How the Kansas City Royals view their slumping offense after a difficult Saturday
Another day, another zero on the board for the Royals.
Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Athletics marked the eighth time the Royals have been shut out this season, a number that matches the total from last season.
Except, of course, that they’ve hit that mark by June 14, rather than early October.
On paper, Saturday’s game should have been a get-right moment for the offense, or at least a day to show some signs of life. Jacob Lopez took the mound for the A’s with an 0-4 record and 6.00 ERA.
Instead? He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits for his first win of the season — and just his second career win. He matched a career-high with nine strikeouts.
“We battled him at times, and then we expanded when he was ahead either away or up,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Changeup was good, slider was good. It just looked like the fastball took off on us at times.”
Lopez threw his four-seamer 35 times on Saturday, producing 17 strikes.
In all, eight of Lopez’s nine strikeouts were swinging.
“When we were battling, protecting, we got to two strikes, but probably the most strikeouts we’ve had in a while,” Quatraro said.
The Royals had other problems, too.
On the few occasions when KC players got on base — the Royals had four hits for the game — no one was able to bring them home. Maikel Garcia was stranded after his leadoff double in the first, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
The Royals left six on base in the loss.
Going into Saturday, the Royals ranked 25th in MLB with runners in scoring position, hitting .224. And that number has been trending down.
In May, the Royals hit .234 with RISP. Before Saturday’s loss, it was at .210 for the month of June.
Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. isn’t excluded from the teamwide slump. Witt was scorching to start the season, batting .322 with an OPS of .863 in March and April. He posted a strikeout rate of 14.9% in that span.
Since then, he’s batting just .252 with an OPS of .764. His K% has shot up to 21.8%.
Witt went 0-for-3 against the Athletics on Saturday, striking out once.
“For me, it’s been not good,” Witt said. “... I just gotta get back to being myself, and not trying to put pressure on myself, but just really try to go out there, be comfortable and confident and enjoy the game.
“... It’s frustrating that I’m not doing what I’m capable of doing, and doing it very poorly. I just gotta get back to being myself.”
Saturday’s loss prompted a players-only meeting. Witt said that he and Salvador Perez initially spoke Friday about holding one and went through with it after the shutout.
“In life, you know when time’s right, and it was right,” Witt said.
Vinnie Pasquantino has been a glimmer of hope for the Royals during this recent stretch, batting .395 in June, though he saw his 28-game on-base streak come to an end Saturday. Pasquantino went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against the A’s.
Pasquantino remarked that the players-only meeting went well, with the focus tying back to last season’s message of “today.”
“I think the boys need to start playing some ball,” Pasquantino said. “I think that’s probably the trick, is get back to playing some ball again and focus on ‘today.’ Right now, I’m focused on tomorrow. I think we need to just get back out.
“As dumb as it sounds,” he added, “We need to enjoy it. … I feel like nobody enjoyed today. Just kind of quiet. Even in the first inning, it was quiet. Tomorrow that won’t be the case. We’ll be ready to roll, smiles on our faces, ready to win a ball game.”
