Luinder Avila bounced back with a career best start against the Nationals.
The Royals have raved about Avila’s stuff since signing him as an international free agent in 2018.
Avila was masterful across 5 2/3 innings. He allowed one run while scattering three hits and recording five strikeouts, and the Royals salvaged a 6-2 victory in the series finale.
“Last start was a really bad start,” Avila said via a translator. “This one was a little bit better. I’ve just got to keep working and keep making them
better.” In the first inning, Avila set the tone by striking out Nationals star James Wood. And he continued to show steady command, striking out three of Washington’s first four batters.
Later in the afternoon, the Royals traded for RHP Randy Dobnak, moving Cole Ragans to the 60-day IL in the process.
With their starting rotation depth stretched thin, the Royals acquired right-hander Randy Dobnak from the Mariners on Wednesday for cash considerations, the club announced.
Dobnak, 31, was signed by Seattle this past offseason to a Minor League deal, but he exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract that meant he would have to be added to the Mariners’ 40-man roster or offered to the other 29 clubs.
Dobnak has made 39 career appearances (21 starts) at the Major League level since making his big league debut with the Twins in 2019, when he posted a 1.59 ERA over 28 1/3 innings for Minnesota. He’s dealt with finger injuries that caused him to miss significant time from 2021-22.
In 13 starts for Triple-A Tacoma in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this year, Dobnak posted a 4.24 ERA.
Maikel Garica left Tuesday’s game with left hand soreness, and didn’t play Wednesday, it could be like this for the next couple of days.
Maikel Garcia’s status is still unclear a day after he exited Tuesday’s game against the Nationals with left hand soreness. The Royals’ third baseman wasn’t in the lineup for the series finale against the Nationals on Wednesday, and manager Matt Quatraro said pregame that they’ll likely try to stay away from Garcia for the next couple of days to see if the symptoms resolve.
Garcia said Wednesday that he’s been dealing with this hand soreness for about a month, dating back to the Royals’ series in St. Louis from May 15-17. It happened on a swing in the second game, and since then, the soreness in the muscles on the top of his hand are aggravated when Garcia fouls a ball off or doesn’t make direct contact. Imaging taken shows that the small hand muscles are affected, but no fractured bones
MLB.com picked one prospect from each team looking for a promotion, Blake Mitchell was their choice for the Royals.
Normally, we wouldn’t advocate for a player with a .218 average and 34.5 percent K rate to get promoted, but Mitchell is a special case. For starters, he has a .988 OPS and 150 wRC+ while hitting five homers over his last 18 games for High-A Quad Cities dating back to May 26. He also leads the Minor Leagues with 64 walks on the season, and his 25.7 percent BB rate is tops among full-season qualifiers. Mitchell is maybe the Three True Outcome King this season, but after 485 career plate appearances at High-A, he needs to be challenged by Double-A arms that will attack him more in the zone.
ESPN had a bold trade idea for the Royals
Mike Gillespie of Royals Keep wrote about Matt Strahm
Yirsandy Rodríguez wrote about the Royals continued struggles against left-handed pitchers
Everson Pereira made a spectacular grab for the White Sox in the Bronx
The Trade Deadline is rapidly approaching, what are people talking about?
All-Star Voting is heating up, who should be getting more votes?
The World Cup rages on, and parking at Arrowhead was worse than it is for Chiefs games?
Kansas football will be getting national spotlight on their trip to London this fall
Today’s song of the day is Closing Time by Semisonic
