Noah Cameron pitched five scoreless, and the Royals swatted three home runs as KC beat Detroit 5-2.
Almost a month ago on July 23rd, the Royals faced Troy Melton and the Tigers in Detroit. Randy Dobnak did Randy Dobnak things, not allowing any runs, but not pitching deep into the game. Troy Melton did Troy Melton things, but gave up a two-run home run to Isaac Collins in the sixth. But once the bullpen got involved, the Royals blew the lead in the seventh, tied it again in the eighth, and then blew it again before
Kenley Jansen shut them down.
So when the Royals, clinging to a three-run lead, saw the bullpen give up two runs in the seventh inning, you could absolutely see the team falling to same issues that cost them the previous game. The Royals, however, have made a variety of changes to the team since then, despite a quiet trade deadline. In that first game, the reliever parade included Matt Strahm, John Schreiber, and Steven Cruz. Without Strahm in this one, Cuas managed a scoreless inning before Schreiber gave up the two. Steven Cruz managed to not allow any of his own runners to score, and Nate Pearson was brought in for his second Royals save. It would be correct to say that none of the Royals relievers made it easy, but ultimately they got the job done.
There were some fears, I think, with Noah Cameron making his first start after throwing 115 pitches against the Angels. And, its true, he didn’t look nearly as sharp tonight. For one thing, he gave up his first hit of the game in the first inning. But he also walked three while striking out only two. But he battled and battled and made it through five innings on 84 pitches without giving up a run.
The Royals first run was a bit of a silly one. Vinnie Pasquantino, red hot since coming off the IL, doubled down the first base line with one out in the bottom of the fourth. He was able to score when Michael Massey smoked a groundball up the middle that evaded Melton and shortstop Kevin McGonigle’s attempts to corral it and ricocheted off of McGonigle into left field. From there, it was time for some dingers. Kyle Isbel got one in the bottom of the fifth, Vinnie heated up even more in the sixth, and then Carter Jensen came through in the seventh after the Royals’ lead had dwindled to just one.
Jensen’s and Pasquantino’s were no-doubters. But they were all beautiful in their own way.
In the bottom of the eighth, Michael Massey doubled into right field and Kyle Isbel lashed a double into left to give the Royals another insurance run. The Royals could have made it easier on themselves, but 10 hits and 5 runs will win a lot of games. Especially when the other team gets fewer hits and runs. That’s not to say they have all the answers they need for next year; they especially need pitchers to throw more strikes as they finished the night combining for seven walks and five strikeouts.
The Royals have won six in a row for the first time this year. Earlier this week I saw a social media post that made me chuckle. It suggested that the Royals would reach .500 if they won 28 of their last 35. Now they only need to win 25 of their last 32.
They can keep shoving that boulder up the hill tomorrow night. The game will be at 6:15 PM Central Time. It will be Drew Anderson (4.01 ERA, 3.38 SIERA) up against Michael Wacha (3.58 ERA, 4.38 SIERA). See you then!
