'This is us': Royals win 5th in a row for 1st 4-game sweep of A's in 32 years!

KANSAS CITY -- Sweeps have been few and far between this season for the Royals, who had broken out the brooms just three times entering Thursday. They swept the Angels from April 24-26, the Mariners from May 1-3 and the Giants from July 20-22.

Add the Athletics to the list now, and add a bonus game in there with this series at Kauffman Stadium being a four-game set.

With Thursday afternoon’s 6-2 win, the Royals clinched their first four-game sweep of the A’s in 32 years. They previously did it on Aug. 1-4, 1994. These teams have played 45 four-game series against each other in their histories, and the Royals have swept four of them.

The Royals, who are 17-15 since the All-Star break, have now won five games in a row dating back to Sunday against the Angels, matching their longest win streak this season (also done from May 1-5).

They have a chance to extend it to six on Friday night against the Tigers with Noah Cameron the mound.

“Good baseball is good baseball regardless of the time of year,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “There’s no guarantee that you’re going to play it tomorrow because you played it today or vice versa. ... That’s why we live this one pitch, one day at a time.”

Thursday’s finale didn’t come with the late-game chaos that Tuesday’s walk-off win or Wednesday’s seven-run eighth inning had. It looked a little more like Monday, with the offense finding its groove early and adding on in the middle innings. Kansas City starter Randy Dobnak might have needed 96 pitches and allowed 10 baserunners in four innings, but they were four scoreless innings. He worked around six hits and four walks, struggling with command that led to long and frustrating at-bats.

The A’s are tied with the Rockies as the worst pitching staffs in MLB with a 5.51 ERA. The Athletics' lineup is missing several everyday players because of injuries. They’re 9-37 since June 30. On paper, this was the Royals’ series to win, but on the field, they still have to execute. The Royals know that more than anyone to be true; on paper, this was supposed to be a much different season than their 55-74 record indicates now.

But they’re trying to finish this season strong because they know this is largely the team they’ll be fielding again in 2027 with the expectation still to win. The Royals know what they need to do this offseason, fortify the pitching staff after all the injuries and plug offensive holes that were highlighted early this season. But the next five-plus weeks of games can showcase who this club can be if things start to click again.

“It’s more just showing ourselves who we are,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “What we’ve done this year is not who we are, who we believe we are, so we just got to go out there and be ourselves and win games.”

Case in point: Witt is still a star, and he’s still the face of this franchise. He went 6-for-15 in this series against the A’s with a double, two home runs, five RBIs and eight runs scored, becoming the first Royal to record at least eight runs and five RBIs in a single series since George Brett did so against Texas from Aug. 23-26, 1985.

Vinnie Pasquantino returned from the injured list this week and made an impact, logging a hit in each game. Second baseman Michael Massey has played himself back into an everyday player and has been especially productive this month with a .962 OPS and another three-hit game on Thursday. Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone didn’t play Thursday, but both young sluggers have shown their potential this season.

“I think this is us,” Massey said. “Obviously, it’s a little bit late, but this is what this group’s capable of, this is what we know how to do. It’s nice to be able to have that come to fruition here.”

The Royals are still dealing with the injury bug that has haunted them all summer. Maikel Garcia was back for three days before exiting Thursday with a left hamstring strain that will likely put him back on the IL on Friday. That’s a tough break for the third baseman who has already missed significant time this season. But it’ll be another opportunity for someone else to step up in his place.

“Any time you have an opportunity to play a Major League game, you can learn something, whether it’s about yourself, your teammates, us collectively as a team,” Massey said. “So yeah, this is an important six weeks.”