A total bullpen effort

In Wednesday’s series finale against Atlanta, both starting pitchers allowed just a single hit.

For the Royals, that meant Angel Zerpa, who went an inning and a batter. He got four ground balls to short, the last of which went for a hit. Zerpa threw 16 pitches.

For Atlanta, that meant Joey Wentz, who gave up a hit to the first batter he faced on the afternoon. After that, he went 6.2 innings where he struck out seven and walked three. The Royals had a total of three balls in play against Wentz that were hit with an exit velocity greater than 95 mph. Wentz threw 95 pitches on the afternoon.

A Joey Wentz versus a bullpen game doesn’t vibe pitcher’s duel. Yet that’s what we got at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday.

The game was scoreless through nine. In the tenth, two different heroes came through for the Royals—one who was most unlikely and another who, well…it’s never a surprise when Salvy comes through.

Today we’ll begin at the end.

The first time the Royals had a runner on second came courtesy of the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred. Through nine innings, no Royal baserunner had advanced beyond first. Kyle Isbel tried, but was picked off caught stealing TOOTBLAN. The Royals have now run into outs on the bases 28 times this year. It feels like it happens quite often. Yet the average team has 31 TOOTBLANs this year. So the Royals aren’t that bad on the bases? Maybe it just seems like they run into those outs at the most inopportune times. Or maybe it’s because the Royals and their team OBP of .301 is about 15 points below the league average so they should cherish those baserunners, not run into outs.

So, thank you, Rob Manfred, and your intense dislike of extra innings. Your cockamamie idea sure helped out the Royals as they were about to run out of pitchers, All-Star Game style.

The Royals took immediate advantage of Manfred’s generosity. Or I should say Salvador Perez took immediate advantage. Or maybe the Braves decided they’d had enough and waved the white flag…why even bother pitching to Perez in that situation? His run means nothing. If ever there was a time for an intentional walk, it’s in the bottom of the tenth of a tie ballgame.

So the Braves decided to challenge Perez. Ok. After looking at a slider on the outer edge for the first strike from reliever Daysbel Hernández, the right-hander went back to the exact same spot with the exact same pitch. Insanity.

If you’re going to insist on throwing sliders to The Captain in that part of the zone, you’re going to get hurt. Perez was happy to oblige.

One of the best parts of this moment was the crowd. There were only about 18,000 at The K, but they were locked in. The “Salvy” chants started the moment he stepped into the box and increased in volume between pitches one and two. I’m not sure there’s ever been a more beloved player in the history of this franchise.

It was the 10th walkoff plate appearance (and ninth hit) in Perez’s career. He’s now tied for third in franchise history for most walkoff plate appearances:

George Brett - 15 walkoffs
Amos Otis - 12
Hal McRae - 10
Willie Wilson - 10
Salvador Perez - 10

Make room. There’s a fifth player who needs to be carved into the Mount Rushmore of Royals greats.

As for the pitching, this game demands a visual aid in the form of a box score.

The above is just insane. Nine pitchers combined to limit Atlanta to five hits and, most importantly, no runs! Also, one walk! What even is this? When you spin the wheel and play bullpen roulette, odds are strong that you’re going to land on at least one bum spot. Yet for one game, Matt Quatraro was on a Ned Yost in 2015 heater. Every call, every move, completely worked.

Angel Zerpa got those three ground ball outs in the first. John Schreiber struck out the side in the fourth. Hunter Harvey allowed singles to the first two batters he faced in the sixth and then recorded three outs. Carlos Estévez had a liner hit at 106 mph go directly into his glove. All good stuff, but the hero of the game was the guy who picked up the win: Sam Long.

Coming into the game at the start of the 10th with the Manfred Man on second, Long gave up a single to Ozzie Albies leading off the inning. The Manfred Man stopped at third. Trouble. The skies were darkening. This wasn’t just the danger zone. With runners on first and third and nobody out, it felt as if Atlanta were to break through with a run, they might not stop. Long can inspire that kind of dread.

Instead, the lefty went to work. He threw five strikes to Sean Murphy.

A first-pitch curve for a strike! Then look at pitch five, a slider, which covers up the location of pitch four, a four-seamer. I’m not sure Long wanted to elevate that slider, but it sure worked. This is a textbook sequence of what can happen when a pitcher gets ahead in the count.

Up next was Eli White. Again, Long delivered five strikes.

That fifth pitch was an insane four-seamer that froze White.

I don’t think Long has ever thrown a more perfect pitch.

With the lead run 90 feet away and nobody out, Sam Long turned into a strike-throwing machine. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but the infield could move back and look for just one out.

Two more strikes from Long, this time to Luke Williams. Williams made contact. It was loud. But it was on a line to Tyler Tolbert in left. Crisis averted.

Here’s Quatraro on Long’s outing.

“If you look back to when Sammy came back from the IL, he wasn’t the Sam Long we know. But almost incrementally, each time out, he’s gotten a little bit better. His velo’s picked up, the breaking ball has gotten better, so I feel really good when he’s going in there now. Because of the work he’s put in with Brian (Sweeney) and Stet (Mitch Stetter) and Zack (Bove), I think he’s going to keep getting better.”

The nine different pitchers to finish the shutout win were three more than the previous Royals record for most pitchers in a shutout. And it tied the Major League record for the most pitchers used in a shutout, done one other time: The Cleveland Guardians in a 10-inning win on Sept. 17, 2016.

This was quite the ballgame.

Neither team ever mounted a credible threat. The needle started moving in the Royals direction in the 10th while the Braves were still hitting. That’s what the Manfred Man will do. By the time Perez led off in the bottom of the 10th, the Royals Win Expectancy was at 81 percent. The computer is well aware of Salvador Perez.

The Royals starters for the upcoming series in Toronto had all been TBD, but prior to the game on Wednesday, Quatraro said that Michael Wacha would get the start on Friday with Seth Lugo slated for Sunday. They left Saturday’s spot as TBD.

That’s a bit odd considering Noah Cameron had been sandwiched between the two for most of this season. Sure, the rotation is a bit of a mixed bag at the moment with Kris Bubic now sidelined for the rest of the year, Rich Hill DFA’d on Tuesday and the bullpen game in the series finale with Atlanta.

I had thought the plan for Wednesday was for newly recalled Thomas Hatch to be the bulk guy behind Zerpa. As it turned out, Hatch was the only guy in the bullpen not to get in the game. That makes me think he could get the nod on Saturday, with the Royals pushing Cameron back behind Lugo and having him start the series opener against the Red Sox on Monday next week.

Hatch last pitched for the Storm Chasers on Saturday, going just 2.1 innings and throwing 43 pitches against the Syracuse Mets.

I’m thinking the Royals are shuffling their rotation so their three current starters aren’t all in a row. By dropping Hatch between Wacha and Lugo, the Royals would have their bullpen or emergency starter games spread out.

So instead of this rotation:

Wacha-Cameron-Lugo-Hatch?-?

We get this one:

Wacha-Hatch?-Lugo-Cameron-?

With just three healthy starters, I think the latter rotation is the most optimal. Unless the Royals swing a deal ahead of the trade deadline for another starter.

The trade deadline is today at 5 Central. On Trade Deadline Eve, a bunch of relievers changed teams early in the afternoon and into the evening. I had been keeping track of the movement and was going to post a brief recap here…And then all hell broke loose. There were a ton of deals, capped by Eugenio Suarez going to Seattle.

Somehow, today is supposed to top what went down yesterday? Good luck.

As for the Royals, no deals were made and, from what I can tell, there was nary a rumor or hint of interest. Either from the Royals about a player or about a Royals player in particular. It could be a quiet day. Although I would not be surprised if JJ Picollo found a way to get a player or two ahead of the deadline. A starting pitcher perhaps? Or how about another bat for the lineup? Or both?

Among the starters who could move are Sandy Alcantara in Miami, Dylan Cease in San Diego and Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly in Arizona. The outfielders who could have a new home by dinner time tonight include Jarren Duran in Boston, Luis Robert Jr. and Steven Kwan. Those are just some of the names currently floating in rumors. Should be an interesting afternoon.