Whit Merrifield, Kendrys Morales key offense in Royals’ 16-5 demolition of Detroit

For a week in late May, Whit Merrifield was a fun baseball story. If it had been limited to that, if the Baseball Gods had put the kibosh on the proceedings then, it would have been hard to have felt too cheated.

Merrifield was a 27-year-old career minor-leaguer. He showed up and started getting two hits every night. The Royals won six straight games at Kauffman Stadium and roared back into first place. If Whitley David Merrifield had gone back to being a human baseball player with flaws and weakeness, that would have felt, well, normal.

But here it was on Saturday night, nearly a month later, and the fun would not die, the revelation would not cease. Here was Merrifield, going three for five, driving in four runs with two outs and pushing the Royals to a 16-5 bludgeoning over the Detroit Tigers on a humid Saturday night in Kansas City.

Here was Merrifield, adding his fourth stolen base, scoring his 21st run in his 27th game of this season and offering another sterling night at second base. Here were the Royals, 37-31, continuing their torrid pace at home, winning for an 11th time in 12 games and improving to 24-8 at Kauffman Stadium.

In the span of a month, a fun baseball story has become something more, something with staying power. Merrifield keeps hitting, the Royals keep rolling over teams at home, the offense floored the accelerator in front of a sell-out crowd of 38,480.

“You stick with a routine,” Merrifield said. “You come to the field, try to do the same thing every day.”

For Merrifield, the same thing has been simple: From the moment, he arrived in Kansas City to now, he has hit. On Saturday, he raised his average to .339 in 27 career games.

On Saturday, Merrifield was not the only one. In all, the Royals piled up a season high in runs and hits (21), recording at least 20 for the first time since last September 3 against Detroit. They ravaged Tigers left-hander Matt Boyd for seven earned runs in 3  2/3 innings.

In some ways, the night belonged to designated hitter Kendrys Morales, who finished four for five with five RBIs and two doubles, including a two-run double from the left side in the bottom of the seventh. As the Royals handed out a Morales-themed bobblehead, the beleaguered designated hitter provided some evidence that he could be emerging from a season-long funk.

“He’s feeling better left-handed,” said catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Morales. “He’s seeing the ball better. He’s recognizing his pitches a little better.”

Morales recorded two hits from each side of the plate. After a single in the eighth, Morales had reached base in 10 of his last 11 plate appearances.

“He’s a big key to our lineup,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s a big-time run producer. You just know it was a matter of time before he finally got hot.”

Paulo Orlando also racked up four hits, including an RBI single during a four-run second inning. The offensive production offered a lift to starter Edinson Volquez, who allowed two runs during a laborious first inning before retiring 14 straight Detroit hitters. Volquez would allow another three runs in the top of the seventh, marring his final line. By the end, he had allowed five earned runs in 6  1/3 innings. It was plenty sufficient with Merrifield stroking three two-out hits, including a key two-run double off Boyd in the second.

Merrifield recorded another two-out RBI single during a three-run burst in the bottom of the fourth. The flurry began with an RBI double from Brett Eibner. Alcides Escobar finished off the inning with an RBI single to right, scoring Merrifield from second base.

When Saturday began, Merrifield had played in just 26 career games and already ranked 41st in the American League in Wins Above Replacement, an advanced metric that is predicated on accumulating stats through playing time. When the day began, no other player in the top 40 had played in fewer than 30 games. Merrifield’s 1.4 Wins Above Replacement ranked fourth on the Royals, behind Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain. And this was before Saturday’s performance.

If opposing pitchers are starting to adjust to Merrifield, he has not noticed. The numbers have shown little sign of it, either.

“I’ve seen it all,” Merrifield said. “I’ve seen changeups and cutter and sinkers and curveballs and sliders. They’re throwing it all up there. I don’t think they’re pitching me any differently.”

The Royals kept pace with the first-place Cleveland Indians, remaining just a half-game back in the American League Central. They can take another home series against a division rival on Sunday, when right-hander Chris Young matches up against Jordan Zimmerman in the finale against Detroit.

On Saturday, the Royals were smart to pounce on Boyd, a 25-year-old right-hander who entered with an 0-1 record and 4.91 ERA in five appearances this year. By the end, they had done that — and then some, scoring another five runs in the bottom of the eighth.

With nothing left to do, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus summoned infielder Andrew Romine from the dugout to finish off the inning. As the Tigers waved the white flag, the Royals reveled in another dominant performance in their home park.

“This is our house,” Volquez said. “This is our home. We got to protect our house. You don’t wanna see anybody break your house.”

Royals 16, Tigers 5

This story was originally published June 18, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Whit Merrifield, Kendrys Morales key offense in Royals’ 16-5 demolition of Detroit."