Royals swept by A’s, wrapping up winless homestand at The K. Is this rock bottom?
The Kansas City Royals entered Sunday’s game looking for a clean slate after holding a players-only meeting in the clubhouse following Saturday’s loss, their fifth straight.
It didn’t help. The Royals fell 3-2 to the Athletics on Sunday in their series finale, suffering their second straight series sweep to complete a winless six-game homestand at Kauffman Stadium.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good,” Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “It was bad and you’ve got to flush it. Got an off-day tomorrow and that’s all you can do right now.”
The New York Yankees rolled through with a clean sweep last week and the Athletics followed suit over the weekend. It’s the Royals’ first winless homestand since Sept. 16-22, 2024.
The Royals (34-38) keep sinking further under .500. They’ve lost sight of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central race, and the AL Wild Card picture is jumbled, full of teams facing their own challenges.
“Can’t change what happened in those games,” Witt said. “But also, you can just learn from it. We’ve got to learn something from it because we just got beat by teams that we could beat. So we can’t have that happen.”
Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, the Royals say Saturday’s team meeting was needed. The players, seeking better understanding of their current situation, ostensibly gained new perspective. Things will not change in one day, but the locker-room summit seemingly offered a new path forward.
Each Royals player knows he must play better. Sunday’s loss showed how far they still have to go.
“We are big-leaguers for a reason,” Witt said. “We’ve got to prepare like big-leaguers and we’ve got to go out each and every day knowing there is no pressure ... We put our own pressure on ourselves.
“We’ve just got to be us and be prepared.”
Here are some takeaways from the weekend series at The K.
Sunday spotlight: What happened?
The Royals celebrated Father’s Day with their families in attendance.
Rookie starter Noah Cameron pitched five scoreless innings with his son, Auggie, in the stands. The Royals gave Cameron a two-run lead when Witt and Vinnie Pasquantino recorded RBIs in the third.
But things turned dire once Cameron was pulled from the game.
“He was at 83 pitches and he is on regular rest,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s had a pretty good workload and they were right in the middle of their order, with three or four righties in a row. And we had a really rested bullpen of (John) Schreiber, (Angel) Zerpa, (Lucas) Erceg and (Carlos Estévez).”
Rested or not, the bullpen allowed the A’s back in it. Catcher Austin Wynns hit a 93.1 mph slider from Schreiber over the outfield wall to tie the game; then, with the score deadlocked 2-2 in the ninth, rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz blasted a go-ahead solo home run off Estévez.
“Just missed my spot as I was trying to go fastball up,” Estévez said. “Just missed my spot and he did what he did as a hitter — you know, hit mistakes. It is what it is. Just got to be better next time.”
Athletics closer Mason Miller earned his 14th save as the Royals wrapped up their winless homestand.
Cameron struck out seven and earned the no-decision. Closer Carlos Estevez, who served up Kurtz’s home run, took the loss.
Where the Royals go from here is uncertain. A six-game road trip against the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres is up next for Kansas City.
“Pretty brutal and not good enough,” Quatraro said. “Unacceptable, or whatever terminology you want to use.
“I mean, something flashed through my mind walking back up: We went through this last year one time, too. We bounced back pretty good and had a nice run. So this season is not over by any means. We have a lot of good baseball in front of us. We just didn’t do it this week.”
Jonathan India has shoulder injury
The Royals played it safe with second baseman Johnathan India over the weekend.
On Friday, India sustained a left-shoulder subluxation (dislocation) against the Athletics. He has dealt with the injury before.
This time he dove for a line drive and landed on his shoulder in pain. The Royals’ training staff attended to him and appeared to pop his shoulder back into place.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro gave India both Saturday and most of Sunday off. He was not in the starting lineup either day but was available off the bench.
Quatraro wanted to stack some rest days for India with an off-day arriving Monday before a six-game road trip. That gives India — who pinch-hit in the eighth inning Sunday and flew out to right field — the better part of three days to recover.
“He could’ve played today and he really wanted to play today,” Quatraro said. “But with the off-day tomorrow, we are just trying to do what we think is best.”
Mark Canha celebrates milestone
It was a special weekend for Royals outfielder Mark Canha. He celebrated Father’s Day at Kauffman Sunday and also reached 10 years of MLB service time.
Canha, 36, signed with the Royals this past offseason. He was a late addition in spring training and earned a spot on the bench.
Canha is hitting .242 through 39 games this year. He became the 15th major-leaguer to eclipse the 10-year threshold in 2025.
“It’s pretty special and means a lot to me,” he said. “We all work so hard just to get to the big leagues and then you want to stay.
“Somehow I just put a career together and kind of manufactured my own little way. It’s affirmation that with all you did, you did it the right way.”
Canha faced one of his former teams over the weekend. He was with the A’s for seven seasons before also playing for the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants — and now the Royals.
What’s next for the Royals?
The Royals are off Monday before kicking off a six-game road swing against the Rangers Arlington, Texas. All-Star right-hander Seth Lugo (3-5, 3.18 ERA) will start Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.
The road trip to Texas will be a homecoming for Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. The Lone Star State native put on a show during the 2024 MLB All-Star Game, so he knows that ballpark well.
He will certainly have loved ones in attendance this week, as will most KC teammates during what’s been set up as a special family trip.
This story was originally published June 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM.
