Record: 7-6
Winning/Losing Pitcher:
W: Daniel Lynch IV (2-0 | 0.00 ERA)
L: Cole Sands (1-1 | 3.60 ERA)
S: Carlos Estévez (4)
Key Highlights
If the Royals lost today’s game, they would still have split the series against Minnesota and posted a winning record on the homestand. That much is the least of what we were expecting across the Orioles and Twins series, a 4-3 record against two teams the Royals were profiled to be within the same power bracket of.
Somewhat to that theme of getting a passing grade by a slim margin, the Royals manage to get a rally going and score late to reverse a lead in their favor. It’s something they haven’t yet shown to do regularly this season and it wasn’t the massive run-racking outburst like on Friday or so many occasions last year. Still, for a unit that is fighting allegations of being “un-clutch”, even a clutch victory on the smaller and simpler scale is exactly what was needed. Instead of settling for a barely-won homestand and a sub-.500 record, the Royals will enter a treacherous road trip as a positively-winning team with a 5-2 record over the last week.
Despite getting shut out the night before, there were many Royals fans looking forward to this particular rubber match, because for as good as Joe Ryan’s numbers against KC were, Bailey Ober’s numbers were about that level but in the opposite direction. Bailey Ober had pitched against the Royals 10 times to this point and his ERA is a wince-indusing 6.50. If the Royals could knock around Ober like they seem to do often, it would make up for some otherwise underwhelming hitting they’ve shown so far.
At first, that seemed to be the script the game was following. After a quick Jonathan India flyout, the trio of Bobby, Vinnie and Salvy all hit for singles and get a run on the board in the first inning. Unfortunately, the Twins immediately strike back with a leadoff home run from Ty France, because the Royals will always be cursed by some random player never spoken about in any other context. The Royals lineup was paralyzed in fear of the might of Ty France as they didn’t even threaten to score as long as Ober remained in the game. Ultimately, he pitched six great innings with that trilogy of singles amounting to his only run surrendered.
For reasons that I genuinely do not know or understand, Ober would not return to pitch in the seventh, despite having just 73 pitches to his name and no Royal having made it past second base since the first inning. Cole Sands got an easy start to his appearance by having MJ Melendez to strike out, but the first step of his demise came with a hit to Freddy Fermin on the first pitch. Drew Waters, whose first two Major League at bats of 2025 were previously unmentioned for good reason, had good karma repay him for the sick diving play in the third inning; Waters bounced a ball just beyond Willi Castro’s reach. With the order resetting, Jonathan India steps into the windy batter’s box and stands there for three or four minutes as he takes and fouls off one pitch after another.
Finally… a breakthrough. On the 10th pitch of the at bat, India slaps a single into left field to tie the game. Bobby Witt Jr. comes up with two on and one out, drives a ball 104 off the bat… for a sac fly. I hate blaming shortcomings on elements beyond anyone’s control, because that’s generally an abusable argument… but the Royals really did lose home runs to the wind today. Bobby’s drive of 104.3 MPH at a 32 degree launch angle leaves the park 75% of the time as Baseball Savant’s calculator and illustrator show.
Sure, it’s not guaranteed outie, but it’s neither the best nor only example of Royals drives not going the way they’re supposed to. Because, just the inning before, Salvador Perez barrelled a ball to center field with an exit velo and launch angle that leave the yard 94% of the time… and it was caught for an out within boundaries.
Bobby’s sac fly would be the end of all scoring for this game, making the late-game comeback a bit short-lived compared to the potential it seemed to have… but at least it happened. The Royals got the job done with it. They didn’t necessarily beat all allegations of the offense starting slow and having questionably aggressive approaches, but it’s enough to be satisfied with for a day. The A-list bullpen arms, subbing Harvey with Lynch, kept the one-run lead in tact after a decent-enough Wacha start and quiet pseudo-inning of Schreiber in relief.
Royals Player of the Game
Jonathan India
1-4, 1 RBI
In my opinion, some of the most important plays of the game involved India, both offensively and defensively. His 10-pitch RBI single was both the reversal of momentum the Royals needed and the bridge between the Royals fighting a 1-run deficit and Bobby safely delivering a new lead. Meanwhile, back in the second inning, he collaborated with Freddy Fermin to stop a scoring attempt with quick fielding by the both of them.
Summary of the Next Game:
Tomorrow’s game is the first of a 10-game road trip, all against last year’s playoff teams. Kris Bubic will take the mound at 5:10 PM, hoping to keep his perfect ERA in tact through his third start. The Guardians will have Tanner Bibee make his third start of the year, but his second against the Royals already. Bibee was Cleveland’s Opening Day starter, where he shut the Royals out for almost six innings. His one and only start since was against the Angels, who apparently hit really well now and demonstrated as much by racking up seven runs in four innings last Saturday.
Image credit: Rob Leiter (MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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