TORONTO BLUE JAYS NOTES:
THE LATEST: The Blue Jays plated runs in four of the final five innings last night but were unable to overcome the Royals’ early lead, falling by a final score of 9-5. Toronto has lost three straight since an Opening Day win in St. Louis…Need a win tonight to avoid falling to 1-4 for the 4th time in team history (also: 1978, 2004, 2017).
BATT CHAPMAN: Matt Chapman doubled twice in his first two at-bats last night and followed that up with a walk and a run scored as part of a 2-for-3 performance…Is now batting .533 (8-for-15) with four doubles, two walks, and two RBI for a 1.388 OPS through four games to start the season. The third baseman’s hot start has him tied for 1st in the AL in doubles while sitting T-3rd in extra base hits…His three multi-hit games are also tied for the most among AL batters.
BO BOMBS: Bo Bichette picked up a single in the 7th and then connected for his 1st home run of the season as he led off the 9th inning…The homer was the 1st by a Toronto batter this year, ending a franchise-long homerless drought to begin a season at 35 innings. The shortstop is the only Blue Jay with hits in all four games to begin this season…Is now 8-for-19 (.421) with two extra-base hits, two RBI, and three runs scored to start the season…Led the AL in hits in each of the last two seasons, becoming the only player in team history to lead the league in hits more than once, and was the first player to do so since Whit Merrifield in 2018 and 2019 for the Royals.
HARD-HITTING STUFF: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. picked up a single on a 113.2 MPH liner to left last night…Also grounded out at 112.3 and 106.6 while finishing 1-for-4 with a walk…Already has 10 hard-hit balls (95+ MPH) this year, tied for the most in MLB…Recorded 265 hard-hit balls over the course of last season, the most in the Majors (2nd: José Abreu – 256).
HITS WITHOUT HOMERS: The Blue Jays have notched 42 hits so far (T-4th in the AL)…Their team batting average of .294 sits 3rd in the AL as the season begins…Also rank 3rd in OBP (.381), 9th in OPS (.752), and 10th in SLG (.371).
GETTING ON: Toronto has had 64 runners reach base through four contests, 5th most in the AL while three of the four teams in front ahead in that ranking have played an extra contest…Are now on a streak of 22 games with 8+ runners on base, the longest of all MLB clubs (courtesy Stats Perform). The Blue Jays led the AL in times on base in 2022 (2,395) as Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tied for 3rd most among AL hitters at 306.
WHAT’S LEFT: Including last night, the Blue Jays have already twice this season run out a starting lineup with four lefty bats in it…Did so two times in all of 2021 and three times in 2022.
LENGTHY ROAD WORK: The Blue Jays start the season with 10 straight road contests as renovations wrap up at Rogers Centre… Ties the longest road trip to kick off a campaign in team history (10G in 1984)…Marks the 3rd trip of 10+ games to begin a season by any team in the last 20
years, joining the 2019 Red Sox (11G) and the 2022 Athletics (10G)…Played three games in St. Louis (1-2), are now in Kansas City (0-1) for four contests and will then wrap up the trip with three games in Anaheim. Toronto’s .556 road win% in 2022 (45-36) ranked 3rd in the AL and tied for 2nd best in team history (1st: .580 in 1993)…Blue Jays hitters led the AL in road runs (416), AVG (.266), OBP (.331), SLG (.428), and OPS (.759)…The pitching staff ranked 5th in the AL in road ERA (3.70), 5th in road WHIP (1.24), and 6th in road opponents’ batting average (.245).
YUSEI STARTS: Yusei Kikuchi will make his 1st start of the season tonight…In his 20 starts last season, went 4-7 with a 5.25 ERA (48 ER/82.1 IP). The lefty made six starts and one relief appearance during 2023 Spring Training…Kept a 0.87 ERA as he allowed two runs on nine hits over 20.2 innings of work, including 10 walks and 31 strikeouts.
VS. THE ROYALS: All-Time: 220-200
2023: 0-1 Road: 99-110
Road: 0-1 Kauffman Stadium: 99-110
The Blue Jays went 5-2 against the Royals last season, taking two of three contests at Kauffman Stadium…Have taken each season series since 2018, going 20-9 vs. KC over that span. Whit Merrifield returns to face his former team for the 1st time…The 9th-round pick of the 2010 draft debuted with the Royals in 2016 and played in 863 games across seven seasons…Batted .286, was named to two All-Star teams, and led the AL in hits in both 2018 (192) and 2019 (206). Matt Chapman went 10-for-27 (.370) with three doubles, two home runs, and six RBI in the seven
games against the Royals last season…Is now a career .340 (36-for-106) hitter with 12 doubles, seven home runs, and 18 RBI across 29 contests (1.042 OPS)…His .651 SLG vs. KC ranks 3rd best among active hitters (min. 100 AB). George Springer leads all current Blue Jays with 43 career games played vs. KC…Has hit .243 (42-for173) with eight doubles, two triples, 10 homers, and 31 RBI for an .845 OPS.
STARTING PITCHER – Yusei Kikuchi, LHP #16
TODAY’S GAME:
Making his 1st start of the season…Beginning his 2nd season in a Blue Jays uniform. Over 7 Grapefruit League appearances this year (6 starts), went 2-1 with a 0.87 ERA (2 ER/20.2 IP), 10 walks, and 31 strikeouts…Led all qualified hurlers in Spring Training ERA and punchouts, while ranking 2nd in OPP AVG (.130) and 4th in WHIP (0.92).
2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Became the the 7th Japanese-born player to play for the Blue Jays, and the 5th pitcher to do so, joining Mike Nakamura (2004), Tomo Ohka (2007), Ryota Igarashi (2012), and Shun Yamaguchi (2020). Over 20 starts, went 4-7 with a 5.25 ERA (48 ER/82.1 IP). Won his 2nd game of the season on 5/16 vs. SEA, his 1st meeting with his former mates…Began the evening with 4.0 no-hit frames before finishing with 6.0 innings of one-hit, shutout ball (3BB, 6K)…Allowed no more than 1 hit in a start for the 3rd time in his career (also: 4/29/21 at HOU and 4/26/19 vs. TEX).
In the month of May, went 2-0 over 5 starts with a 2.36 ERA (7 ER/26.2 IP) and 31 strikeouts while holding batters to a .177 average. Tossed 6.0 innings of one-run ball on 6/30 vs. TB, scattering 4 hits and a walk with a season-high 8 strikeouts on 80 pitches (50 strikes)…The 6.0 frames matched a season-high (done 3 times)…Punched out Taylor Walls in the 5th for his 400th career strikeout, becoming the 15th Japanese-born player to reach the milestone.
Moved to the bullpen in mid August and kept a 4.91 ERA (10 ER/18.1 IP) while going 2-0 in 12 relief appearances. Earned his 1st career MLB save on 9/30 vs. BOS, throwing 3.0 innings of shutout ball with a hit, a walk, and 5 strikeouts.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: Made his MLB debut on 3/21/19 for Seattle against Oakland at the Tokyo Dome in Japan…Became the 1st Japanese-born player to make his Major League debut in Japan, picking up a no-decision (4.2 IP, 4H, ER, BB, 3K).
Recorded his 1st career complete game shutout on 8/18/19 at TOR, pitching 9.0 scoreless innings and allowing only two hits and a walk with
eight strikeouts…Became just the 13th pitcher (17th time) in club history to throw a complete game shutout within his first 30 career appearances (previous: Mike Montgomery on 6/30/15 at SD).
In 2021, set personal bests with 7 wins and 163 strikeouts (16th in the AL)…Averaged a career-high 9.30 SO/9.
Named to the American League All-Star Team for the 1st time on 7/4/21… Was on the AL club but did not pitch…Became the 14th Japanese-born player to be selected to participate in the Midsummer Classic.
Had a career-high 12 strikeouts in 6.0 IP on 7/23/21 vs. OAK…Was his 3rd double-digit strikeout game of the year and the 4th of his career.
Spent 8 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league with the Saitama Seibu Lions, earning himself three NPB All-Star nods while fashioning a 73-46 record and a 2.77 ERA.
VS. THE ROYALS:
Facing the Royals for the 6th time in his career and the 2nd time as a member of the Blue Jays…Pitched just 0.2 frames in his last visit to Kauffman Stadium on 6/8/22 (2H, 3ER, 4BB, 2K)…Has surrendered at least 3 runs in all 5 career meetings with the Royals.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
1ST WIN: After being held to 4 runs on 12 hits through their first 3 games, the Royals exploded for 9 runs on 10 hits in their 9-5 victory over the Blue Jays to mark their 1st win of the season and the 1st win of Matt Quatraro’s managerial career…against Blue Jays starter José Berríos the Royals scored 3 runs on 4 hits in the 1st inning and 4 runs on 5 hits in the 4th, including a 2-run triple by Nicky Lopez…an 8th run was added to Berríos’ line after he exited, as MJ Melendez hit a 2-run homer that traveled 443 ft. and drove in an inherited runner to give the Royals a 9-1 lead…Brady Singer allowed just 1 run on 2 hits and 3 walks in 5.0 innings, but four Royals relievers yielded 4 runs on 8 hits over the final 4.0 innings as Toronto’s comeback bid fell short.
The top three spots in the lineup went 5-for-12 with 5 RBI last night after going 3-for-31 in the first 3 games.
STARTING SOMETHING: Through the first 4 games of the season, Royals starters Zack Greinke, Jordan Lyles, Brad Keller and Brady Singer have combined for a 2.66 ERA (6 ER in 20.1 IP), which ranks 6th in the Majors and is more than 2 runs lower than their 4.76 ERA (440 ER in 832.2 IP) from last season, when they ranked 27th out of 30…the starting rotation has held opponents to a .234 average (18-for-77) through 4 games—5th in the American League—which is also a significant improvement on last year’s mark of .280 (last in the AL).
Kris Bubic will make his season debut tonight, after recording a 1.74 ERA (2 ER in 10.1 IP) and 15 strikeouts in 5 outings this spring…in his last start vs. Toronto last July 17, he allowed 2 unearned runs over 7.0 innings.
NEW START TIME: Tonight marks the second of 16 Royals weeknight home games that will begin at 6:40 p.m. CT this season, including 5 in April, 8 in May and 3 in September…of the remaining 65 home games, all but 2 will begin at 10 minutes past the hour, the only exceptions being FOX national broadcasts on Saturday, July 1 vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers and Saturday, Aug. 12 vs. the St. Louis Cardinals both of which will start at 6:15 p.m. CT.
Tonight marks the 2nd of 3 straight 6:40 p.m. CT starts, followed by a 1:10 p.m. CT start on Thursday.
ON DECK: After hosting the Twins for 3 games over the weekend to begin the season, the Royals are hosting the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium for 4 games to conclude the first homestand…the Royals first road trip will take them to San Francisco this weekend for a trio of day games vs. the Giants, including a 3:35 p.m. CT start for their home opener on Friday, then to Texas—where they played 2 exhibition games last week—for 3 night games…tonight marks the fourth of 12 consecutive days with a game before the next off day on Thursday, April 13.
VS. TORONTO: The Royals are attempting to win a season series vs. the Blue Jays for the first time since 2017, when they went 4-2, but have gone 8-20 in the four completed seasons since…although the Royals haven’t had much luck in recent years in Toronto, they have won 5 of their last 8 games vs. the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium dating back to 2021, including last night’s win…after this week’s 4-game set, the Royals in September will travel north of the border for 3 games, where they haven’t won a series since taking two of three in 2017.
Since the Royals defeated Toronto in the 2015 ALCS, they’re 15-26 (.366) in 41 games vs. the Blue Jays.
Although he didn’t play, last night marked a return to Kansas City for Whit Merrifield, who spent the first six-plus seasons of his big league career with the Royals, before being traded to Toronto at last year’s Trade Deadline…before the trade, Merrifield played in a franchise-record 553 consecutive games from June 25, 2018-July 10, 2022, a stretch in which he led the Majors with 654 hits…during his Royals tenure, Merrifield led the Majors in hits in back-to-back seasons in 2018-19, led the Majors in steals in 2018 and led The American League in steals in 2017 and 2019…he also tied for the Major League lead in doubles in 2021.
CAPTAIN SALVY: The Royals announced prior to last Thursday’s season-opening game that Salvador Perez has been named team Captain…Perez, 32, joins Royals Hall of Famers George Brett (1989-93), Frank White (1989-90) and Mike Sweeney (2003-07) as the only team Captains in club history…Salvy is a seven-time American League All-Star, a five-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a two-time Royals Les Milgram Player of the Year…he was unanimously named the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 World Series, and ranks among the Royals all-time leaders in home runs (223, 2nd), RBI (732, 7th), extra-base hits (472, 7th), total bases (2,207, 8th), doubles (238, 9th) and hits (1,278, 8th).
BALANCED SCHEDULE: For the first time since Interleague play was introduced in 1997, Major League Baseball has adopted a balanced schedule starting in 2023, in which the Royals will play all other 29 teams…they’ll play a total of 52 games vs. American League Central opponents, 64 games vs. teams from the American League East and West and 46 Interleague games, including 4 vs. St. Louis and 3 vs. all others…following their 2-game set at Busch Stadium from May 29-30, the Royals are scheduled for back-to-back off days on May 31-June 1, before beginning a 3-game homestand vs. Colorado…this will mark the first time that the Royals will have scheduled back-to-back off days since April 6-7, 2016…another scheduling quirk later in the season will come after the Royals host the Cardinals for 2 games from Aug. 11-12…on the following day, Sunday, Aug. 13, the Royals have a scheduled off day, which will be the first known originally scheduled off day on a Sunday in Royals history.
PACE OF PLAY: In addition to the balanced schedule, another big change for the 2023 season is the new pitch timer rules, which provided stunning results during Spring Training…in 453 games that lasted 9 innings across both leagues this spring, the average time of game was 2 hours, 34 minutes, and only 40 of those 453 games (8.8%) lasted at least 3 hours…Kansas City played 33 Cactus League games and 31 of them lasted 9 innings with an average of 2 hours, 31 minutes, slightly below league average…the other 2 games were shortened by rain…the Royals longest game of the spring was a 3-hour affair on March 11 vs. Milwaukee and their shortest 9-inning game was the March 26 contest in Mesa vs. the Cubs, in which they finished in 1 hour, 57 minutes…in the 2022 regular season, the Royals average time of game was 3 hours, 3 minutes, which tied for the 4th-fastest in the Majors.
Through 62 games that have ended in 9 innings across the Majors over the first five days of the regular season, the average game time has been 2 hours, 38 minutes, and only 11 of the 62 games (17.7%) lasted at least 3 hours…the Royals have finished their 4 games at 2:32, 2:18, 2:35 and 2:37.
TONIGHT’S STARTERS: LHP KRIS BUBIC (3-13, 5.58 ERA IN 2022)
KRIS BUBIC (boo-bich) made 27 starts (28 appearances) in his third season in 2022, a 7-start improvement from 2021…he tied Daniel Lynch for the most starts made by a Royal last year while his 129.0 innings ranked 5th…for the second consecutive season, he induced a team-leading 19 double plays, which ranked 4th in the AL, while his 1.33 GIDP-per-9.0 innings led the AL and only trailed St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson (1.61) for the highest rate in the Majors (min. 25 starts).
2022, A BREAKDOWN: Bubic’s season can be summarized in three stretches, with the first beginning on Opening Day and ending on May 11 at Texas, in which he went 0-3 with a 12.83 ERA (19 ER in 13.1 IP) through his first 6 outings (5 starts), capped by his lone relief appearance of the year on May 11 when he allowed a solo home run in his only inning of work, resulting in his option to Triple-A Omaha…Kris appeared to be rejuvenated by his time in the minors as he spun 5.0 scoreless innings of work in his return to the Majors on June 4 vs. the Astros, sparking a 13-game stretch through Aug. 10 in which he went 2-3 despite a 3.49 ERA (29 ER in 72.2 IP), and recorded a career-best four straight quality starts from July 17-Aug. 10…however, the tide turned beginning on Aug. 15 at Minnesota, as over his next 8 starts, he set a career-long losing streak by going 0-7 with a 7.58 ERA (32 ER in 38.0 IP) and .385 opponents’ average (60-for-156), before bookending his campaign with 5.0 scoreless frames vs. the Guardians in his Progressive Field debut on Oct. 1.
While in Omaha from May 12-June 3, he made 3 starts and was tagged for a 6.59 ERA (10 ER in 13.2 IP), but struck out 17 batters while walking just 4.
After being recalled from Triple-A Omaha on June 4, he exited all but 2 of his 22 starts with the Royals either leading (8 times), tied (3) or within 3 runs (9).
OUT WITH A BANG: Bubic ended 2022 on a high note as he claimed his 3rd win by spinning 5.0 scoreless frames against the Guardians on Oct. 1, while making his Progressive Field debut, en route to a 7-1 Royals victory…in doing so, he snapped a career-long 7-game losing streak (over 8 starts) that dated back to Aug. 15 at Minnesota…he also struck out 8 Guardians in the win, a season high and just 1 shy of his career-best 9, done on Aug. 21, 2021 in the infamous “no-rain rain delay” game in which he took a no-hitter into the 7th inning before a rain delay took 34 minutes, without a drop of rain falling, and Bubic allowed a 2-run home run after play resumed.
The win marked the 10th of his Major League career, making him the 32nd left-handed pitcher in Royals history to eclipse the 10-win threshold.
TWO FOR THE SHOW: Kris induced a team-best 19 groundball double plays last season, which finished ranked 4th in the American League, and he has 39 groundball double plays in 259.0 innings since the start of 2021, which are the most in the American League during that stretch, only trailing San Francisco’s Logan Webb (40 GIDP in 346.2 IP) for the Major League lead…he has induced groundball double plays at a rate of 1.36
per 9 innings in that span, which is the highest rate in the Majors (min. 250.0 IP), ahead of Pittsburgh right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller (1.23).
REVERSE SPLITS: Bubic only faced 134 left-handed batters in 2022 but they finished 42-for-113 (.372) vs. him with 17 walks and 6 home runs for a .459 on-base percentage and .611 slugging percentage…right-handed batters, on the other hand, hit .287 (114-for-397) with 12 home runs and a .436 slugging percentage…these numbers were in stark contrast to his 2021 totals, when he held lefties to a .238 average (19-for-80), although 12 of the 19 hits went for extra bases, for a .513 slugging percentage…right handers hit .251 (102-for-407) off him in 2021 with 18 home runs (.430 SLG).
Bubic’s opponents’ batting average vs. left-handed hitters of .372 was the highest in all of Major League Baseball (min. 100 lefties faced), more than 30 points higher than the next-worse pitcher (Cubs Rowan Wick, .341, 142 batters faced)…it tied Sidney Ponson’s 2009 season as the 4th-highest batting average surrendered to left-handed hitters in club history, but was the highest mark by a left-handed pitcher in Royals history.
WHEN IT MATTERS MOST: Kris struggled mightily in high-leverage situations last year, particularly with 2 outs and when runners were in scoring position…after getting 2 outs in an inning, he was tagged for a .306/.404/.478 slashline (48-for-157, .882 OPS) with 23 walks, which resulted in 23 2-out runs driven in…when he had runners in scoring position, batters slashed .339/.379/.466 (40-for-118, .845 OPS) with 54 runs surrendered.
Over 28 games (27 starts) last season, batters put together a .292/.358/.333 slashline against Bubic with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.
His opponents’ OPS with 2 outs ranked 3rd-worst in the AL in 2022, trailing only teammate Daniel Lynch (.936) and Cleveland’s Zach Plesac (.921).
Kris faced 296 batters that saw a 2-strike count, and collectively they amassed a .205/.284/.292 (54-for-264, .575 OPS) slashline, resulting in the 10th-highest opponents’ OPS in the American League with 2 strikes (min. 250 batters faced).
