ANAHEIM -- There are heaters, and then there is whatever Jac Caglianone is on right now.
Since the calendar turned to August, it’s been all gas, no breaks for the 23-year-old, who has recorded a hit in every game he’s played this month. In this 12-game hitting streak, he has had multihit games in six of them.
The latest installment to Caglianone’s warpath was a 3-for-4 effort in which he recorded a career-high five RBIs and hit a two-run homer off a left-hander in the Royals’ 7-6 win on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
“He's calm,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He believes in what he's doing right now. He's got confidence. He's obviously seeing the ball well. He's not expanding as much, chasing as much as he was earlier.”
In August, Caglianone is hitting .438 with five home runs, 18 RBIs and only five strikeouts in 49 plate appearances.
“I'm pretty big on just kind of taking it day by day,” Caglianone said. “I'm going to wake up tomorrow, none of this matters. So, I've got to reset, I've got to restart. I try not to think about it. I just want to win, so I'll do whatever I can to do that.”
Caglianone’s three-hit performance began in the third inning.
With the bases loaded, he went chased below the zone and sent a changeup into right field for a two-strike single to score a pair of runs.
“I think he threw him five straight changeups, so he was able to adjust to it and go down and get it,” Quatraro said. “He can be a good bad-ball hitter at times. When you combine that with a smaller move, he's more accurate with his barrel.”
In the fifth, he was up against left-hander Sammy Peralta, who left a slider over the middle of the plate, which Caglianone belted into the seats in right field for a two-run homer.
Then in the seventh inning, with the Royals down a run, Caglianone once again came up big against a left-hander when he singled into right field to score Bobby Witt Jr. from first base to tie the game at 6-6. On that play, Caglianone rounded first aggressively to force the Angels to throw to second base first before throwing home, which allowed Witt Jr. enough time to score.
“Having a guy like Bobby makes it pretty easy,” Caglianone said. “The ball gets through the infield, you have a good shot at getting an RBI, which is a nice feeling to have. It's kind of a testament that he plays the game, he plays it hard day in and day out.”
Before Friday, he was hitting just .244 with a .700 OPS against lefties.
“I think he has a better idea of what they're trying to do to him,” Quatraro said. “When you don't expand, you have a better chance.”
As a youngster, his whole objective has been to simplify things in the big leagues. Especially when facing left-handers.
“I just want to keep my weight back,” Caglianone said. “Trying to see it for as long as I possibly can. I feel like those ones down and away I was really susceptible to. So, now I'm just trying to get rid of that. Just trying to be as simple as possible with it.”
Driving in Witt set up Michael Massey’s RBI single to score Caglianone to give the Royals the lead. Massey also got the scoring started in this one by homering with two strikes on a slider that was almost in the dirt that he golfed over the right-field wall back in the second inning.
“He's got really good stuff,” Massey said of Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. “Good heater, he's quick, quick to the plate, big extension. So, just two strikes there to try to battle and see something a little deeper. Had something kind of come into the arc of my swing there and was able to stay on it.”
The win snaps a four-game losing streak for the Royals, and a stretch in which they lost six out of seven games.
“It's good to get one on the road,” Caglianone said. “I feel like the Dodgers series we were right there. First two games, going in late with a lead. Everybody out here is doing everything they can, I feel like.
“There was a lot of fight in that series that I liked from us as a group. So, to have another night, back and forth and come out on top, I think was really cool.”