KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
CHANGE OF SCENERY: The Royals needed all three facets—pitching, defense and timely hitting—to score a 3-1 win at Oracle Park yesterday and spoil the Giants home opener…Nicky Lopez put Kansas City on the board in the 2nd inning with an RBI single that bounced through a drawn-in infield, but the Giants responded with a run in the bottom half…Vinnie Pasquantino broke the tie with a solo HR in the 4th that nearly reached the bay, and Salvador Perez added an insurance homer in the 8th that traveled 416 ft…Joc Pederson tripled to begin the 9th, which brought the tying run to the plate vs. Scott Barlow, who benefited from a pair of called strikeouts and a diving catch by Matt Duffy at third base to secure his 1st save of the season and snap a 3-game skid.
ANOTHER 1ST WIN: After going 1-6 on the season-opening homestand, the Royals yesterday secured their 1st road win, a promising start after beginning 0-4 on the road last year en route to a 26-55 record away from home…it was also the 1st win under Interim Manager Paul Hoover, who is leading the club while Manager Matt Quatraro is out with an illness…Q earned his 1st managerial win Monday night, and even though Hoover was making decisions from the dugout yesterday, Elias tells us that the win over the Giants counts toward Q’s ledger.
PITCHING PROPS: Brad Keller continued the Royals run of strong starting pitching yesterday, allowing just 1 run in 5.2 innings, marking the seventh time in 8 games that a Royals starter has allowed 2 runs or fewer…as a result, Royals starters own a 3.16 ERA (15 ER in 42.2 IP), which ranks 6th in the Majors and marks a significant improvement over last season, when Royals starters ranked 27th out of 30 with a 4.76 ERA (440 ER in 832.2 IP).
It’s only been 8 games, but Royals pitchers have shown significant improvements in several categories… after posting a 3.74 BB/9 and 50.8% first-pitch strike rate last year, which ranked 29th and 30th, respectively, they rank 13th in both statistics this year, posting a 3.16 BB/9 and 61.4% first-strike rate.
The Giants led the Majors with 15 homers through their first 6 games and tied for 2nd in runs per game at 6.3…but in their home opener yesterday, Royals pitchers held the Giants offense to 1 run on 5 hits.
SCORING CHANGE: Major League Baseball announced a scoring change yesterday to the Royals Opening Day game vs. the Twins…in the top of the 2nd inning, Joey Gallo reached vs. Zack Greinke on what was originally ruled an E9, when MJ Melendez, who was playing shallow in right field, failed to field a groundball cleanly when it appeared he had a chance to throw out Gallo at first base…this play has since been ruled a base hit, removing the only error from the Royals defensive totals…this means Kansas City is one of three teams that has yet to make an error this season, joining the Mets and Cardinals…last year, the Royals set an American League record by beginning the season with 11 errorless games, a mark they are just 3 games shy of entering today.
JUST KEEP SWINGING: The Royals have shown some signs of life on offense of late, scoring 6 runs over their last 11.0 innings since the 8th inning on Thursday, on the heels of a 23.0-inning scoreless drought…they’ve hit 3 HR over the last 11.0 innings, nearly matching their total of 4 HR in their first 60.0 innings on offense…the Royals were shut out three times in their first 6 games and despite their recent surge, they still rank last in the Majors in batting average (.180) and slugging percentage (.300) and rank 29th in runs per game (2.5), on-base percentage (.263) and OPS (.563)…but despite the lack of results, the advanced metrics show promise in the Royals approach, as they rank tied for 1st in the Majors, according to Baseball Savant, with a 91.4 mph average exit velocity…the Royals also rank 2nd in the Majors with a 48.1% Hard Hit Rate (defined as balls with an exit velocity of 95.0 mph or greater), trailing only the Dodgers (51.3%)…but despite consistently making hard contact, the Royals rank last among all 30 teams with a .218 Batting Average on Balls in Play and their expected batting average is 61 points higher than their actual batting average, the largest gap in the Majors.
AFTERNOON DELIGHT: Today’s 3:05 p.m. CT start marks the third of 4 consecutive day games for the Royals, including tomorrow’s series finale in San Francisco…that means 7 of the Royals first 10 games will be played during the day, and they’re scheduled for 64 day games overall this season, which would match 2021 for their 2nd most in team history, trailing only last season, when they played a club-record 69 day games.
VS. GIANTS: The Royals began their Interleague schedule with a win yesterday over the Giants, improving to 14-6 (.700) all-time vs. San Francisco, which marks the Royals best win percentage vs. any opponent and is also the best win percentage by any team vs. the Giants…Kansas City has pitched to a 3.22 ERA in 20 regular season games vs. the Giants, which is its lowest mark against any single opponent, ahead of its 3.47 ERA in 16 games vs. the Mets…the Royals have gone 5-1-0 in 6 completed season series with the Giants, and 2022 marked the first year in club history in which the Royals lost the season series (1-2)…these totals do not include postseason play, as Kansas City fell to San Francisco in 7 games in the 2014 World Series.
Salvador Perez’s solo HR in the 8th inning yesterday was his 171st hit in Interleague play, breaking a tie with Alcides Escobar (170) for the 2nd most in Royals history, trailing only Alex Gordon (210)… yesterday’s HR was Salvy’s 95th career Interleague RBI, breaking a tie with Gordon for the club record.
SERIES SPEAKING: With yesterday’s win, the Royals put themselves in position to secure a series victory with another win today or tomorrow…the Royals went 3-7 in National League ballparks last season—including a win here in San Francisco—and their only series win came at Coors Field, where they took 2 of 3…the Royals didn’t win a road series last year until April 26-28, when they went 2-1 in Chicago vs. the White Sox, and they finished last season 1-11 in their last 12 road series, the only win coming last Sept. 2-4 in Detroit.
PACE OF PLAY: The new pitch timer rules implemented for 2023 have already produced dramatic results through the first nine days of the season…through 106 games that have ended in 9 innings, the average game time has been 2 hours, 37 minutes, and only 15 of the 106 games (14.1%) lasted at least 3 hours… the Royals 8 games have averaged 2 hours, 28 minutes, which is 9 minutes below the league average and is tied for the 2nd-fastest average time in the young season, ahead of only the Twins (2:24)… compared to 9-inning games across the Majors last season, average time of game is down 26 minutes, while batting averages are up from .243 to .249, runs per game are up from 8.6 to 9.1 and stolen base success rates have jumped from 75.4% to 79.8%…the current success rate of steals would shatter the Major League record set in 2021 at 75.7%
TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP BRADY SINGER (1-0, 1.80)
BRADY SINGER is making his 2nd start of the season and 65th of his career today vs. San Francisco…it’s his 2nd career start vs. the Giants and 1st since last June 13… Singer is in his fourth season in the Majors and was selected by Kansas City in the 1st round (18th overall) of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Florida.
1ST WIN: Singer led the Royals to their 1st win in Monday’s 9-5 victory over the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium, in which he allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 3 walks in 5.0 innings, with 3 strikeouts…he allowed just two baserunners through the first 4.0 innings, but stranded both in the 2nd and took a 7-0 lead into the 5th, when he issued 2 walks and a double but escaped with just 1 run allowed thanks to a double play.
HIGH NOTES: Over his last 11 starts dating back to Aug. 9, 2022, Singer is 7-1 with a 2.53 ERA (19 ER in 67.2 IP) and .229 opponents’ average (56-for-245)…the Royals are 9-2 in those outings and he has held opponents to 1 run fewer in 7 of those 11 starts.
A STAR IS BORN: Singer pitched a career-best 153.1 innings in 2022 in a career-high-tying 27 appearances (24 starts)…he began the season in the bullpen, but only pitched in 3 of the Royals first 16 games before being optioned to Triple-A on April 28…he returned on May 17 and made a team-high 24 starts from that point on.
Upon joining the starting rotation last May 17, Singer went 10-5 with a 3.11 ERA (51 ER in 147.2 IP), 8th best in the American League from May 17 through season’s end…his 10 wins were the most by a Royal since Jason Vargas tied for the Majors lead with 18 in 2017…Singer’s 3.23 ERA (55 ER in 153.1 IP) for the season was the 5th best by a Royal (min. 150.0 IP) in the Wild Card Era (since 1995), trailing only Zack Greinke in his 2009 Cy Young Award-winning season (2.16), James Shields in 2013 (3.15) and 2014 (3.21) and Yordano Ventura in 2014 (3.20)…the last Royal with a lower ERA than Singer’s and a higher win percentage (.667) was David Cone during his 1994 Cy Young Award-winning season, in which he went 16-5 (.762) with a 2.94 ERA (56 ER in 17.12 IP).
Singer made 7 starts last season in which he pitched at least 7.0 innings and allowed 1 run or fewer, which tied for the 4th-most such starts in the American League, trailing Martín Pérez (9), Justin Verlander (8) and Shohei Ohtani (8)…it was the most such starts by a Royal since Edinson Vólquez had 7 in 2015, and the last Royal with more such starts was Shields (10) in 2014.
He had a career-high 12 strikeouts last July 23 vs. Tampa Bay, a game in which he did not allow a hit until the 6th inning…his 12 strikeouts here the most by a Royal in three years, and he followed that start with 10 strikeouts over 7.0 scoreless innings—with just 1 hit allowed—on July 28 at Yankee Stadium…in doing so, he became the seventh Royal with back-to-back 10-strikeout starts, joining Nate Karns (May 8-13, 2017), Ventura (Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2015), Greinke (April 18-24, 2009), Bret Saberhagen (July 4-9, 1989), Bill Butler (July 15-20, 1969) and Kevin Appier, who had a franchise-record three straight such starts in 1996.
Brady recorded 7.0 scoreless innings in back-to-back starts last May 17 and May 22 upon his return from Omaha, and extended his scoreless streak—which began on April 10—to 18.2 innings before it was snapped on May 28 in Minnesota, marking the longest scoreless streak by a Royal since Wade Davis recorded 22.0 consecutive scoreless innings in 2015.
SPRING FORWARD: Brady followed his 2022 breakout season with an eventful spring, going 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA (3 ER in 12.2 IP) in 4 starts with the Royals, recording 18 strikeouts (12.8 K/9) and 2 walks (1.4 BB/9)…he also pitched 2.0 innings in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA, who lost in the championship game vs. Team Japan.
CHANGE OF TUNE: Brady threw 182 changeups in 24 starts in 2022, which accounted for 8.0% of his 2,273 pitches after returning from Triple-A Omaha on May 17…that total was more than double the 88 changeups he threw in 27 starts in 2021, which equaled 3.8% of his pitches thrown…after returning from Omaha on May 17 with a focus on mixing in the changeup, Singer went 10-5 with a 3.11 ERA (51 ER in 147.2 IP), after going 9-15 with a 4.67 ERA (103 ER in 198.1 IP) in his previous 42 career appearances (39 starts)…from May 17 through season’s end, opponents went 8-for-34 (.235) vs. the changeup.
CASTING CALLS: In 24 starts after his May 17 recall last year, Brady induced a called strike on 478 of his 2,273 pitches (21.0%), 2nd most in the Majors, trailing only Adam Wainwright (519)…Singer’s rate of 21.0% called strikes led the Majors after his recall (min. 1,500 pitches), ahead of Wainwright (20.8%)…since his 2020 debut season, Singer’s called-strike rate of 20.9% ranks 2nd in the Majors (min. 3,000 pitches), trailing Wainwright’s rate of 21.2%.
WALK THIS WAY: Singer issued 35 walks in 153.1 innings in 2022 for a 2.05 BB/9, a significant improvement on the rate he recorded in his first two seasons from 2020-21, when he issued 76 walks in 192.2 innings for a 3.55 BB/9…Singer’s walk rate in 2022 was the best by a Royal (min. 150.0 IP) since James Shields posted a 1.74 BB/9 in 2014…Singer’s 4.29 K/BB ratio (150 K/35 BB) tied Nestor Cortes for 10th best in the American League in 2022 (min. 150.0 IP) and was the 4th-best mark in franchise history, trailing only Zack Greinke (4.75 in 2009), Bret Saberhagen (4.49 in 1989) and Danny Duffy (4.48 in 2016).
Singer had 9 starts in 2022 in which he pitched at least 5.0 innings and did not issue a walk, which matched the 3rd-most such starts in the American League, trailing only Corey Kluber (13) and Jameson Taillon (12)…Brady’s 9 starts with at least 5.0 innings and no walks matched the 5th-most such starts in franchise history, trailing only Paul Byrd (13 in 2002), Saberhagen (10 in 1985 and 1989) and Doug Bird (10 in 1976).
VS. GIANTS: In his only previous outing vs. the Giants last June 13 here in San Francisco, Singer did not factor into the decision of a 6-2 Royals loss, despite allowing just 2 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks in 5.0 innings, with 5 strikeouts…that was only his 2nd—and most recent—start in a National League ballpark, the 1st coming on Aug. 4, 2020 of his rookie season at Wrigley Field, where he suffered a 5-4 loss after allowing 4 runs in 5.0 innings.
Singer went 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA (7 ER in 8.0 IP) in 2 Interleague starts as a rookie in 2020, but in 5 starts vs. National League opponents since the 2021 season, he’s 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA (8 ER in 29.2 IP) and .194 opponents’ average (20-for-103) and just 1 home run allowed (0.3 R/9).
ON THE ROAD: Brady is making his 1st road start of the 2023 season today, after going 2-3 with a 3.99 ERA (26 ER in 58.2 IP) in 12 road outings (10 starts) last year…he held opponents to 2 runs or fewer in 5 of his 10 road starts last season, including 6.0 scoreless innings last Sept. 17 at Fenway Park, which marked his last road win…Singer is seeking his 1st win in a National League park, as he’s 0-1 in 2 previous starts, including 1 here last June 13.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: SF will look to level the series with Kansas City this afternoon after dropping yesterday’s home opener 3-1…the Giants haven’t lost two straight games at home to open a new season since 2015 when they lost five straight to open the home schedule to Colorado and Arizona.
ROSTER MOVES: C Austin Wynns (#14) was selected to the Major League roster and C Roberto Pérez was placed on the 60-day IL with a right rotator cuff strain…additionally, IF/OF Darin Ruf was signed to a minor league contract and C Joey Bart will begin a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Sacramento.
JEKYLL & HYDE: The disparity in the Giants offense early on in wins and losses has been dramatic as the numbers below illustrate.
ARRIVEDERCI!: Despite not hitting a homer yesterday, the Giants 15 homers this year through seven games are still second-most by a Giants team through its first seven games of a season behind only the 2003 Giants that hit 16 in their first seven games…the ’03 team also holds the mark through eight games with 18.
Giants, Most Home Runs Through Seven Games (All-time)
Year, Team Home Runs
2003 SF Giants 16
2023 SF Giants 15
1947 NY Giants 14
Year, Team Home Runs
2016 SF Giants 14
Three Tied 12
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: The Giants have 10 different players that have at least one homer so far in 2023 tied for most in the Majors with the Tampa Bay Rays…for reference, SF had 23 different players hit a homer last year, tied for second-most in MLB with the A’s…Cincinnati had the most with 25 different players with at least one homer.
THE COMFORTS OF HOME?: LHP Sean Manaea will make his \first start for SF today (second appearance)…in his career the southpaw has traditionally been a better pitcher in his home ballpark than on the road, posting a 3.68 career ERA in 79 home games compared to 4.49 ERA in 81 road games…that was on display last year as well as you’ll see from the chart below courtesy of Stats, LLC.
MLB, Largest Difference Between ERA at Home/on Road — 2022
Player, Team Home ERA Road ERA Difference
Dakota Hudson, STL 2.84 5.78 -2.94
Charlie Morton, ATL 3.05 5.72 -2.67
Patrick Corbin, WAS 5.17 7.75 -2.58
Sean Manaea, SD 3.62 6.16 -2.54
Alex Cobb, SF 2.68 5.20 -2.52
(home better; min 10. starts each split)
SLICE OF PIE: Through seven games, the Giants have scored 66.7% of their runs (26-of-39) via the homer.
SUPER SMASH BROS: Entering play today, Giants hitters rank seventh in their percentage of balls that are classified as hart-hit (95+ mph) at 43.1%…Kansas City checks in second at 48.1% in the chart below (Sports Info Solutions).
MLB, Hard HIt Percentage Leaders — 2023
Team Hard-Hit %
Los Angeles-NL 52.0%
Kansas City 48.1%
St. Louis 47.5%
Tampa Bay 46.6%
Team Hard-Hit %
Baltimore 45.0%
Los Angeles-AL 43.2%
San Francisco 43.1%
RIGHT-O!: All 15 of the Giants home runs this season have come off right-handed pitching…in fact each of the Giants last 18 homers have come off righties dating to last year…in 2022, SF tied for 18th in home runs vs. RHP (114) (Stats, LLC).
HOMELAND: SF went 44-37 at home in 2022 and in the Gabe Kapler-era (2020-pres.), the Giants have played good baseball here on the shores of McCovey Cove…since 2020, SF is 117-79 (.597) at Oracle Park, sixth-best in MLB and third-best in the NL in that stretch…only the Dodgers (140-58, .707) and Braves (117-76, .606) have been better NL clubs at home since 2020.
WE USED TO BE ROY-ALS (ROY-ALS): Four of 26 players on SF’s active roster today used to play for the Royals…LHP Scott Alexander (6th round, 2010), RHP Jakob Junis (29th round, 2011) and today’s SF starter LHP Sean Manaea (1st round, 2013) were all originally drafted by the Royals before eventually making their way to San Francisco…IF/OF Matt Beaty was an NRI in Kansas City’s camp this year before being acquired by SF on Opening Day so he never played a regular season game with Kansas City.
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND: After day games during each of the six games on the road trip, SF kicks off its first homestand of the year with — yup — three more day games…according to Stats, LLC, the nine straight day games to open the year is the longest stretch by a Giants team since moving west in 1958… the previous longest streak to open a season was a seven-game stretch to open the 1995 campaign.
TODAY’S STARTER – SEAN MANAEA LHP #52
WITH THE GIANTS: Begins first season with Giants…signed two-year, $25 million contract with San Francisco this offseason after spending 2022 with San Diego…Manaea does have an opt-out after this season in the deal.
LAST OUTING: Piggybacked off starter Anthony DeSclafani last Monday at Chicago-AL…the lefty allowed three runs on two hits, one being a home run by OF Luis Robert, and two walks while striking out one across 2.0 innings of relief.
VS. KANSAS CITY: Has faced Kansas City four times during his career, the most recent outing coming with San Diego in 2022…Manaea was tagged for six runs on 10 hits over 4.0 innings on Aug. 28 of last year at Kauffman Stadium…in his last two starts vs. KC (last year and one in 2021), Manaea has allowed 11 runs on 19 hits in 9.0 innings.
LONG TIME NO SEE: Was selected in the first round (34th overall) by the Royals in the 2013 MLB Draft out of Indiana State University…was later traded to Oakland at the 2015 deadline in exchange for utility player Ben Zobrist…likely to face-off with Manaea in the batter’s box today is Kansas City IF Hunter Dozier, who was selected by the Royals with their first first round pick, eighth overall, out of Stephen F. Austin State University…the two were teammates in
2014 at High-A Wilmington.
2023 SPRING TRAINING: Manaea worked out at Driveline in the offseason and saw an increase in velocity this spring, reaching 96 mph after averaging 91.2 mph in 2022…he was 2-1 with a 4.08 ERA, 14 strikeouts, a 0.96 WHIP and a .215 opposing batting average across 17.2 innings in five games (four starts).
LAST SEASON: Was 8-9 with a 4.96 ERA (87er, 158.0ip) in 30 games (28 starts) for San Diego…he struck out 156, the second highest mark of his career, in his first National League season…allowed 29 home runs, a career-high…his 1.65 home runs per nine innings were the most among pitchers with at least 150.0 innings.
FROM DIEGO TO THE BAY: All eight seasons in Majors have been with California teams, pitching for Oakland 2016-2021, and San Diego in 2022…despite the Giants being his third team, Gabe Kapler is Manaea’s second MLB manager as former Oakland skipper Bob Melvin also left for San Diego in 2022.
APRIL FLOWERS: Manaea’s not been one for slow starts to a season…Including his one career March start, the first month of a campaign has been the lefty’s most dominant…in 23 career March/April games (22 starts), Manaea has a 3.16 ERA (47er, 133.2ip), 126 strikeouts, 1.00 WHIP, .189 opposing batting average and a monthly best 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings over 133.2 innings…two of Manaea’s three career shutouts have been in April, including his no-hitter vs. Boston on April 21, 2018.
CALIFORNIA LOVE: Was 6-3 with a 3.62 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and .229 opposing batting average in 74.2 home innings in 2022… his road ERA was 6.16…Manaea’s career ERA at home is 3.68 compared to 4.49 on the road.
