25 Royals Journey — GM/Manager's Dual Log)