Crazy eight

Sunday, the Royals put the finishing touches on a perfect homestand with a convincing 11-7 victory over the Detroit Tigers. They have now won eight games in a row. They are hitting home runs. They are finding clutch relief outings. And their 36-year-old Captain is stealing bases like he's Bobby Witt Jr.

Strange days, indeed.

About this homestand...They outscored the A's and the Tigers by 20 runs while hitting .312/.392/.524. They pitched to a 3.77 ERA against the two teams. Sure, one of those is the AL bottom feeder, but the Tigers have something to play for. (Maybe that should read they "had" something to play for.) Detroit rolled into Kansas City 1.5 games back of the last Wild Card spot needing to leapfrog three teams. They leave 3.5 back and looking up at five clubs. Gotta stay sharp in Manfred's pennant race.

Safe to say, we have not seen a span of winning baseball like this in 2026. They did have that stretch in late April into early May where they won 11 of 15. Too bad it's too late to inject them into the Wild Card hunt.

The catalyst for Sunday's second inning offensive outburst and, ultimately, the team’s eighth-consecutive victory was your captain, Salvador Perez. After he squibbed a 2-0 cut fastball to shallow right for a single, Perez waited until a 2-1 pitch from right-hander Jacob Waguespack to make his move. Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson was a few steps behind as Perez took one hop forward for his secondary lead. Then, on first movement from Waguespack, he was off.

Without a throw! That was the seventh stolen base of Perez’s career and first in over five years. Wouldn’t you know it, when a 36-year-old catcher, whose Sprint Speed in on par with a three-toed sloth, swipes a bag, that seems to get the boys fired up.

As far as Perez's Sprint Speed goes...

Perez ranks dead last among the 137 qualifiers in Sprint Speed. Second to last is Josh Naylor who has swiped 55 bases since the start of 2025. What does any of this mean?

All we know for certain is that's what speed do.

After Perez took second on his own volition, John Rave walked and then Tyler Tolbert was drilled in the shoulder blade by a pitch to load the bases.

The fun was temporarily deferred while Luke Maile struck out on three fastballs. It got back on track in a large way in just three pitches.

First, number nine hitter Kyle Isbel had a first-pitch cut fastball run up and in on his hands a bit. Not in enough, though, as Isbel looped a single to left to bring home Perez and Rave. Perez scored easily, but a tip of the cap to Rave who was running like a madman from the moment the ball met the bat. That gave the Royals a 2-1 lead.

Two pitches later, Nick Loftin launched a Kauffman Stadium special for a three-run blast that extended the Royals recently acquired lead to 5-1. Officially, the ball traveled 379 feet and, according to Statcast, would’ve exited 27 of the 30 major league parks. It’s not like Kauffman is now some kind of home run hitting paradise. It’s not. It just plays a little more honest and forgiving than it used to. It feels right. Even more so when the three-run jack is coming off the bat of a Royal.

Who doesn’t love a good two out rally? And that was an exceptional one from a team that can seemingly do no wrong these days. And I will forever aver that it was all started by Salvador Perez stealing second base.

Ranked! Salvador Perez stolen bases

Why not? In reverse order of importance and coolness.

7 - 4/4/2014 vs Chicago White Sox
Perez’s first stolen base of his career came following an intentional walk from reliever Scott Downs with a runner on third. It was the bottom of eighth inning and the Royals were leading, 7-5. Perez was off and running on a 1-2 pitch to Mike Moustakas. He was stranded at second when Moose grounded out to end the inning

6 - 4/8/2015 vs Chicago White Sox
Perez delivered a game-tying single in the bottom of the fifth against Jose Quintana. With an 0-2 count on number nine hitter Omar Infante, Perez swiped second base. Not a bad call on his part, given the situation. He was stranded when Infante went down swinging.

5 - 7/21/21 at Milwaukee Brewers
Perez grabbed second base off Jake Cousins on an 0-2 pitch to Hunter Dozier. Again, some smart running from Perez, going on that count with two outs. If he gets caught, at least Dozier starts the next inning with a fresh count. Dozier struck out on the next pitch.

4 - 9/18/2020 at Milwaukee Brewers
Perez went 4-5 with a double, a home run and yes, a stolen base. It’s the only game in Perez’s career where he swiped a bag and homered.

3 - 5/1/2018 at Boston Red Sox
This is the kind of sequence that can hurt your baseball brain. With the Royals down 3-2 in the eighth inning, Perez reached via an infield single, moved to second on a bunt and then stole third base. Sadly, Lucas Duda flew out to end the inning.

Fun footnote: The Royals tied the game in the ninth when Alex Gordon homered off current Royal reliever, Craig Kimbrel. They went on to win in 13 innings.

2 - 7/20/2017 vs Detroit Tigers
Let’s call this one the Revenge Steal. The Royals scored four times in the first and tacked on another in the third on an Eric Hosmer home run. On the very next pitch, Michael Fulmer plunked Perez. That wasn’t nice. So, two pitches later, Perez stole second. He would move up to third on an Alcides Escobar single and then score on a Brandon Moss double as the Royals broke the game open.

1 - 8/23/2026 vs Detroit Tigers
This is it…Number One. Easy call. First of all, the dude is now 36 years old, so general principles apply. Second, it kick-started a rally that pushed the Royals to their eighth consecutive win. Inspirational.

It would've been cool if the Royals had just taken that headfirst diving momentum from Perez and just curb-stomped the Tigers into the dirt around the second base bag. But that wouldn't have been your 2026 Royals, would it?

I am not sold on Daniel Lynch IV as a starter. I get it...the Royals are short on rotation arms so basically everyone is eligible. Lynch made it through 4.1 innings which was his longest outing since he threw five innings in May of 2024 but there's just something that's not clicking here. Perhaps it's the meager 21 percent chase rate. Or maybe it's the single miss he generated in 25 swings the Tigers took. Or maybe it was the average exit velocity of all 14 balls in play of 95 mph.

The bottom line is Lynch isn't fooling anyone. Against the A's earlier in the homestand, the lefty went four innings and found two whiffs in 20 swings, a 22 percent chase rate and an average exit velocity of 90 mph. His overall Statcast metrics aren't so dire so who knows what up here. I just believe his stuff plays up in shorter bursts and where the Royals can sort of control the matchups.

And Lynch wasn't even on the hook for what happened in the fifth! That was on Mason Black. The reliever entered the game with one out after Lynch walked his final batter of the day. Black allowed a double, a run-scoring ground out and a single to plate another run.

He then spun a first-pitch curve to the presumptive AL Rookie of the Year Kevin McGonigle. It wasn't a hanger, but it also wasn't...sharp. It just kind of hovered. Down, yes. But at 82 mph and without much bite it was more like a batting practice fastball. McGonigle parked it into the party porch in right to tie the game.

This bullpen...

The good news is that while the bullpen is forever shambolic, the offense is scorching hot. Tied up but not out of it, the Royals seized the lead back just three batters into their half of the inning. Nick Loftin worked a six-pitch walk and then scored on a Vinnie Pasquantino double. Perez followed that up with a double of his own and, with two outs, Rave crushed a 2-2 slider over the Royals bullpen in right. That's decidedly not a new Kauffman Stadium Special. That was a legit bomb.

It's good to see Pasquantino swinging a strong bat after his recovery from his hamate injury. He rejoined the team a week ago and over these seven games is hitting .385/.448/.769 with four doubles and two home runs. Welcome back, Pasquatch.

Somehow, the bullpen allowed another run in the sixth and one more in the seventh. In the sixth, Black came back out to start the inning. I get that he was in to just get the first batter, Torkelson, before turning it over to Connor Thomas for the left-on-left platoon advantage, but after watching Black throw in the fifth, who was thinking this was a good idea to start the sixth? He walked Torkelson. Quite the parting gift. A hit by pitch, an error and a ground out put a run on the board.

In the seventh, things got edgy when new reliever Jose Cuas loaded the bases with nobody out. He got Colt Keith on a soft liner and then delivered a beauty of a running, cut fastball to set Brett Callahan down on strikes. Then, he walked in a run. I'm telling you, watching this bullpen work is difficult. When they have two outs, it's damn near impossible. At least Cuas recovered to get the third out on a foul pop on a nice play from Loftin behind the third base dugout suite.

Nate Pearson and Steven Cruz finished off the eighth and ninth, respectively. They weren't clean innings, but who would expect that? At least the Royals tacked on a couple more runs in the eighth to push their advantage and provide a little less anxious of a finish.

It's a perfect homestand, an eight wins in a row and a string where they've won nine of ten. After April, I never thought this team would be capable of stringing together an extended winning streak. You think you know ball...