KANSAS CITY -- Red-hot, sizzling, on fire. However you want to describe it, the Royals just keep winning right now.
Their 10-0 victory on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium completed a four-game sweep of the White Sox, giving the Royals their sixth consecutive win, their ninth in their last 10 and 15th in their last 17 games.
Kansas City (23-16) is now a season-high seven games over .500, and its 15-2 record since April 20 is the best in the Majors in that stretch.
The last time the Royals won at least 15 games in a 17-game span during a single season was 2013 (July 23 through Aug. 9).
“We’re firing on all cylinders right now,” leadoff man Jonathan India said after a two-hit, two RBI day.
“We [know] what we can do,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. added, fresh off his first four-hit game of the season. “I don’t feel like it’s a roll. ... We’re playing our Royals baseball, and that’s just how it’s going to be.”
The confidence is loud and clear. And how could it not be after this stretch of games? The Royals have done what they needed to do against sub-.500 teams, but what stands out is how they’ve won.
It’s all about the pitching.
Behind starter Kris Bubic’s seven scoreless innings on Thursday, the Royals pitched their sixth shutout this season, all in the past 13 games -- a “ridiculous” number, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said.
Kansas City’s pitching staff now has a 2.91 ERA. The best season ERA in team history is 3.21 in 1976.
Since April 20, the Royals’ staff ranks first in MLB with a 1.97 ERA in 17 games. Their starters have a 2.06 ERA in that stretch (best in MLB), with relievers posting a 1.81 ERA.
The four runs allowed against the White Sox are the fewest in a four-game sweep in club history, passing the previous record of five runs (done six times).
“They’re like feeding off each other,” Pasquantino said of the rotation. “Like, ‘I can be better than you.’ And that’s really good. It’s a really good environment.”
Sure enough, Bubic said pitching deep into the finale is what he was aiming for after watching the previous starters in this series. Cole Ragans struck out 11 batters in five innings on Monday, Seth Lugo pitched into the seventh inning on Tuesday, and Michael Wacha pitched a gem with seven scoreless innings on Wednesday.
Watching the three before him this week, Bubic knew the White Sox would be aggressive swingers. He followed a similar plan by Ragans’ as a fellow left-hander, both relying heavily on their fastball-changeup combination.
It helped that Bubic had made a small grip adjustment this past week on his changeup, allowing him to get it to the arm side of the plate easier. The White Sox whiffed five times on 17 swings ( 29%) on that pitch.
“[Ragans’] fastball-changeup combination is probably one of the best in the game, so I kind of figured that was going to be a big key, given the success he had with it,” Bubic said. “That was going to be the emphasis coming in.”
Bubic struck out seven batters and worked around one walk and six hits, relying on strong defense behind him. The White Sox had runners on first and third with none out in the fifth when Maikel Garcia threw out Andrew Vaughn at home plate on a soft grounder from Lenyn Sosa, setting up the Royals’ third double play of the day to end the inning unscathed.
“I knew we didn’t have a chance for a double play [on Sosa’s ball], so the next best thing is saving a run for Bubic,” Garcia said.
The Royals had an early lead on Salvador Perez’s two RBIs, but the offense continued to pour on with two more runs each in the fifth and sixth. That gave manager Matt Quatraro even more confidence to send Bubic out for the seventh and let him work around a leadoff walk and single.
Bubic got two quick outs before a fielder’s choice ended his outing with a big zero on the scoreboard.
“If you look at the formula of our game and just winning teams in general -- pitching and defense are always going to be what you want to come back to,” Bubic said. “... We’re never really out of any game because our pitching staff has been so effective, so good at putting up zeros. We want to keep that momentum going.”