Royals Take the Series Against O’s as Bubic Dazzles

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Record: 4-5

Winning/Losing Pitcher:

W: Kris Bubic (2-0 | 0.71 ERA)

L: Cade Povich (0-1 | 6.10 ERA)

S: Carlos Estévez ( 2 | 0.00 ERA) 

Key Highlights

We’ll get to Kris Bubic in a second. The offense was firing to start because of a misplay in center field. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a lacing ball into the gap slicing away from centerfielder Jorge Mateo and it gets behind him! With Bobby’s speed, of course he gets to third, starting his afternoon strong. Vinnie understands the situation once again and hits a sacrifice fly to give the Royals the lead, 1-0. 

The inning didn’t end there though, back-to-back singles by Salvador Perez and Mark Canha set Michael Massey up with two men on and two down. And Massey hits one over right-fielder, Tyler O’Neill’s head,  and both runners score on the play to bring the lead to three. 

Bubic continued to shove as we head to the bottom of the second. As Maikel Garcia continues his tear, starting the inning with a leadoff single and advancing to second on a wild pitch. Then the Ferminator, Freddy Fermin, gets his first hit of the new year with a steak attached. Although he does try to leg it out into a double and gets thrown out. So it’ll go down as an RBI single. The rally continues a bit, as Jonathan India singles and Bobby Witt Jr. doubles to bring him a single and a homer shy of the cycle. Uh oh, is this the day it happens? Keep showing the George Brett in Toronto tape. 

Anyway, we now focus on Kris Bubic who was just so excellent in his work. Over those 6.2 innings he struck out eight in the process, just defeating almost every bird in his way. Didn’t allow a runner to reach third until the seventh either! More on him as the player of the game later.

This Royals offense exploded a couple times in this one, with Mark Canha and Salvador Perez both having multi-hit games. I think it’s time to see more Canha out there. As said on the broadcast many times, his professionalism in his at bats all the way down to his approach is something that this team needs a reference to. They need a good example to be out there in a veteran player, like an even better Matt Duffy. I do believe it’s time to be done with Renfroe in way of Canha as well. Renfroe just continues to not be a better option, and on a contending team like this, you need to set that bar. Maikel also had a multi-hit performance in this one, collecting a couple singles. And even his last at bat, he went the other way. Keep developing that swing. Looking quite great in centerfield too I might add. Making a great running play in center today. Then Tyler Tolbert did everything he could to make a name in this one! Collecting a couple stolen bases on some insane skills he showed off. He will be a factor in the future, and he is by far the best hitter of these speed demons the Royals have produced in the past. Bobby Witt Jr. fell short of the cycle again, but this time only a homer short. I feel like we will have that drought cut short at some point, as the Royals are the franchise with the longest active time without a cycle.

The bullpen was solid in this one as well with Hunter Harvey getting the last out of the seventh for Bubic, and Lucas Erceg being even more dominant against the Orioles. Those hitters just looked so confused and so hurt from what he did to them last October. They didn’t stand a chance, as he blew away a couple of stars including Gunnar Henderson.  Then, “Tamehema HA!” in the words of our great Rex Hudler. As Carlos Estevez shuts the door, and the Royals take the series in the rubber match. Hopefully improving their record in those games from last year. An all around good ballgame for the boys who collect thirteen hits, and only score four runs but continue to be consistent. And this bullpen is GOOD, ya’ll. There have been some struggles lately, but man, has the backend been so solid. 

And if things couldn’t get any better on a win on a Sunday afternoon in KC? Jac Caglianone had his first career three hit game in the AA level, the Naturals, on Sunday. The future is coming. 

Royals Player of the Game

Kris Bubic

6.2 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 8 Ks

Bubic was just simply jaw dropping on the mound today. Making every Orioles hitter look like a fool at the plate, while flashing some of the best stuff we’ve ever seen come out of his hand. I was very excited at the beginning of the year in 2023, whenever Bubic got off to the hot start then, but I don’t think I thought he was going to be this good. He has so much break on all of his pitches that everything looks like a strike for the longest time. That’s what makes him so difficult to hit off of. Especially when he continues to take control of the counts like he did today. It seemed like almost every time he had the advantage or had two strikes on a batter and could pretty much do whatever he wanted. He could waste a pitch and try to get them to chase, or he could just blow it past them, which is also what he made look so easy today. Just an excellent outing, I hope we continue to see this and that his arm continues to stay healthy throughout the season because they need him. Like I’ve said for a long time, he’s Jason Vargas. And every team needs a crafty lefty with some nasty stuff, look at all the great teams of the past. They have one like Kris Bubic. 

Summary of the Next Game: 

The Royals will try to keep the offense coming as the Minnesota Twins head to town. For the first matchup of the season. They stumbled a bit out of the gate, but have worked it back to the same record as the Royals, 4-5. Michael Lorenzen will head to the mound for the boys in blue. As he’ll try to capitalize upon his last start. He wasn’t amazing but his stuff was really working at times, the offense just didn’t score for him. Gave up three runs, but like I’ve said all season, you need to keep the team in the game and that does the job every time. Simeon Woods-Richardson will oppose the Royals in this one. Gave up two runs in his last start in four innings. Pretty standard “first start of the year” material so he could flash or the Royals could jump on him. They have scored off him a couple times in the past, but he is still a young arm that I’m sure has progressed in the offseason. The early starts for school are in effect, which is a great thing to grow the game. Gets us out of the ballpark by 9p or so. But that does mean it’s a 6:40 start at Kauffman Stadium for a divisional matchup that could really rocket one of these teams’ momentum.