Royals top Cardinals, 5-0, to claim best record in baseball

The Royals cast themselves as underdogs during their jaunt to the World Series last season. They relied on scrap and pluck. They manufactured runs and clenched their knuckles on the way to victory. When prognosticators picked them to stumble in 2015, the team returned to a comfortable position under the radar.

The events of this season’s first quarter have shattered that narrative. You cannot call yourself an underdog when you stand atop the 29 other clubs in baseball. After downing St. Louis 5-0 on Friday evening, Kansas City claimed the best record in the major leagues at 27-14. The mark is temporary, but it only reinforces their might, as they topped the previous owner’s of the game’s best record.

Manager Ned Yost greeted this news with a wan smile.

“Wonderful,” he said, when told of his team’s dominion over both leagues.

“I can’t even tell you what our record is. I know we’re doing good. But I can’t tell you what our record is.”

A reporter informed him. Yost allowed his smile to brighten.

“Is that what it is?” he said. “Well, that’s pretty good. But I don’t sit there and dwell on that. I just stay focused on today. And today we won a great ballgame against a really good team.”

The Royals retained all the elements of their October run. Friday reinforced all that they have added as they captured the first game of the I-70 series. Their new designated hitter, Kendrys Morales, blasted two homers and drove in all five runs. One of their new starters, Chris Young, blanked the Cardinals. Their bullpen is deeper than before, with Franklin Morales and Ryan Madson each contributing scoreless innings.

After yet another shutout, the team has allowed one run in the last 36 innings. The performance from Young continued a string of useful starts. Young, 4-0 with a 0.78 ERA, ducked and dodged debris for six more scoreless innings. In four outings as a starter, across 22 2/3 innings, he has allowed only one earned run. On Friday he overcame shaky command to strand seven Cardinals.

Yost continues to dodge questions about Young’s future in the rotation. When Jason Vargas returns from the disabled list, the Royals must make room. The team may have to make a decision next week.

“I’m not even going there,” Yost said when asked about the situation. “Nice try, though.”

Young relied upon his 85-mph fastball and accompanying slider to fool his opponents. Young possesses an uncanny knack for missing the barrel of a bat. Infielders caught eight pop flies during his stay. The last came with two outs in the sixth, when Eric Hosmer settled beneath a harmless parachute fluttering into foul territory.

“There were some hairy moments there,” Young said. “Fortunately, I was able to get out of it. It’s a very good club over there. It’s a great win for us.”

The club shuffled its rotation hours before the game to deal with Danny Duffy’s bout of shoulder stiffness. Duffy felt uncomfortable during a bullpen session on Thursday. The team scratched him from his start on Saturday and scheduled him to pitch Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Edinson Volquez will start in Duffy’s place, and Yordano Ventura will start on Sunday. Volquez and Ventura learned about the switch during a meeting at 3:45 p.m.

A few hours later, waves of fans in blue and red filtered into the stands. This ballpark has hosted a renaissance to start the season. In the first 21 home games, the stadium averaged 10,250 more fans per game than they did in 2014. The club could break its record for attendance, 2,477,700, set in 1989.

“Our fans, they’re special,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “From day one, they’ve been incredibly supportive. We’re just really glad that we’re able to put a product on the field that they can enjoy. Because they’re responding.”

Royals fans outnumbered Cardinals on Friday evening. The first inning offered a chance to differentiate. The partisans in red sat on their hands as Morales’ drive soared over the right-field fence. Those in blue jumped to their feet.

The rally started four batters earlier. Alcides Escobar opened the inning with his sixth walk of the season. Lorenzo Cain stroked a single to right.

With two outs, Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn flirted with the outer edge of the strike zone. His first five pitches all veered away from Morales. His sixth did not. Morales walloped the 93-mph fastball.

“If you make a mistake, obviously, you see what you saw tonight,” Yost said. “He can hit the ball a long way. It’s nice having that type of production.”

The St. Louis lineup posed a challenge for Young. The Cardinals are a well-rounded bunch. They compensate for a lack of power with the ability to take walks and spoil good pitches. Young yielded two broken-bat singles in the first three innings.

The second of those led off the third. Kolten Wong dumped a single into right. Young could not touch the outside half of the plate in a walk to All-Star infielder Matt Carpenter. Up came Matt Holliday, St. Louis’ 35-year-old outfield cornerstone.

Young fooled Holliday with a slider at shoes. Holliday chopped a grounder toward third base. Mike Moustakas tagged the bag and completed the double-play peg to first. “I was able to make a decent pitch, and I lucked out,” Young said, and he picked up the third out two pitches later.

In the bottom of the inning, Lynn made another mistake to Morales. After Cain hit a single, Lynn flipped a slider over the heart of the plate. Morales unloaded for his second home run of the night. He became the first Royal to deliver two in one game since Erik Kratz did so on Aug. 18, 2014.

Morales now leads the American League with 37 RBIs. At this time last year, he remained unsigned, with no team willing to give up a compensatory draft pick to sign him. He has transitioned seamlessly into the Kansas City fabric.

“It’s a young club, with high self-esteem, having a good time,” said catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Morales. “Everybody comes here to play every day.”

After five innings, Yost figured Young’s day was done. Young argued he could handle the next three batters in the sixth. All were right-handed hitters, and Young felt strong. Yost acquiesced. Young responded with his only three-batter inning of the evening.

When Young signed with this team in March, he believed the Royals had the talent to return to the World Series. The events of the season’s first quarter have not changed his opinion.

“We just want to go out and play good baseball, night in and night out,” Young said. “That’s it. We’re a talented group, and if we do that night in and night out, the results should take care of themselves.”

To reach Andy McCullough, call 816-234-4370 or send email to rmccullough@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @McCulloughStar.

Royals 5, Cardinals 0

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Royals top Cardinals, 5-0, to claim best record in baseball."