A total team effort

It felt very academic. That's a good thing. The Royals 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday was, despite the early deficit for the home side, fairly bereft of drama. Games like that are sort of nice.

The victory was the fourth consecutive for the Royals, matching their longest winning streak of the season, set exactly one week ago. Another way to look at that is they're 8-2 over their last 10 games. It would appear they have moved forward from that rocky start. Winning games in comfortable fashion helps erase the memories of early struggles.

It also helps that these are—for the month of May and for a team that stumbled in April—fairly important games. Monday was the first of seven at home against AL Central rivals. After Cleveland visits for four, the Detroit Tigers arrive for three. Then, the Royals depart for Chicago and a three-game set with the White Sox. That's 10 games against the division, which means it's an opportunity to correct some early season mistakes.

Monday's win featured a little bit of everything—speed, power, good defense, quality starting pitching and a feisty bullpen. The stars led the way, but ultimately it was a total team effort to lock down the first victory of this crucial 10-game run.

Starter Michael Wacha put on a pitch-to-contact clinic. The right-hander needed just 79 pitches to get through seven innings. The only spot of trouble Wacha encountered came in the second when Travis Bazzana singled and David Fry followed with a home run on a 2-0 cutter that caught far too much of the dish. I'm thinking it wouldn't have been a home run in the old Kauffman configuration, but it's hard to be certain. If it hadn't left the yard with the fences back, it probably would've hit the wall and gone for extra bases. No worry, because after the Guardians did that rapid-fire damage, Wacha righted himself, getting the next two batters on four pitches.

That kind of efficiency was the theme of the night for Wacha. He threw just six pitches to get his three outs in the first inning. All six went for strikes. Thus, the tone was set.

Even in that second inning, when Wacha was touched for two runs, he didn't really reach any kind of maximum effort. In fact, he was around the zone all night long.

I mean, he was at 60 pitches through six innings. At that point, a complete game was not out of the question. Even if that's not a thing anymore. Alas, Wacha did hit a bit of a speed bump in that seventh. A minor one, but enough to call an end to his night. Overall, Wacha allowed just four hits on the night. Two came in the second. The other two were back-to-back in the seventh as Fry singled with two outs and Angel Martínez followed with a double that moved Fry to third. Wacha steadied and retired Bo Naylor to end the threat and his own night.

One of the things I marveled at in Wacha's start was the fact he was so dominating, yet as I alluded to in the intro, he generated just two swings and misses on the night and struck out just three batters. Yep...that's all about pitching to contact. Both swings and misses Wacha got resulted in a third strike. His other punchout came on a 3-2 cutter that the batter, Daniel Schneemann challenged.

Ohhh! Quick ABS Challenge aside! Schneemann was ahead in this battle against Wacha with a 3-1 count. Pitch number five was down and away, a fastball in a really nice location given the count. Schneemann was displeased with the call but did not challenge. The next pitch was a cutter in almost the exact same location, just a schosh down from the four-seamer he saw moments earlier.

A close pitch, but did it really warrant a challenge? Probably not, but Schneemann was clearly on tilt in that moment, squandering a favorable count on a pair of perfectly placed offerings. Thus, a wasted challenge. It's fun to see a frustrated hitter tap their helmets. I don't think I've seen one overturned when that kind of emotion is in play.

Back to Wacha...I don't think I would call his performance on Monday dominant, even though he kept the Guardians at bay for most of the night. He jumped ahead of 17 of 26 batters he faced with a first-pitch strike—although some of those were put in play—and just kept pumping the ball into the zone all night long. Nights like that make for an enjoyable watch. A veteran pitcher just going out and getting out after out is just fun.

Wacha's starting pitching counterpart, Tanner Bibee, was not so efficient. The Royals waited until their second time through the order to inflict damage. Bobby Witt Jr. led off the frame with a 422 foot blast on a hanging cutter. It was Witt's third home run of the season and his third home run of his career against Bibee. After Monday, Witt is now hitting .375/.483/.750 against Bibee in 29 career PAs.

Witt's bomb was followed by a Vinnie Pasquantino double off the right-center wall. As the Pasquatch noted after the game, by bringing in the fences, they've made doubles more difficult to come by. He was joking. I think. Anyway, it required another nifty slide from a big guy trying to get that base. Then he had to keep running as Salvador Perez dribbled a single up the middle that just kissed the top of second base. It put enough english on the ball that it slid between the legs of Bazzana and into center, scoring Pasquantino as the tying run from second.

As good as Witt has been in his career against Bibee, that was Perez's first hit against the Cleveland starter in 24 career PAs.

After Perez reached, Bibee continued to struggle, allowing a single to Carter Jensen and a walk to Lane Thomas to load the bases with nobody out. A prime chance for the Royals to not only seize the lead, but break the game wide open. Except Bibee buckled down and got Jac Caglianone looking and Isaac Collins swinging. He was one out from getting out of a huge jam.

By the time the dust cleared, the Royals sent nine men to the plate, scored four runs and forced Bibee to throw a whopping 39 pitches. That was almost half the number of pitches Wacha threw in his seven innings.

And the Royals, as good teams often do, kept on scoring. They added a little insurance in the sixth when Jac Caglianone torched his fourth home run of the season. On his bobblehead night! So it was preordained. Cags is coming into his own of late. All four of his homers have come in the last 12 games. Since April 20 he’s hitting .270/.343/.540 (17-for-63) with eight extra-base hits total.

Another run was tallied in the seventh when Witt reached on an error, advanced to second a wild pitch, swiped third and scored on a Pasquantino single. Pasquantino then stole second himself! The Turbo Brothers!

There are many obscure stats in the game that don't mean much at all, but I am intrigued at the number of times Witt has hit a home run and stolen a base in the same game. It underscores how complete his game is. He's done it twice this season and now 19 times total in his career. That's the third-most in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Carlos Beltran who did it 25 times for the Royals and Amos Otis who singled and homered in the same game 21 times. Decent company Witt is already keeping.

After the game, the Royals announced that Tuesday's scheduled starter, Noah Cameron, would have his start skipped as he's dealing with a sore back. Stephen Kolek will be recalled from his Triple-A rehab assignment to make the start. No word yet as to the corresponding move, although, depending on the severity of the issue, it could be Cameron to the IL.

Kolek started the year on the IL with an oblique strain and had been on that rehab assignment in Omaha since mid-April. He's made four starts for the Storm Chasers, tallying 16.1 innings with a 2.76 ERA with 14 strikeouts and just four walks.