Thunder rolling

The rains came early and cleared out after about an hour. The thunder rolled in a little later, courtesy Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr.. Jensen crushed a solo bomb in the third and Witt launched a three-run shot a couple innings later that provided the final cushion in a 5-2 victory for the Royals in their series finale against the Diamondbacks.

Despite Wednesday's victory, we can't call this a successful homestand. The Royals won just three of nine. Yet they showed that this team is still capable of playing some fundamentally sound baseball down the stretch.

It's not about moral victories or building momentum for 2027. That sort of stuff doesn't matter. At this point, all I'm looking for is some decent, competitive baseball. We got that on Wednesday.

Arizona starter Zac Gallen's slider sits about 2 mph off his four-seam. Leading off the third inning, Jensen watched a first-pitch fastball off the plate. He did not watch the follow-up slider.

That ball was begging to be punished and Jensen obliged.

It was Jensen's 23rd home run of the season. He's been on quite the extra base hit binge of late. His last nine hits have gone for extra bases with four doubles, a triple and four bombs. He also has a 14-game streak of reaching base.

I am insanely excited for the future with Carter Jensen.

I'm also insanely excited for the present with Bobby Witt Jr. The power numbers have dipped for him this year and in his post game press conference manager Matt Quatraro says he's been pushing for Witt to try to pull the ball more this season. Why does he want his shortstop to pull more? Because good things happen when Witt pulls the ball in the air to the left side. Things like this:

That's a certified moon shot. Witt doesn't hit many of those. The launch angle on this home run was 38 degrees, which is tied for the second-highest launch angle on a home run in his career. His highest was a 41 degree bomb back in 2024...a grand slam against Reece Olson and the Detroit Tigers.

That accounted for four of the Royals five runs on the night. You wouldn't think so, but it was enough for starter Daniel Lynch IV and four relievers to secure the victory.

A good all-around ballgame.

By the end of nine innings, John Rave's uniform was caked in dirt and covered in grass stains. Fitting, as he was the spark plug on Wednesday. He helped get the Royals on the board in the second inning by igniting a tidy two-out rally. Rave got things going with a single and advanced to second when Kyle Isbel laced a single of his own. With Isaac Collins at the dish, mired in an 0-23 slump, Rave made a dash for third. It's an aggressive move that, if things go sideways, violates the baseball maxim of never making the third out at third base. The flip side was the fact that it was Collins up to bat and he can't buy a base hit at the moment, so why not try to create a little havoc?

And it worked! The throw from Arizona catcher James McCann was well wide of third and sailed into left field which allowed Rave to trot home with the first run of the night. That was the absolute best-case scenario in that it allowed Collins to complete his plate appearance—he grounded out to third—so the lineup flipped over to start the third inning.

Rave followed up his exploits on the basepaths with a couple of fantastic defensive plays in right field. The first play was when he had to charge on a sinking, shallow fly ball. He went to ground feet-first but found full extension with his right arm to get his glove down just before the ball found the grass. It was a fantastic grab.

He made another diving catch a couple of innings later on a fly ball that should've been an easy out, but was turned into something of an adventure when Isbel and Rave each seemed to assume the other outfielder had the play. In that situation, I have no idea what Isbel is doing. The ball was hit more toward center field and the center fielder is always the man in charge. Even after Rave went to ground to make a last-second catch, it seemed as though Isbel had the easier route to the ball. All semantics I suppose as the catch was made.

The fallout was that, due to the awkwardness of that play, the runner on second, Jordan Lawler was able to tag and get to third. Lawler scored the tying run on a Ketel Marte single. Given the pace of the ball off the bat (98 mph exit velocity), I'm not sure Lawler scores if he hadn't advanced to third.

Rave wasn't the only Royal flashing the leather. Nick Loftin made a nifty pirouette and throw home to cut down Ildemaro Vargas in the top of the first. That moment was key because starter Daniel Lynch IV was scuffling early and it felt as though the game could slip away early. Vargas walked to lead off the game on four pitches that were well off the zone. With one out, Geraldo Perdomo doubled to left which advanced Vargas to third. That set up the Loftin play at home. Credit also goes to catcher Carter Jensen for receiving the ball just to the first base side of home and sweeping the tag to get the runner at home. Nothing pleases me more than a finely executed defensive play.

Loftin also started a nifty double play in the eighth inning, fielding a tricky short hop grounder and then planting and delivering a perfect strike to Michael Massey at second on the pivot.

Loftin is having a fine defensive season at third. According to Baseball Savant, he's been worth six Outs Above Average which is third-highest in the majors and first in the American League among third basemen. The player with the second-most OAA in the AL at third? Maikel Garcia.

After the game, Lynch said he had felt like he had been a little too passive since moving into the starting rotation. His goal on Wednesday was to take the feeling he had as a reliever and funnel that into his start which was to say he was looking to be more on the attack. The result was a sinker and four-seam combo that ticked up ever so slightly in velocity. It wasn't where he was in the bullpen, but it played.

He recorded a 35 percent chase rate on the sinker, his most frequent pitch, and a 31 percent chase rate overall. He's not getting many whiffs—just six on 39 swings, but if opposing hitters are expanding the zone, Lynch may just avoid enough hard contact that he can grit through five innings as he did on Wednesday.

I'm still not sold on Lynch as a viable rotation candidate for a full season, but the results were solid enough. Five innings where he allowed four hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts is fifth starter material. If that's where he is next season, then fine. But he showed himself to be a dependable bullpen arm and going into this offseason that's where the Royals have to do the most work. I think it makes sense to slot Lynch into that relief mix and then start to add arms. They're going to need to play in the free agent market for another starter or two. That's just a fact.

The bullpen did their part. Jose Cuas, Anthony Gose, Craig Kimbrel and Nate Pearson combined for four scoreless innings. None of them pitched a clean inning. In fact, all but Gose allowed two baserunners. Again, they were able to get the job done to lock down the win. Would I count on this quartet to do it again? Absolutely not. But for one night, they got the job done.