Kansas City Royals finish spring training with a walk-off win. Next up: Opening Day
Right-hander Brady Singer was dealing. Hunter Dozier homered. And the Kansas City Royals finished the Cactus League season with a walk-off win as Bubba Starling slid into home for the game-ending run to springboard the Royals into the regular season.
The Royals closed out spring training with a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians in front of an announced 2,140 at Surprise Stadium on Gabriel Cancel’s ninth-inning RBI double. They finished the spring with a Cactus League-best 16-8-4 record.
“Fitting for a good spring,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of the walk-off win. “It’s just fun to watch this group. We’ve done so many little things right fundamentally and have continued to compete and stay into these games. You can tell they love the game. They want to play well. They continued all the way through, so now we take this momentum.
“We talked about that on the first day of spring. Right. We had some things that happened at the end of the season, through the offseason, now through the preseason of spring training. Now, continue to take that momentum in a positive way and let’s roll once we get back to KC.”
Singer largely handcuffed Indians hitters on his way to throwing five scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits, including one infield single, and one walk.
He struck out five within the first four innings.
“I was definitely happy with it,” Singer said. “I felt like I’m still working on the slider. I felt like I needed to get a little bit more depth to it, but I felt good. I felt like the line was good. I felt like I got what I needed.”
Unlike last year, Singer headed into this spring training with a rotation spot secured after having made his MLB debut in 2020.
This spring during Cactus League play, Singer registered a 2.65 ERA in four starts. He allowed five runs, 12 hits and five walks in 17 innings this spring. He struck out 20.
“I felt more comfortable coming in here, especially from what I learned last year,” Singer said. “I knew what I had to work on, and I feel like I did a lot of that. Did a lot of the things I needed to work on. It felt completely different. It felt a lot better knowing that we’re going to start in April and play 162.”
Dozier and Ryan O’Hearn hit their fifth homers of the spring. Carlos Santana also homered, while Salvador Perez and Jorge Soler smacked doubles.
Royals relief pitchers Wade Davis (one run, one inning), Jesse Hahn (one run, one inning) and Scott Barlow (two runs, one inning) all had hiccups, while Greg Holland struck out two and didn’t allow a hit in the ninth.
Dozier on Isbel
Dozier made a lofty comparison when asked about impressive young, impressive left-handed hitting outfield prospect Kyle Isbel.
Isbel has made a strong case for earning a spot on the Opening Day roster, perhaps as the starting right fielder.
“The way he plays the game reminds me a lot of Gordo,” Dozier said, referring to longtime Royals left fielder Alex Gordon. “He plays hard. He’s quiet. Really good hitter. Has really good at-bats. Plays really good defense. He’s a great guy. He’s like a little Gordo running around. He’s a player that’s going to help us out a lot, and he’s going to be fun to watch.”
Baseball America ranked Isbel the organization’s No. 6 prospect, while MLBPipeline.com ranked him No. 5.
A different setup
During a radio interview on KCSP (610 AM), Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo described this year’s alternate site setup as more of a “taxi squad” for the major-league club than last year, when the alternate site served a dual purpose as a developmental camp for players as well as a pool from which the major-league club to draw players.
Minor-league games will continue in Arizona for players who do not immediately go to the alternate site in Northwest Arkansas. The alternate site is not expected to start until the weekend, Picollo said.
Picollo said last year’s top draft pick and highly rated left-handed pitching prospect Asa Lacy will remain in Arizona and pitch in games when camp breaks. Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. as well as prospects such as first baseman Nick Pratto, outfielder Seuly Matias and catcher M.J. Melendez will also be part of the group that stays in Arizona and goes through what they’re calling “co-op.”
The co-op will combine the remaining Royals and Texas Rangers players who are ready to play in full-speed games into one team and play against groups from other complexes in Arizona for the next 12 days. The Royals minor-league players who weren’t invited to spring training camp in February will not report to Arizona until later this week.
Picollo said the club had not yet decided if Witt will start the minor-league season in Triple-A or Double-A.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 6:13 PM.
