Daily Clips
April 25, 2017
LOCAL
Vargas, bullpen unable to contain White Sox
April 25, 2017 By Scott Merkin and Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Cold bats likely putting strain on Royals' arms
Pitchers have little margin for error as offense has scored 2 runs or fewer in 8 straight games
April 25, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Soler right hitter to help jolt Royals' offense
April 24, 2017By Phil Rogers/mlb.com
Could Hoz's numbers rise by elevating ball?
Statcast projections indicate high ground-ball rate, and bad luck, grounding Royals star
April 25, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Duffy brings memories into South Side start
April 24, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Royals set franchise record for offensive futility in 12-1 loss to White Sox
April 24, 2017By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
What’s the reason for Jason Vargas’ early dominance?
April 24, 2017By Jesse Newell/KC Star
Mired in early slump, Royals’ Hosmer vows to stick with same approach
April 24, 2017By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
MINORS
Sierra Sinks Chasers in 4-1 Setback
Omaha strand 12 in defeat
April 24, 2017By Omaha Storm Chasers
Naturals Winning Streak Halted As Cardinals Prevail Late
Northwest Arkansas is defeated by a score of 6-4 in the series opener as Springfield scores two in the ninth
April 24, 2017By Naturals PR Department
GreenJackets edge Legends in 10, 2-1
April 24, 2017By Lexington Legends
NATIONAL
In midst of a major offensive funk, Royals may be digging a hole they can't get out of
The Royals have not scored more than two runs in a game since Saturday. *Last* Saturday
April 25, 2017By Mike Axisa/CBS Sports
MLB TRANSACTIONS
April 25, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Vargas, bullpen unable to contain White Sox
April 25, 2017 By Scott Merkin and Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Almost everybody for the White Sox hit and Miguel Gonzalez once again turned in a stellar mound effort, as Chicago cruised to a 12-1 victory over the Royals on Monday night at Guaranteed Rate Field in the three-game series opener.
Gonzalez followed his 8 1/3-inning effort at Yankee Stadium with eight innings and one unearned run allowed, striking out five and walking one. The right-hander gave up two hits but was inches away from carrying a potential no-hitter into the seventh on a couple of different levels.
With two outs in the third, Todd Frazier fumbled Whit Merrifield's grounder for an error. Mike Moustakas followed with a low line drive to right on which Avisail Garcia made a diving attempt but came up short. Merrifield came around to score to tie the game at that time. Moustakas' double stands as the only hit allowed out of the infield by Gonzalez in his last two starts, covering six hits. He retired 16 of the last 17 hitters faced Monday.
"He wasn't throwing his curve that much tonight," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "But everything he threw tonight he could throw for strikes."
"Sinker was working good. Cutter obviously away to lefties was huge tonight," said Gonzalez, who threw 73 of his 105 pitches for strikes. "I wasn't doing it that much the last couple outings, and it played well tonight. Sometimes you've got to go out there and change it up a little bit to guys that understand."
As for the offense, everybody in the lineup had at least one hit but catcher Geovany Soto, with the White Sox knocking a season-high 15 as a team. Jason Vargas took his first loss of the season, allowing three earned runs on seven hits over five innings, striking out five. But the White Sox locked this game down by scoring eight in the sixth off of relievers Peter Moylan and Travis Wood. Matt Davidson, Tim Anderson and Leury Garcia had three hits apiece in the game.
The Royals, who have lost five straight, set a franchise record by scoring two runs or fewer in their eighth straight game.
"We got two hits," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "There's not much going on right now. I mean, we talk about it every day. You just wait for it to turn."
"That was fun, getting 12 runs as a team, everybody getting hits," Davidson said. "It was really good for all of us."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Welcome back, Matt: After a four-game hiatus, Davidson returned with authority. He homered in the second off of Vargas, giving him four home runs for the season, and then doubled to right-center to spark the huge sixth against Moylan, scoring Avisail Garcia. Davidson added a two-run single off the left-field wall in that same inning, giving him four RBIs, 14 for the season and leaving him a triple short of the cycle. Davidson's three hits were a career high, and his four RBIs matched a career high.
"I'm just trying to stay focused in my approach and really being stingy in what I want to hit, just staying there," said Davidson, who has seven extra-base hits among his 12 knocks. "So far it really just takes one swing. You could look really foolish throughout the at-bat, but if you put one good swing on one good pitch, that's all you really need."
Small ball sparks offense: Tyler Saladino had struck out six straight times, including two times Monday, when he stepped to the plate in the fifth with Leury Garcia on second, Anderson on first and nobody out. Saladino laid down a perfect bunt with two strikes, advancing the runners to second and third, and Melky Cabrera followed with a two-run single to give the White Sox a 4-1 lead over Vargas. Saladino added a two-run triple during the sixth.
"Just get it down," Saladino said. "Just make the third baseman field it. Just make sure to get it over toward the third baseman and make him field that ball there."
QUOTABLE
"I keep thinking, 'Do I need to get them together for a team meeting?' No, because they're a veteran group. They'll bounce back." – Yost
"I'll tell you what, it feels a whole lot better being here than in Charlotte, so I'm enjoying every single day. Obviously I want to play, but being here with these guys and being in Chicago is a dream come true."-- Davidson, on whether he should play more frequently after sitting out four games in between starts
ABUNDANCE OF OFFENSE
The eight runs scored by the White Sox in the sixth inning represent their most runs scored in an inning since July 3, 2012, when they scored nine vs. the Rangers in the fifth. The White Sox have scored 18 runs in their last two games after snapping a 23-inning scoreless drought.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Leury Garcia was ruled out on a ground ball to shortstop Alcides Escobar to start the seventh, but White Sox manager Rick Renteria challenged the call at first and it was overturned, giving Garcia his third single.
Due to a pregame technical issue with the replay system, each club was afforded its normal manager challenge, but they both had unlimited crew chief reviews for the entirety of the game.
WHAT'S NEXT
Royals: Left-hander Danny Duffy (2-0, 1.32 ERA) starts for the Royals in the second game of the three-game series against the White Sox at 7:10 p.m. CT on Tuesday. Duffy has gone at least six innings and given up two runs or fewer in all four of his starts -- Kevin Appier holds the club record with seven such starts to open a season, in 1992.
White Sox: Dylan Covey (0-1, 7.84 ERA) makes his third career start and first against Kansas City when he takes the mound for Tuesday's contest. Covey has only two strikeouts and five walks over his 10 1/3 Major League innings.
Cold bats likely putting strain on Royals' arms
Pitchers have little margin for error as offense has scored 2 runs or fewer in 8 straight games
April 25, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
Before long, a breaking point could come for a Royals pitching staff that has been lights-out lately but has little to show for it because of an anemic offense.
The Royals may be reaching that point after a 12-1 loss at the hands of the White Sox on Monday night. It was the eighth straight game the Royals have scored two runs or fewer -- a franchise record.
And for the second straight game, a Royals starter did not make it past the fifth inning. On Sunday, starter Jason Hammel lamented that perhaps he was trying to pitch too fine.
On Monday, starter Jason Vargas suggested he simply didn't have the type of command he needed as he gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings. The bullpen, so solid over the last week, also collapsed, giving up eight runs in three innings.
Vargas' scoreless-innings streak ended at 15 2/3.
But the truth is, the margin for error is razor thin for Royals pitchers right now, and it may be wearing on them as they try to be too perfect, knowing one or two mistakes in a game can be too much for the offense to overcome.
"I hope that's not how they feel," manager Ned Yost said. "But the chances of that happening are probably pretty good. Guys know that pitchers are putting a little more pressure on themselves because they know we're struggling to score runs right now. So they're trying to execute their pitches maybe a little more perfectly."
Vargas, though, insisted that worrying about his team's offense is counterproductive.
"I don't think that's how I ever take the mound," Vargas said. "I can't control anything other than what I can do. To factor that in is only hazardous to your situation, so it's not something I need to worry about.
"Nobody on the other side of the ball is looking to struggle. That's not in any player's mindset. I know that every player here is trying to play well every day. Baseball is a tough game, especially to hit it. To do that with authority is tough, because the other pitchers are good as well.
"It's just one of those things that you worry about doing your job and let the other guys worry about their jobs."
Said first baseman Eric Hosmer, "Everyone here is trying to break out of this. We have to do it together."
So far, Yost said he is not worried about morale.
"In the beginning of the day, when they walk through that clubhouse door, they've got energy, they've got life," Yost said. "They're working hard. At the end of the day, of course they're frustrated. Until we get through it, you don't want them to not get frustrated."
Soler right hitter to help jolt Royals' offense
April 24, 2017By Phil Rogers/mlb.com
Ned Yost has managed the Royals for eight seasons and never been blessed with a deep stable of sluggers. He knows this drill.
The first of the two consecutive seasons that his team won the American League pennant, it was last in the Major Leagues in home runs. There are times when things are clicking for your hitters, and times when it's not clicking.
This April is one of the latter.
The Royals are an offensive wasteland, even though their lineup includes six regulars from the 2015 World Series, when they knocked off the Mets in five games. The Royals are last in the Majors with an average of 2.5 runs per game, including a franchise record two or fewer in their last eight games.
"It's just a matter of time," Yost insisted on Monday night, when right-hander Miguel Gonzalez and Anthony Swarzak held the Royals to two hits in a 12-1 loss to the White Sox. "We've been through this numerous times. Stay the course and you'll break through."
Yost was asked what he would do to break out of a slump when he was a player.
"I just lived in a slump," he said. "I never could break out of it. I was a .220 hitter. I'd go three days feeling good and then screw it up. I just was what I was. But the way you get out of it is through patience and work. You just keep working and try to eliminate as much frustration as you can. That just leads to more [frustration] and a longer stretch. So just stay calm, just keep working."
Eric Hosmer (.192/.253/.247), Alex Gordon (.178/.259/.219), Alcides Escobar (.182/.217/.242) are doing that, and you know they're going to get turned around soon.
But the Royals' best hope to climb out of their early hole and pursue one more postseason run before free agency arrives for their core after the season lies elsewhere at the moment, for a little while longer.
General manager Dayton Moore traded closer Wade Davis -- like Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Escobar and Mike Moustakas eligible for free agency after the season -- to get Cuban right fielder Jorge Soler from the Cubs.
Soler hasn't yet set foot on the field at Kauffman Stadium because of a strained oblique muscle he sustained late in Spring Training. But Soler homered on Friday in the first game of a rehab assignment to Triple-A Omaha, so it shouldn't be long until he arrives.
"He's swinging the bat well," Yost said. "He's feeling better. He missed that time. You just have to make sure he has enough time down there to get his timing back so when he gets here he hits the ground running."
Soler was signed as a 19-year-old defector to a $30 million, nine-year contract during Theo Epstein's first season running the Cubs. Soler teased his teammates and coaches with his potential, but he was unable to stake a lasting claim on an outfield spot, his last real chance coming when Kyle Schwarber collided with Dexter Fowler last April, opening a hole in left field.
Soler hit .238 with 12 homers and had returned to a bench role by the time the Cubs reached the postseason. There wasn't room for him on a roster that became crowded after Epstein signed free agents Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon points to a series of injuries -- most notably a strained oblique in August 2015, and a bad hamstring issue last June -- for keeping Soler from making a bigger contribution while he was with the Cubs.
"It's just a matter of keeping Georgie out there as much as we possibly could," Maddon said. "Georgie [in 2015] made quite a dent in the NLCS. He did a great job."
Soler showcased his talent in the Cubs' postseason run against the Mets, Cardinals and Pirates two years ago. He was 9-for-19 with three home runs, five RBIs, six walks and six runs scored in seven games.
That's exactly the kind of jolt the Royals need from one of their hitters.
Nobody around the Royals is going to say they expect Soler to be a savior. They're not putting any extra weight on his shoulders. Not with so many veterans around.
But this is a great spot for Soler to get his second chance, this time as a 25-year-old who knows his way around the Major Leagues. He has already impressed Yost with his work ethic and his play in right field.
Some scouts raised outfield defense as a concern before the Royals acquired Soler, but Yost was impressed in Spring Training. While Soler was searching for consistency at the plate -- he hit .143 with two homers in 49 at-bats -- he was doing good work in the outfield with coach Rusty Kuntz.
"He did a really, really nice job for us," Yost said. "You hear stories about his defense in Chicago, but with Rusty, his routes were good, his drop steps were good. We know he has a good arm. He handled right field, left field, remarkably well."
Is Kansas City the right place for Soler?
It's way too early to know that, but the time is right to start finding out.
Could Hoz's numbers rise by elevating ball?
Statcast projections indicate high ground-ball rate, and bad luck, grounding Royals star
April 25, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/mlb.com
If you're trying to dig deep into the numbers and analyze why Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer is off to a slow start, it would be easy to single out his high ground-ball rate.
Entering Monday's game against the White Sox, Hosmer, since 2016, had put the ball on the ground 59.8 percent of the time, the 10th-highest rate of anyone in baseball, according to Statcast™. That rate wouldn't be so detrimental for someone with blazing speed such as Miami's Dee Gordon or Royal-turned-Mariner Jarrod Dyson.
But that could explain why Hosmer slumped badly after the All-Star break last season, and why he's started this season with a .192 average through 19 games after going 0-for-4 in Monday's 12-1 loss.
Another explanation: Bad luck.
According to Statcast™, Hosmer's expected batting average this season, heading into Monday -- based on exit velocity and launch angle combinations -- was .326. That gap from his real average was .123 points, the second-largest gap of any hitter in baseball behind Toronto's Devon Travis (xBA of .296, actual BA of .136).