KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
HIGH FIVE: All three phases contributed to Kansas City’s 5-3 win in Cleveland last night, in which the Royals snapped a 5-game losing streak…Ryan Yarbrough set the tone with 6.0 innings of 1-run ball, lowering his ERA to 3.48 (12 ER in 31.0 IP) in 6 starts this season…Edward Olivares gave the Royals an early lead on a 2-run double in the 2nd, and Salvador Perez hit a 2-run HR in the 6th to mark his 2nd straight game with a dinger…Maikel Garcia added some insurance with a solo shot in the 7th, and Scott Barlow stranded a pair of singles in the 9th to mark his 12th save and 55th of his career, breaking a tie with Roberto Hernández for 7th most in Royals history.
SALVY SPLASHES: Salvador Perez has homered in his last 2 games on the heels of a 19-game HR drought, marking the 37th time he’s homered in consecutive games, which ranks 2nd in Royals history behind George Brett (38 times)…last night’s HR was the 240th of Salvy’s career, matching Jorge Posada for the 2nd most among primary catchers this century (min. 75% games at the position), trailing only Brian McCann (282)…last night was Salvy’s 200th home run as a catcher, which makes him the 15th player in Major League history, according to Elias, to reach that milestone…nine of the other 14 catchers on that list are in the Hall of Fame.
DINGER PARTY: After being held homerless in their 4-game series vs. the Tigers last week at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals have hit 9 home runs through the 1st 4 games of this trip, including a season-high-tying 4 homers on Sunday in the Bronx…in fact, 13 of the 16 runs scored on this trip (81.3%) have come via home runs, which is a sharp increase from the norm…for the season, Kansas City has scored 122 of its 379 runs via home
runs (32.2%), which is the 3rd-lowest rate in the Majors, ahead of Cleveland (27.7%) and Washington (31.6%).
Royals catchers have hit 20 homers this season, which rank 2nd in the Majors behind only Atlanta (26).
SERIES SPEAKING: The Royals won their 1st series-opening game last night since June 22 at Tampa Bay, snapping a 7-game skid in openers…with a win tonight or tomorrow, the Royals would clinch their first series victory since June 30-July 2, when they won 2 of 3 vs. the Dodgers…the Royals are also seeking their first series win over the Guardians since July 8-10, 2022 at Kauffman Stadium, and have lost four straight series since… the Royals are winless in their last six series at Progressive Field since they won 3 of 4 from Sept. 7-10, 2020.
The Royals are 3-5 vs. the Guardians and must win 4 of the last 5 meetings to clinch the season series.
CLEVELAND CONNECTIONS: The Royals are visiting Cleveland for the second time this month, after losing 3 of 4 here before the All-Star break…the Royals played 78 games this season before their first meeting with the Guardians, but this series will cap a run of 10 games vs. them within a span of 26 games dating back to June 27.
Royals first-year Manager Matt Quatraro was Terry Francona’s Asst. Hitting Coach here in Cleveland from 2014-17, a four-year run in which the Guardians offense ranked 1st in the Majors in doubles and 5th in OPS.
Prior to being named Royals Pitching Coach last offseason, Brian Sweeney spent five seasons here in Cleveland from 2018-22, including the last three as Bullpen Coach…during his three-year run in that role, the Guardians finished 5th, 6th and 4th in the Majors in bullpen ERA, including a 3.02 ERA last season.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Over the last 2 games, the Royals have scored 10 runs on 19 hits, including 4 doubles and 6 home runs, their most homers in any 2-game span this season…this comes after they were held to 2 runs or fewer in 6 of their 1st 9 games out of the break…individually, several different Royals are swinging a hot bat.
MJ Melendez ended the 1st half in an 8-for-56 slump (.143) with no multi-hit efforts over 15 games…he altered his batting stance over the break and has hit safely in 9 of 11 games since, during which he’s batting .268 (11-for-41) with 5 extra-base hits…since the break, MJ’s average exit velocity of 95.5 mph on 31 batted balls is tied with Brandon Nimmo for the Major League lead (min. 25 batted balls), ahead of Giancarlo Stanton (95.4 mph), Ronald Acuña Jr. (94.8 mph) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (94.2 mph).
Since the start of the Dodgers series on June 30, Maikel Garcia is batting .321 (25-for-78) in 20 games, which ranks 9th in the American League during that time…since his recall on May 2, Garcia’s .279 average (70-for-251) ranks 2nd among American League rookies, trailing only Boston’s Masataka Yoshida (.325).
Michael Massey had 3 HR and 6 RBI over the weekend in the Bronx, including his 1st career multi-homer game on Friday night…of his last 6 hits, 5 have gone for extra bases, including 3 HR, 1 triple and 1 double.
Kyle Isbel had 2 more hits last night—his 3rd consecutive multi-hit effort vs. Cleveland—and is batting .300 (12-for-40) in his last 12 games with 6 extra-base hits for an .883 OPS…in fact, 17 of Isbel’s 34 hits for the season (50.0%) have gone for extra bases, which is the highest rate on the team (min. 30 hits).
Freddy Fermin continued his breakout season on Sunday in the Bronx with a double and a solo HR to mark his 3rd straight multi-hit game, a stretch in which he’s batting .636 (7-for-11)…in 40 games with the Royals this season, Fermin is batting .293 (34-for-116) with 12 extra-base hits and 21 RBI for an .830 OPS.
In 6 games since returning from the IL, Edward Olivares is batting .353 (6-for-17) with 2 doubles & 4 RBI.
Bobby Witt Jr. last night recorded his 3rd straight multi-hit effort and is batting .288 (59-for-205) in his last 52 games since May 23, a stretch in which he’s recorded 21 extra-base hits, 32 RBI and 15 steals.
ARMS RACE: The Royals enter tonight with a Majors-most 22 outfield assists, which are 2 more than Detroit (20) and 3 more than St. Louis (19), which rank 2nd and 3rd, respectively…the Royals 22 outfield assists match their total from all of last season, as they attempt to lead the Majors in this category for the first time since 2011 and 2012, when they had 51 in both seasons, which were the most by any team since Cleveland had 51 in 1993.
TRIPLE THREAT: The Royals lead the Majors with 25 triples, which are 3 more than the Diamondbacks (22) and 6 more than this week’s opponent, Cleveland (19) for the AL lead…the Royals are attempting to lead the Majors in triples for the second straight season, after pacing the league with 38 in 2022…that was the first time they led the Majors in triples since 2009 (51), but the Royals 2,227 triples since their inception in 1969 are by far the most in the Majors, 138 more than the Pirates (2,089) and 291 more than the Tigers (1,936), the next closest AL team.
A Majors-most 11 different Royals have a triple, a group led by Bobby Witt Jr., whose 6 triples are 1 behind Shohei Ohtani (7) for the Majors lead.
TONIGHT’S STARTERS: RHP ZACK GREINKE (1-10, 5.40)
ZACK GREINKE is making his 20th start of the season and 534th of his career tonight vs. Cleveland, which ranks 35th on the all-time starts list, 2 shy of Hall of Famer Mike Mussina (536)…it’s his 37th career outing (32nd start) vs. the Guardians.
The 39-year-old Greinke, now in his 20th season in the Majors, is a six-time All-Star, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner in 2009 with the Royals and a two-time ERA leader.
LAST START: Zack returned from the Injured List in last Thursday’s 3-0 loss to the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium, in which he allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in 4.0 innings, with 1 strikeout…he erased a 1-out single in the 1st on an inning-ending double play, but allowed four consecutive Tigers to reach with 2 outs in the 2nd, including back-to-back RBI singles by Andy Ibañez and Eric Haase, after which he retired seven of the last eight batters…the Royals offense, however, was held to 4 hits, and they provided Greinke with 1 run or fewer for the 11th time in his 19 starts.
WALKING ON WATER: Zack’s pinpoint control has been on full display this season, his 20th in the Majors…the 39-year-old has issued only 15 walks to the 407 batters he’s faced through 19 starts (96.2 IP) for a 1.4 BB/9 and 3.7 BB%, both of which rank 3rd in the Majors (min. 15 starts) behind George Kirby and Zach Eflin…he issued 1 walk or fewer in 10 straight starts from May 3-June 23, which was the 2nd-longest streak in Royals history, 1 game shy of Jason Vargas, who issued 1 walk or fewer in 11 straight starts from May 26, 2015-April 24, 2017, a two-year stretch interrupted by injury.
Zack has had 14 starts this season in which he has issued 1 walk or fewer over at least 5.0 innings, the 2nd-most such starts in the Majors, 1 behind Kirby (15).
Greinke has allowed 18 home runs, which are 3 more than the number of walks he’s issued (15)…he and Kirby (13 HR, 11 BB) are the only pitchers (min. 15 starts)
with more homers allowed than walks…no pitcher in Royals history has allowed more HR than walks while qualifying for the ERA title (1.0 IP/team game).
KEEP IT 100: Zack enters tonight’s start 3.1 innings shy of 100.0 for the season…the 2023 season is his 20th in the Majors and will mark the 18th season he’s reached 100.0 innings…the only exceptions were his 2006 season, when he pitched only 6.1 innings due to personal reasons, and the shortened 2020 season, which he finished with 67.0 innings…when he reaches 100.0 innings this season, he’ll become the 27th pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) record at least 18 seasons of 100.0 innings, and will be the only active pitcher to do so…the Major League record for 100.0-inning seasons is 24, set by Nolan Ryan…tonight also marks Greinke’s 20th start of the season, which will register as his 17th season with as many starts…he’ll become the 25th different pitcher since 1920 with at least 17 seasons with 20 starts.
SEEKING SUPPORT: The Royals offense has scored just 29 runs in Greinke’s 96.2 innings this season for a 2.70 run support average, which is the lowest mark in the
Majors (min. 90.0 IP)…the Royals have supported Zack with 1 or 0 runs in 11 of his 19 starts, and have supported him with a total of 11 runs over his last 10 starts (50.0 IP).
TIMES TABLES: Greinke has been very good through his first time through opponent lineups this season, holding them to a .248 average (39-for-157) with only 5 extra-base hits…but on the second and third time through, opponents are batting .278 (45- for-1162) and .415 (27-for-65), respectively, with a total of 28 extra-base hits…along those same lines, he has held opponents to a .257 average (72-for-280) through 60 pitches, but when he gets above 60 pitches, opponents are batting .371 (39-for-105).
VS. CLEVELAND: in 36 career appearances (31 starts) vs. Cleveland, Zack is 12-9 with a 3.40 ERA (71 ER in 188.0 IP), and has not lost to the Guardians in 13 years,
since Sept. 25, 2010 during his first stint with Kansas City…he’s 4-0 in his last 9 starts vs. Cleveland with a 2.44 ERA (15 ER in 55.1 IP) and his teams have won all 9 of those games…Zack has held Cleveland to 2 runs or fewer in each of his last 6 starts vs. Cleveland, including his most recent start vs. them last month in Kansas City, where he allowed just 2 runs over 6.0 innings, but did not figure into the decision of the Royals 4-3, walk-off win in 10.0 innings…Greinke hasn’t allowed a home run to the Guardians in his last 30.0 innings vs. them, since Franmil Reyes took him deep on July 19, 2021.
ROAD WOES: Zack is seeking his 1st road win in two years, since Aug. 13, 2021 at Angel Stadium, where he pitched 7.0 scoreless innings in a 4-1 victory with Houston…in 26 road starts since, he’s 0-15 with a 6.39 ERA (92 ER in 129.1 IP), despite holding opponents to 3 earned runs or fewer in 15 of 26 starts (57.7%)…the Royals have lost each of Greinke’s last 7 road starts since their last win in a comeback victory on April 22 at Angel Stadium.
Despite all the success he’s had in his career against the Guardians, he’s 2-6 with a 4.34 ERA (37 ER in 76.2) in this ballpark, and he hasn’t won in Cleveland in 15 years, since Sept. 13, 2008 during his first stint with Kansas City…in 6 starts here since, he’s 0-1 with a 4.08 ERA (18 ER in 39.2 IP).
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS LATE RALLY NOT ENOUGH IN OPENING LOSS
After opening the homestand with a pair of wins over Philadelphia, the Cleveland Guardians dropped their second straight decision, falling by a 5-3 margin to Kansas City in the opener of a 3-game set on Monday night at Progressive Field…Cleveland has gone 10-5- 1 over last 16 series (28-23 record since May 26).
LOGAN ALLEN covered 7.0 frames needing just 84 pitches (7.0IP, 7H, 5R-4ER, 0BB, 5SO, 2HR) to spell a stretched-thin bullpen…allowed a 2-run double to Edward Olivares in the 2nd inning, a 2-run homer to Salvador Pérez in the 6th and a solo shot to Maikel Garcia…DANIEL NORRIS covered the remainder of the game with a pair of scoreless/hitless innings…southpaw Ryan Yarbrough kept Cleveland’s offense off-balance for 6.0 frames (6.0IP, 6H, 1R-ER, 0BB, SO, 99 pitches), surrendering only a JOSH BELL 2-out RBI-single in the 6th to plate AMED ROSARIO (leadoff double)…MYLES STRAW added a 2-run single in 7th, scoring DAVID FRY (lead-off walk) and WILL BRENNAN (double)…the Guardians went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding 7, including a pair to end the game with the winning run at the plate.
Cleveland (49-51) sits in 2nd place in the AL Central standings, 4.0 games behind 2nd-place Minnesota (54-48) and 3.0 games ahead of 3rd-place Detroit (-7.0G, 46-54)…club entered the AllStar break in 1st place for just the fourth time across Terry Francona’s tenure (2013-23), as Cleveland also did so in 3 consecutive campaigns from 2016-18…the Guardians have won 4 of 7, 17 of 30, 24 of 43 and 27 of last 49, though have also dropped 44 of last 84 overall since starting the year 9-6.
CHILL WILL: A ROYAL PAIN IN THE SIDE
WILL BRENNAN, a Kansas native, has hit safely in 9 of his 11 career contests against the Royals, including 7 multi-hit contests… owns a career .362 (17-for-47) average against Kansas City with 5 doubles, one triple, one home run and 8 RBI…since the start of 2022, his .362 clip and .574 slugging percentage against Kansas City both rank 6th in MLB.
In 29 career games against the AL Central, he has a slash line of .350/.374/.505 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI…marks his highest average against any division…since May 29, Brennan is hitting .301 (47-for-156) with 12 doubles, 3 home runs and 15 RBI… during that stretch, he owns a .336 average (41-for-122) against right-handed pitching.
IT’S THE MAGIC NUMBER
AMED ROSARIO went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles last night marking his 12th 3-hit game of the season, T1st in the American League with LAA’s Shohei Ohtani, TB’s Yandy Díaz and TOR’s Bo Bichette and T2nd in MLB, behind MIA’s Luis Arraez…it was his 74th career 3-hit game and his 43rd as a member of the Guardians (last July 8, 2023 vs. KC)…has 43 games of 3+ hits since the start of 2021, the 2nd-most in MLB over that span behind Los Angeles-NL’s Freddie Freeman (44).
3+ HIT GAMES SINCE 2021 NAME TEAM SINCE 2021 CAREER
Freddie Freeman ATL/LAD 44 168
Amed Rosario CLE 43 74
Luis Arraez MIN/MIA 41 53
Paul Goldschmidt STL 37 136
Bo Bichette TOR 37 45
Randy Arozarena TB 37 39
NO STRIKEOUTS HERE
The Guardians struck out just 2 times in last night’s contest, marking the 4th time this season the club has accomplished the feat, T2nd in MLB with Kansas City, behind Toronto (5)…Cleveland has struck out 698 times in 2023 and has a plate appearance per strikeout rate of 5.42, both the best marks in MLB ahead of Washington (707, 5.32)…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (3rd, 10.24) and TEVEN KWAN (4th, 9.02) both rank in the top-5 in PA/SO rate, while JOSH NAYLOR (6.32) ranks 25th.
GUARDIANS OF THE HISTORY BOOKS
Entering this series, JOSÉ RAMÍREZ, EMMANUEL CLASE and Terry Francona are all approaching milestones…after passing Bill Bradley (1,231) for 18th-most games played in Cleveland history in Sunday’s contest, Ramírez (1,233) is 2 games from tying and 3 games from passing Larry Doby (1,235) for 17th-most in club history…with his next run scored, Ramírez will pass Hal Trosky (758) for 11th-most runs scored by a Clevelander, and with his next game-winning RBI, he will tie Jim Thome (104) for most in club history since at least 1974…he is also 2 hits from passing Bradley (1,265) for 14th-most in franchise history…Clase (93) is 2 saves away from passing Mike Jackson (94) for 6th-most in club history…Francona (1,923) is 3 wins from tying and 4 wins from passing Hall-of-Famer Casey Stengel (1,926) for 13th-most wins by a manager in MLB history.
DOWN ON THE FARM
DAYAN FRIAS was named the High-A Midwest League Player of the Week for July 18-23…he went 10-for-23 (.434) with 4 runs, 4 doubles, one home run and 7 RBI, along with a .552 OBP and a 1.291 OPS during that stretch…he’s hitting .271 (57-for-210) with 8 home runs and 40 RBI this season for High-A Lake County.
18 year-old switch-hitting OF prospect JAISON CHOURIO extended his on-base streak to 24 games last night…he also launched his first home run of the season…at the Arizona Complex League this season, the Maracaibo, Venezuela native has a slash line of .355/.496/.505 with one home run, 16 RBI and 27 walks compared to 23 strikeouts across 25 games.
JOHNATHAN RODRIGUEZ leads the Player Development System with 18 home runs after hitting 2 homers on Saturday night (3-for-5, 2R, 2HR, 3RBI) for Double-A Akron, giving him 18 on the season…in his last 43 games, he’s hitting .356 (57-for-160) with 10 doubles, 12 home runs, 36 RBI with 27 runs scored.
BRAYAN ROCCHIO currently owns a 14-game hit streak after going 2-for-4 with a double on Sunday for Triple-A Columbus… during this streak, he’s hitting .379 (22-for-58) with 6 doubles, 11 RBI and a .988 OPS…owns a .294 (98-for-333) batting average this season.
TONIGHT’S STARTER – #43 AARON CIVALE RHP
CIVALE AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 2-1 3.48 5 5 31.0 26 12 12 8 28
Career 15-12 4.11 34 34 190.2 181 95 87 49 185
CIVALE’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 3-2 2.71 11 11 63.0 50 19 19 18 49
Career 27-23 3.87 74 74 416.0 377 190 179 103 361
TONIGHT’S START
The 28-year-old right-hander is set to take the mound Tuesday evening for his 12th start of the season, sixth at home, in the middle of this 3-game set with the Kansas City Royals…is making this start on 5 days’ rest; is 8-7 with a 3.49 ERA (50ER/129.0IP) in 21 career starts on 5 days of rest…is his fifth start this season on 5 days of rest, holding a 1-2 record with a 4.15 ERA (10ER/21.2IP), 10 walks and 21 strikeouts.
LAST TIME OUT
In his last start on July 19 at Pittsburgh, he did not factor into the decision of Cleveland’s 7-5 loss to the Pirates…he threw 5.1 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs (earned), a walk and 3 strikeouts on 88 pitches/62 strikes…he retired each of the first 7 Pittsburgh hitters in order before a Nick Gonzales single with one out in the 3rd…Civale retired the next 2 hitters to complete the frame…after a 1-2-3 4th inning, the Pirates rallied back in the 5th…after a pair of leadoff singles from Henry Davis and Jared Triolo, Gonzales hit an RBIinfield single to plate Pittsburgh’s first run of the game…2 batters later, Jared Suwinski doubled home Triolo for the Pirates’ second run…after a flyout to end the 5th inning and a groundout to start the 6th, Civale walked Ji-man Choi, prompting the end of his outing.
KEEPIN’ UP WITH KC
In 8 previous starts against the Royals, Civale holds a 3-1 record with a 3.50 ERA (18ER/39.1IP), 44 strikeouts and 9 walks…he has allowed 8 home runs against the Royals, tied for his most against any opponent (Chicago-AL, 8)…he has earned the win in each of his last 3 starts against the Royals, 2 of which took place in the last homestand of the 2022 season on September 30 and October 5… in his last start against Kansas City on July 7, he twirled 7 shutout innings of 2-hit ball while throwing a season-high 9 strikeouts…the Royals 2 hits were doubles from Bobby Witt Jr. in the 4th and MJ Melendez in the 6th…besides the 2 extra-base hits, Civale retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced.
This marks his 37th career start against the AL Central, owning a 15-8 record with a 3.37 ERA (76ER/196.0IP), his lowest ERA s. any AL division…he has thrown 5.0+IP and allowed 2-or-fewer earned runs in 10 of his last 11 starts against the division…the lone start in which he didn’t came on July 13, 2022 vs. Chicago-AL when his start ended prematurely after 1.0 inning due to a finger injury… Civale has yet to allow a run in 2 starts against the AL Central this season, owning a 1-0 record with a 0.00 ERA (0ER/12.0IP) with 13 strikeouts and 2 walks.
IT’S A GOOD NIGHT TO HAVE A GREAT NIGHT
In 2023, Civale has fared well in night starts, owning a 3-1 record with a 1.80 ERA (8ER/40.0IP) with 34 strikeouts and a .189 average…among MLB pitchers in night starts this season (min. 40.0IP), his ranks in ERA (1.80, 1st), batting average (.189, 4th), BABIP (.212, 4th) H/9 (6.08, 4th), BR/9 (9.00, T6th), OBP (.256,
7th) and WHIP (1.00, T10th).
In all starts (day or night) within the last calendar year (since 7/25/22), he ranks among all MLB arms (min. 100.0IP) in BABIP (.238, 3rd), WHIP (0.98, 5th), OBP (.257, 6th), BR/9 (9.17, 6th), OPS (.596, 6th) and H/9 (6.71, 9th).
3 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
For his career, Civale is 25-1 with a 3.14 ERA (84ER/241.0IP) in games when he receives 3-or-more runs of support; Cleveland is 34-7 in such contests…on the contrary, he has a 2-22 record with a 4.93 ERA (93ER/169.2IP) in games receiving 2-or-fewer runs of support; Cleveland has gone just 7-26 in those games.
