KANSAS CITY -- The Royals and White Sox started their four-game series at Kauffman Stadium this weekend combining for six runs total in the first three games, with the White Sox getting shut out twice and the Royals shut out once.
Sunday brought out the sloppiness.
Following a three-hour rain delay, the White Sox handed the Royals a 6-5 loss, series split and 7-9 record through 16 games.
“Really at this point, it’s just learning from all the mistakes and trying to build off the positives,” Isaac Collins said. “We know what type of team we are and what we bring to the table. We’re not where we want to be. But we have plenty of time to get ourselves out of this little hole.”
The Royals have an off-day Monday before a road swing through Detroit and New York. Perhaps that allows them to reset and regroup a little bit. First, here are some takeaways from the four-game homestand:
Rotation still in good shape
Royals starters entered Sunday having recorded 15 consecutive scoreless innings over the last two games, but Noah Cameron had more difficulty, allowing five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed two two-out, two-run home runs and issued the walk that would eventually come around to score the tying run in the sixth inning.
But all in all, the Royals’ rotation is still in good shape. Through 16 games, starters have allowed zero earned runs in five starts, one run or fewer in 10 starts and two or fewer in 11 starts. Starting pitching wins games, and the Royals feel like their rotation is going to keep them in games no matter what.
There’s still some shakiness to the bullpen that needs to be sorted out. Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm have the back-end locked down, and the Royals like what they’ve seen out of Nick Mears outside of Sunday, when he walked in the tying run in the sixth. But the Royals need to have relievers who can lock down the middle-to-late innings when the game is tied or close.
Counting the three bases the White Sox took on John Schreiber’s wild pitch, which led to the go-ahead run, the Royals gave up 11 free bases in the final four innings Sunday.
The White Sox took advantage of them. The Royals didn't do that enough.
Stars hitters need to star
It’s precisely because the rotation has been so good that Sunday’s game was frustrating. The Royals offense put up five runs, and as Cameron said, that should be enough to win games.
“That’s the biggest takeaway,” Cameron said. “Scored five runs -- you should win most of those ballgames. … We need to win these games for sure, especially early, right now, kind of how we’re rolling.”
But the offense still left something to be desired Sunday. In the third inning, the Royals drew four consecutive walks and saw three pitchers when Sean Newcomb began the inning and bulk pitcher Jonathan Cannon left after facing three batters and throwing just two strikes.
Carter Jensen’s bases-loaded dribbler ended up being the Royals’ first hit with runners in scoring position in their last 33 at-bats. But three runs when the lineup bats around in an inning is kind of a letdown no matter how few runs the Royals have scored recently.
“You want to break it open,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “You get opportunities and take advantage of them. The walks helped us there, obviously, but we didn’t get a big hit or a bases-clearing double or something like that.”
It’s no secret why the Royals’ offense has struggled lately. It’s the stars. Bobby Witt Jr. was on base four times Sunday and is starting to get going, but Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez have been ice cold to begin the season, with a .478 OPS between the two of them. Pasquantino walked in the third, but both he and Perez flied out in the seventh with Witt on second base.
“I think just with both of them, they’re expanding a little bit more than what they normally do,” Quatraro said.
This offense is built around Maikel Garcia, Witt, Pasquantino and Perez. Until Nos. 3 and 4 in the lineup get hot, this offense has their work cut out for them.
“Keep putting our blinders on and keep moving forward,” Witt said. “Don’t let any outside noise, wherever it is -- we know how good we are, we know what we’re capable of doing, and that’s what we’re going to continue doing. In reality, we’ve got to play better. We got to be better. I’ve got to be better. We’ve just got to go out there and keep working.”