A change of order

After dropping their first two games in Boston, the Royals were in desperate need of a victory. It feels foolish to write that Wednesday’s game fell into a “must-win” category, but time is running out on the season and the Royals need to find some traction soon if they’re to become legitimate threats in the Wild Card race.

Playing with something of an urgency, and behind another fantastic start from Michael Wacha, the Royals rolled to a 7-3 win against the Red Sox on Wednesday. They avoid the sweep and wrap a six-game road stretch against the top two teams of the AL East by going 3-3. They will have to play better than .500 ball to get into the race, but given the competition of late, this mark will do just fine.

The big news around Wednesday’s game came before the first pitch. When manager Matt Quatraro submitted his lineup card, Jonathan India, the Royals leadoff man in every game he’s started this season, was pushed down to the seventh spot in the order. Newly acquired Mike Yastrzemski would have the leadoff honors in his stead.

Quatraro said the move was based on matchups. The Red Sox would be starting one of their new guys, right-hander Dustin May, who was brought in from the Dodgers at the trade deadline. From that perspective, it makes plenty of sense. Yastrzemski, coming from the Giants, had seen May plenty of times over the years. The platoon matchup was there as well, with Yaz hitting from the left side of the plate. And, the right fielder had found some success against May in the past, going 7-14 with a pair of doubles while walking twice and striking out just once. Small sample alert: Yastrzemski was hitting .500/.563/.634 against May in his career entering Wednesday’s game.

In dropping India to seventh, Quatraro also stressed that the move balanced the bottom of the Royals order, which had been left-handed hitting dominant over the last couple of weeks.

So, a purely strategic move. Got it?

Sure, sure. Strategy. Except I cannot help but think that Quatraro saw this as an opportunity to push India down in the order. This is part of why Quatraro is a good manager. He’s making a move that needs to be made because one of his players is not performing, but on the public side, he makes it sound like it’s about just getting another guy maximum at bats. Players appreciate that.

Getting Yaz more plate appearances or not, pushing India down is the correct move. The Royals second baseman has been having a subpar season overall, but has really scuffled at the plate since the All-Star Break. In the 16 games prior to Wednesday, India was hitting .140/.269/.263. That span covers 67 plate appearances.

The move paid immediate dividends. Yastrezmski hit a single to start the game and then knocked an automatic double to right in the third. Yaz scored just one pitch after his double as Bobby Witt Jr. came through to drive in the Royals first run of the night.

After India reached on an error his first time up, his turn came around for a second time in the fourth. With one out (after a dumb pickoff/caught stealing by Adam Frazier), India scalded a single to left. That started a mini-singles train. John Rave followed with a single of his own, with both runners taking an extra play. This moment may go unnoticed, but I wanted to call it out here: Rave’s single was hit to the right side of center field. Red Sox center fielder, Jarren Duran, is a right-handed thrower and was moving to the left to pick up the ball. It wasn’t hit all that hard (73 mph exit velocity) and was a clear single from the moment it left the bat. India, realizing Duran’s momentum was taking him in a suboptimal direction to make a strong throw, kept motoring to third. As Duran’s throw came into third, well late, Rave made the heads-up move of reading the throw and taking second. Some smart baserunning in an inning where the Royals lost their first runner on a dumb TOOTBLAN when Adam Frazier tried to sneak a steal.

And don’t you love it when a smart play pays immediate dividends? Both runners scored on Kyle Isbel’s single. That made the score 3-2 in favor of the Royals.

India was hit by a pitch leading off the sixth. (One of five batters to wear one on the night. Really?) His turn came around again in the seventh with one out and two runners on against reliever Chris Murphy. India did this to a 2-1 slider:

Officially, that baseball traveled 351 feet. It would’ve been a home run in just 13 of the 30 ballparks. Hell, it was almost a wall ball. Almost.

Right on the front edge of the very top of the wall. Damn. It really is a game of inches!

A double would’ve been a good outcome, but I love that India got that ball over the Monster.

That blast (I use the term loosely) broke the game open for the Royals, giving them a 6-2 lead. It was the first time since the break that India had multiple hits in a game.

This is India speaking to Anne Rogers prior to the game:

“I’m not myself right now,” India said pregame. “I’m not being the hitter I know I can be. There’s a lot of factors in that. I understand. I’m not playing well. It’s just part of winning. We’ve got to win. That’s the bottom line.

And I’m a team player. I want to win at all costs. Whatever helps the team, I’m in.

Physically, it’s been a tough year,” India said. “It’s more physical than mental, but maybe mentally, too. I love all the guys here. I love the organization. But maybe I’m just not comfortable. I don’t know what it is. I’ve been searching for pretty much the whole year now, trying to find myself. My passion, my fire. And it just hasn’t come out. I don’t know why.”

Maybe Wednesday’s game will provide a little spark for India. I understand that there have been some rumblings around his acquisition. It has not worked out the way everyone hoped. And it’s obvious India is searching for something to get right. To say that it has not been a good first season for him in Kansas City would be an understatement. He’s struggled in every aspect of his game. But if he can find that passion, that fire, he can be an absolute asset for the Royals down the stretch. Here’s hoping.