Royals' skid continues in 9-3 loss to the Tigers

The men who built the Royals still believe in this team, still believe after a nine-game skid, and a torrid June, and a 2017 season that has offered more turbulence and twisting turns than the Zambezi Zinger.

They believe in the championship core, in a collection of talent assembled last winter, in the internal projections that offered hope. And three years after an unheralded crew won the American League pennant, they believe in the value of taking chances, especially as so much of that core steamrolls toward free agency.

“I feel like this team is good enough to win,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said.

And yet — and yes, it’s always and yet with this team — the Royals still possess the knack for making it so hard for others to feel the same. On Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, they dropped a 9-3 decision to the Detroit Tigers, losing for the seventh time in eight games. Across five sweltering days in Kansas City, they have opened the second half with four losses to the mediocre Texas Rangers and middling Detroit Tigers.

“Got to start swinging the bats a lot better,” said center fielder Lorenzo Cain, standing inside a quiet clubhouse.

If ever there was a time to avoid a tailspin, it would be here, in the weeks before the trade deadline. But here sit the Royals, same as they ever were, hanging just below .500 in the final weeks of July. How can you predict what will happen next?

In eight games sandwiched around the All-Star break, they have squandered a hefty chunk of winning capital stored up during an 18-6 stretch in June and early July. The offensive doldrums have returned. The pitching staff has wobbled, its depth tested.

On Tuesday, the Royals finished a 1-7 stretch in the week after the All-Star break, falling to two games below .500 at 45-47, a statement that perhaps feels familiar because, well, the 2014 Royals found themselves in an identical position, sitting at 48-50 after losing seven of eight in late July. This team is not that team, of course. Baseball is too unpredictable to think otherwise.

But late Tuesday night, the Royals remained just 3  1/2 games behind the first-place Cleveland Indians as they played at San Francisco. In the AL Wild Card standings, the Royals sat just three games out of a potential playoff spot.

“We’re right in the middle of this division,” Yost said on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re in it.”

On Saturday, Moore sat inside the dugout at Kauffman Stadium and answered questions about what the Royals might add for a possible second-half run. They would evaluate the market, he said. They would search for pitching, same as every team with postseason aspirations.

Three days later, his team fell two games below .500 for the first time since June 20, laying bare the difficult choices that could surface in the next 13 days before the deadline. For weeks, the Royals have appeared inclined to floor the gas pedal and go for it. For the last 11 days, this team has made the decision a lot more interesting.

On Tuesday, left-hander Travis Wood surrendered five runs in 4  1/3 innings in his second start of the season. He was sunk by a disastrous second inning. Detroit’s Nicholas Castellanos capped a five-run outburst with a triple that just eluded a diving Whit Merrifield in shallow right field.

“That can’t happen,” Wood said, “especially after the team goes out there and battles and puts up three (in the first inning).”

Castellanos added a pair of booming homers in the fifth and seventh innings before tacking on an RBI single in the eighth, finishing the night 4 for 5 with five RBIs and 12 total bases.

As Castellanos torched the Royals’ pitching staff, the Kansas City offense struck for three runs against Tigers starter Matt Boyd in the first and then disappeared, leaving nine men on base. The offensive output followed an alarming trend. The Royals had produced just 16 runs in their last seven games. In the same span, opposing teams had neutralized the middle of their order.

Dating back to a series opener July 7 at Dodger Stadium, the Royals’ No. 3 through No. 6 hitters — Cain, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas — had batted just .222 (22 for 99) with two home runs. On Tuesday, there was more production. Hosmer finished with two hits. So did Moustakas. But after the first inning, the power and the timely hits were not present.

“Speaking for myself, I’ve been playing terrible, honestly,” said Cain, who finished 0 for 5. “So I need to get going. And hopefully things turn around.”

In moments, the Royals’ main run producers have been pitched carefully. They have seen fewer pitches to hit, and fewer pitches to drive. But that, Cain said, cannot be an excuse.

“We’ve been through stretches before where (pitchers) kind of nibble, nibble, nibble,” Cain said. “We just got to go up there and look for a good pitch to hit, regardless of how you’re getting pitched.”

The task will become no easier Wednesday night. The Royals will face Justin Verlander in the third game of a four-game series, sending out Jason Hammel to face the former Cy Young winner. On Thursday, Danny Duffy will face right-hander Michael Fulmer.

A late-summer postseason chase that once seemed imminent no longer appears a certainty. The Royals have slipped into one of their patented streaks, careening off the tracks at a critical juncture.

Tigers 9, Royals 3

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Royals' skid continues in 9-3 loss to the Tigers."