A baseball game was played

Baseball was played at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night. At least that’s what we’ve been led to believe. An announced attendance of 13,000+ felt generous. Nobody wants to waste time on this team.

You could counter with baseball is baseball. It’s good to be at the yard, in the steamy air, working up a sweat. This is what you're supposed to do in the summertime. You’ll be missing this in January. Then you’ll remember this was a bad, no-good baseball team.

The Royals fell again on Wednesday to the Tampa Bay Rays. This time, the final score was 4-0. It didn’t feel that close. That chasm between good teams and whatever it is the Royals are peddling is massive. The Royals were shutout for the sixth time this year. They are now 17 games under .500, depths the team hasn’t plumbed since 2023.

The Royals no-show offense was missing once again. Imagine that. They mustered six hits and a walk. The Rays also gifted them a couple of runners through fielding errors. Everything was scattered. Nothing was accomplished.

Witness…

Bobby Witt Jr. singled with one out in the first. He did not advance.

Salvador Perez led off the second with a single. He was eliminated on a Nick Loftin double play to end the inning.

Lane Thomas reached first via a throwing error with two down in the third inning. Witt hit a 108 mph scorcher that was caught by Junior Caminero at third for the final out of the inning.

Starling Marte singled with one out in the fourth. Perez grounded into a double play.

Jac Caglianone led off the seventh with a single. He was erased on a Marte fielder’s choice. Perez and Carter Jensen then went down swinging.

Nick Loftin walked to lead off the eighth. Tyler Tolbert tried to bunt him over. I did breathing exercises. Michael Massey singled to put runners on first and second with just one out. A true, potential rally. They did not advance.

Caglianone led off the ninth with a single. Kameron Misner reached on an error to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Another potential rally! Perez grounded into his second double play of the night. Jensen ended the game with a lineout to center.

To recap: The Royals grounded into three double plays. They didn’t advance a runner to scoring position until the eighth inning. They proceeded to go 0-4 when they finally did get someone to second base. The only time they had a runner on third was with two outs in the ninth inning.

Seth Lugo was Seth Lugo. That's generally a good thing. It's certainly enough to get a win.

The headline at the mothership is that Lugo tossed another "Quality Start." Quality Starts leave me a bit chilly. I supposed it's the preferred metric by some now that we, as a baseball society, have decided that Pitcher Wins only matter in fantasy baseball. As you know, I lean on Game Score. So while Lugo lobbed his 10th Quality Start of the year and tied a season-high with seven strikeouts, he recorded a Game Score of 49. The nine hits were the second-most he's allowed. Two of those went out of the yard. Naturally, one was hit by the scorching-hot Junior Caminero who has now hit a home run in six consecutive games.

Lugo's Game Score of 49 was just a tick below his average on the year and ranked 12th out of his 17 starts. I'm not hating on Lugo's outing. He was good. Good enough to get the Royals the win. There's little to discuss about the pitching when the bats are once again missing. The margin of error is nil.

Would you like some injury news? It's a damn daily staple. And it's never good.

Starter Kris Bubic was pulled from his scheduled rehab start in Omaha on Wednesday with shoulder soreness. He was initially on the IL with elbow soreness and was earlier pulled from his rehab back in early June with shoulder soreness. Now, it has obviously returned.

Bubic was transferred to the 60-day IL as the club needed to clear roster space to add Jose Cuas to the active roster. That's largely a procedural move at this point. But there goes a potential trade chip for the Royals.

Meanwhile Connor Seabold, who left Tuesday's game with a lat issue was placed on the 15-day IL. Carlos Estévez, on the 60-day IL with a rotator cuff strain had a setback after a bullpen session earlier this week and was shut down again. He received an injection and will be shut down for at least a week.

And Cole Ragans was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday. I'm expecting we will hear that he's out for the rest of the season and probably part of 2027 sometime on Thursday.

Central Issues

White Sox 1
Orioles 6

White Sox stater Noah Schultz didn't allow a hit through the first four innings, but everything fell apart in the fifth and the Orioles scored four runs, punctuated by a Tyler O'Neill home run. Sam Antonacci homered to account for Chicago's only run as Baltimore avoided the sweep.

Rangers 4
Guardians 9

David Fry hit a three-run home run as the Guardians scored five in the second inning to grab the early lead. Austin Hedges added a two-run bomb as Cleveland scored at least nine runs for only the sixth time this year. The win allowed the Guardians to avoid a sweep. Up next: They host a four game series against the White Sox.

Tigers 6
Yankees 2 / 11 innings

Kevin McGonigle homered and Riley Greene hit a sac fly as the Tigers built a 2-0 lead. The Yankees stormed back in the ninth, tying the game with a home run and, later, a wild pitch. You'd think the Tigers would fold, but they kept the Manfred Man from scoring twice. In the 11th, they pitched around Greene with two outs, giving him an intentional pass to put runners on first and second. New York reliever Camillo Doval then walked the next three batters to bring around the go-ahead run. McKinstry then cleared the bases with a single—and a Yankee error—to provide the final margin of victory.

At least with the Royals down and out, I can safely root for Yankee failure. After getting swept by the Tigers, New York has now lost seven in a row.

Twins 8
Astros 3

Twins starter Taj Bradley struck out 11, including 10 in a row at one point. Yes, he struck out 10 batters in a row. Meanwhile, Josh Bell, Kody Clemens and Luke Keaschall chipped in with homers. That's how you get it done. The Twins take the series and have now won three consecutive series on the road for the first time in over a year.

At one time, I harbored illusions that the Royals would dig themselves out of last place. Seeing the Tigers separate is a wake-up call. Ugh.