KANSAS CITY -- While the Royals were thrilled to avoid setting a new franchise record and snap an 11-game home losing streak on Saturday, they were far from content.
Because while the win was much-needed relief to snap a pair of ugly skids -- both the six-game losing streak they had been riding and the 11-game home losing streak -- Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Dodgers at Kauffman Stadium was another reminder that the trends of late haven’t disappeared. The Royals need to find a way to stack wins together.
This weekend, which drew 100,436 fans out to The K over the three games, marked the Royals’ third consecutive series loss, and they’ve lost 12 of their last 15 series following their five-series win streak from April 22 to May 8.
Kansas City (39-45) has won just two of its last nine games and went just 1-12 at home in June.
“We love playing here,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We haven’t played well here, that’s obvious, but it hasn’t been fun for us, it hasn’t been fun for our fans. We’re going to try to do everything we can for the fans that follow us on the road, who watch us on TV -- we’re going to play better baseball. It doesn’t matter where we go.”
Where the Royals go now is the Pacific Northwest, and for a midseason series, it might not get bigger than what they’ll face in Seattle. The Mariners (43-40) are part of the mix of teams trying to stay in contention as the second half of the season gets underway, and they currently hold the third and final American League Wild Card spot.
There are six teams within 4 1/2 games of them, though, including the Royals.
Watching the standings can be futile at the end of June, but the Royals have a chance to battle back in it with a good series against a good Mariners team this week.
Perhaps the most important way to do that is getting the offense rolling, which showed encouraging signs this weekend by scoring 13 runs in the first two games against the Dodgers.
They had hoped the nine-run outburst on Saturday would carry over to the series finale, and it even started out well, with Bobby Witt Jr.’s Majors-leading 29th double scoring Jonathan India in the first inning.
But that was it.
Dodgers bulk reliever Justin Wrobleski held the Royals scoreless over the next six innings. Kansas City did not record a baserunner after the sixth inning.
“We didn’t win, that’s the bottom line," India said. “It’s frustrating because we felt so good yesterday, and going into today, we were positive and ready to go.”
The Royals did show better approaches this weekend, which they can take with them into Seattle. But they needed results to follow.
“We know it’s in there,” Quatraro said. “These guys are good baseball players. We’re in a rut. Every team goes through something like this. This is prolonged for us. We’re not hiding from that. We need to do this more consistently to stack wins together. And that’s why it’s disappointing today.”
The team in the opposing dugout offered lessons, too. The Dodgers’ lineup was relentless all weekend, and Royals starter Kris Bubic received another reminder of that Sunday. The lefty had already hit 56 pitches through two innings, and the Dodgers flipped their early deficit into a lead in the second inning with Kiké Hernandez’s two-run home run on a changeup that was down in the zone.
“That’s what they do as a lineup,” Bubic said. “Work counts, foul pitches off, and that’s exactly what they did in that second inning. So kind of expected that going in, that it was going to be tough. But they put some good swings on balls as well.”
To Bubic’s credit, he got through five innings. He needed 90 pitches to do so, but changing up the timing in his delivery helped him get back on track. The only baserunner he allowed after the second inning -- a walk to Miguel Rojas -- was erased with a double play in the fifth.
“Doing a lot of different things to disrupt their rhythm a little bit,” Bubic said. “Felt pretty natural to me. Felt like it kept me athletic going down the mound. … It definitely helped me get through the order a second time and get through the five innings like that with the pitch count elevated early.”