Jac Attack

One of the great things about our game is how a story arc can unfold over a series of confrontations between hitter and pitcher. Information is gleaned. Approaches are altered. One such tale was told between Jac Caglianone and Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi on Tuesday night. It was key to the Royals eventual 5-3 victory, their sixth win the last eight games.

Eovaldi has moved away from his four-seamer the last couple of seasons, now relying on his split finger pitch as his primary offering. From there, he will go most frequently to his cutter and then his curve. That’s how he pitches hitters from both sides of the plate.

That’s exactly what Caglianone saw in their first battle of the evening. In fact, he showed all three of his favored pitches immediately in jumping ahead 1-2 in the count. The sequence to open was splitter away on the outside corner that was fouled off. Cags was on it, though, fouling it straight back. The next pitch was a curve down and in that Caglianone spit on for a ball. That was followed by a cutter that was elevated and on that outside edge that was fouled off.

At 1-2, the battle really intensified with both sides digging in. Eovaldi was leaning on his favored offerings. Caglianone was spoiling every pitch that was close to the zone.

It's difficult to tell the difference in the color plots on the splitter and the curve, but the fact remains that Eovaldi was bringing his prime stuff to this confrontation. Mostly. The count quickly pushed to 3-2 when the Rangers starter yanked a curve too far in at 1-2 and then spiked a splitter on 2-2. From there, Eovaldi was right on the edges or, given how the home plate umpire was calling the low pitches on the night, far too close to take. Four consecutive fouls and on the 11th pitch it was a cutter that started well off the dish—an easy take and Caglianone took his walk.

After that plate appearance, Cags had seen the best of Eovaldi and had a decent enough idea on how their next battle would go.

They met again in the fifth; Caglianone was the first batter of the inning. Again, Eovaldi opened with a split finger. This one wasn’t as sharp and finished well out of the zone, an easy pass. Recall how the right-hander was living on the edges or just beyond the first time he faced Caglianone. He was definitely not as sharp for their second face-off.

It was hardly a surprise that Caglianone jumped all over that curveball that just hung over the meat of the plate. You can see the Statcast numbers from the contact. Impressive. Reader, it was loud contact.

You can rarely see where the ball lands in these GIFs, but check out how the ball exploded off the bat. That is just some kind of violence. The good kind of violence.

I'm convinced that Caglianone obliterated that poor baseball because of his previous, 11-pitch plate appearance. It gave him a proper measure of Eovaldi and a confidence that he had seen the best from the righty and had finished that first turn victorious. Granted, Eovaldi's pitches in the sequence of the second at bat were nowhere near as sharp as what he offered in the first, but that's immaterial. Cags saw the pitch. He destroyed the pitch.

The story arc continued in Caglianone's third plate appearance of the evening. Wait...there wasn't a third battle between Cags and Eovaldi. That's because Rangers manager Skip Schumacher decided that his team's best chance was if Eovaldi did not face the lefty for a third time. There probably wasn't anyone watching the game who did not understand the move and think it the right lever to pull given what unfolded previously.

In came lefty Jalen Beeks. Turns out, it didn't matter who Caglianone faced. The dude is locked in. One pitch. That's all...

Checking the stat sheet, Beeks may not have been the best choice to face Caglianone. Or maybe going changeup to a lefty wasn't the best opening gambit. Whatever. On the season Beeks has some extreme reverse platoon splits. Entering play Tuesday, left-handed batters are hitting a robust .302/.362/.558 against Beeks with three home runs.

Ope. Make that four home runs.

I am remiss in noting that Caglianone's first home run halved the Royals deficit in making the score 2-1. His second home run capped a four-run sixth inning where the Royals overtook the Rangers and jumped out to a 5-2 lead.

The sixth inning was an extra-base-hit bonanza. Carter Jensen got the fun launched when he laced a double off the wall in right. Maikel Garcia crushed an elevated fastball off the wall just to the right of center for a game-tying triple. Even on a wonky hamstring. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with an automatic double when the ball hopped the wall in center to give the Royals the lead. If you were counting that was five extra-base hits in the inning. That's the first time it's happened all season.

Who wouldn't accept this kind of offensive output on a regular basis? Good things happen when the boys decide to break out the power sticks.

After Caglianone hit two homers that traveled a combined 452 feet, he decided that he had used enough power for the night. It was time for the legs. He beat out an infield single (that could've been an error) and then swiped second base. That was just the 11th time in franchise history that a player hit multiple home runs in a game and swiped a bag. And Cags is just the sixth player overall to do this. Mike Yastrzemski did it last September, Bobby Witt Jr. and Bo Jackson have each done it three times. Don't skip leg day, friends.

Cags has been on something of a tear of late. Tuesday was his fourth multi-hit game in his last seven starts. Since the beginning of the last road trip, he's hit .394/.500/.697 with six walks and 10 strikeouts over 40 plate appearances. He's added about 35 points to his OBP and 50 to his slugging in this stretch.

As for the rest of the game, let's not dwell on the Caglianone misplay in right on what became a Joc Pederson triple in the seventh. It looked like he was caught in a moment of indecisiveness that led him to arriving late and on a bad route to the ball. Nor shall we discuss exposed nerve that Alex Lange assaulted with his opening six pitches in the ninth, all well outside the zone that meant the Rangers had the tying run at the plate with nobody out. Lange recovered to strike out the final two hitters and secure the victory.

All's well, I suppose.

Tuesday night was notable for the fact that the Royals were playing at close to full strength in their lineup. Bobby Witt Jr., after being lifted with knee soreness on Sunday, was back at short. Salvador Perez, a few days removed from an extreme thumb contusion, returned to the lineup as the designated hitter. Garcia, who played at the hot corner on Sunday after missing almost a week with a bum hamstring remained in the order. And that man Caglianone was in the lineup after missing a game and a half with a sore shoulder after colliding with the wall in right on Friday.

It wasn't all positive on the injury front as Kyle Isbel exited the game after he hit a single in the seventh with what the Royals said was a left foot plantar fascia injury. He will go for a scan on Wednesday.

Even less positive was the Kris Bubic rehab start in Triple-A on Tuesday. He was reportedly slated for three innings or 45 pitches. He recorded just four outs while delivering 49 pitches. His overall line:

1.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO

The unearned run was because of an errant pickoff throw that Bubic made. Yeesh...That's not what you want.

Today will be an important day to see how Bubic is feeling after that outing as he continues to make his way back from elbow soreness. He's been on the IL since May 18, retroactive to May 15.

Central Issues

Let's check in on an eventful night across the division.

Twins 4
Tigers 10

Do you like home runs? The two teams combined for eight home runs, four apiece. The Twins homers were obviously solo numbers. The Tigers hit a couple with men on. Dillon Dingler went 4-5 with two of those blasts, driving in four. The Tigers are the only team hotter in June than the Royals with a 6-1 record.

Atlanta 5
White Sox 6

Atlanta jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a pair of Matt Olson home runs, but the Sox chipped away getting two back on a Miguel Vargas homer and a single from Braden Montgomery who was making his big league debut. In extras, Atlanta plated their Manfred Man on a Mauricio Dubón single to take the lead. That set the stage for more debut heroics from Mr. Montgomery. He lined a two-out, two-run home run to left to walk it off in his debut.

Yankees 3
Guardians 2

The teams traded two-run innings early and played most of the game in a deadlock. The advantage went to New York on a Jazz Chisholm home run in the eight inning. Boo that man.

Of course the Tigers go on a run of their own once the Royals figure out how to win again. Both teams have closed the gap as the Twins are finally playing the way everyone thought the Twins would be playing this year. At this point the division standings are like an auto race where the favorites fall behind early. Set the sights on the team in front and go to work. You can't pass four teams at once, so get one at a time. To continue the race metaphor, time will tell if the Royals have some good tires and enough gas to push through the field.