KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
HIGH HEAT: The Royals bullpen helped stave off a late Padres comeback bid as Kansas City held on for a 5-4 win in San Diego last night…after being shut out on 2 hits Monday night, the Royals recorded 4 hits and 2 walks in their 5-run 2nd inning last night, which was capped by a 2-run double by Captain Salvador Perez… that proved to be the difference in the game, as the Padres scored 2 unearned runs in the 5th off Brady Singer thanks to a comedy of errors, and they scored twice more in the 6th to make it a 1-run game…the Royals bullpen was deployed starting in the 7th, as Aroldis Chapman, Taylor Clarke and Scott Barlow combined for 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit and 2 walks while recording 2 pickoffs and 5 strikeouts to snap a 4-game skid.
ROSTER MOVES: The Royals announced prior to today’s game that right hander Mike Mayers was selected from Triple-A Omaha…Mayers, 31, was 2-1 with 8 starts with the Storm Chasers, and last pitched a week ago tonight, throwing 78 pitches over 4.0 innings…he has not appeared in the Majors since last Sept. 24 with the Angels.
In a pair of corresponding moves, left hander Ryan Yarbrough was transferred to the 60-day Injured List with skull fractures, and left hander Amir Garrett was placed on the Family Medical Emergency List.
ROYALS ON THE MEND: Infielder Nicky Lopez went 0-for-3 with a walk while playing 7.0 innings at second base last night vs. Toledo in his 1st game on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha…Lopez has not played with the Royals since April 29 and was placed on the 10-day Injured List on May 2 with appendicitis.
Left hander Daniel Lynch is expected to make his 4th rehab start tonight, as he continues his recovery from a left rotator cuff strain…in his previous 3 rehab starts, Lynch has pitched to a 3.38 ERA (4 ER in 10.2 IP) with 11 strikeouts, and most recently threw 73 pitches over 5.0 innings in a win last Friday night.
Drew Waters, who suffered a strained left oblique in February, is 1-for-22 in 6 rehab games with Omaha.
WHERE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD: After splitting the 1st 2 games of this series, the Royals will play their 4th rubber game of the season today in San Diego…this will mark the fourth time in their last six 3-game sets that the Royals are playing a series-deciding game, after their first five 3-game series were all decided before the final game…they’re 0-3 in rubber games this season, including losses in Anaheim, at Arizona and vs. Baltimore.
The Royals are 3-0 all-time in series-deciding games vs. the Padres, including wins in 2017 and 2014 here in San Diego and in 2002 in Kansas City…they are 3-3 in all series vs. the Padres, last winning one in 2017.
The Royals are 8-12 all-time vs. San Diego—despite out-scoring them 114-104 (+10)—including a 5-9 record at Petco Park…the Royals average of 5.7 runs per game is their 2nd-highest mark vs. any opponent.
WHAT A RELIEF!: The bullpen continued its run of dominance last night with 3.0 scoreless innings to secure a 1-run win in San Diego…over the Royals last 10 games, the bullpen has recorded a 2.55 ERA (12 ER in 42.1 IP), .208 opponents’ average (31-for-149) and 53 strikeouts (11.3 K/9)…nine different relievers have thrown a pitch during this 10-game stretch, including Carlos Hernández, who is starting in the opener role today…Hernández, who last pitched on Sunday in Milwaukee, has recorded 7 scoreless outings in his last 9 appearances, a stretch in which he owns a 1.54 ERA (2 ER in 11.2 IP), .150 opponents’ average (6-for-40) and 16 strikeouts (12.3 K/9).
Taylor Clarke pitched a scoreless 8th inning last night to run his scoreless streak to 6.1 innings over 5 appearances, during which he’s held opponents to a .190 average (4-for-21) with 3 walks and 11 strikeouts.
Scott Barlow went 1-2-3 in the 9th last night to record his team-high 5th save, while extending his scoreless streak to 9.2 innings over 9 outings, during which he’s allowed 4 hits and 2 walks with 15 strikeouts.
Royals relievers lead the Majors with 183 strikeouts and a 10.8 K/9, which marks a big improvement over last season, when the Royals bullpen ranked 25th in the Majors with 552 strikeouts and 21st with an 8.5 K/9.
HE’S STILL GOT IT!: Aroldis Chapman held a 1-run lead in the 7th inning last night to record his 13th scoreless outing in 17 appearances with the Royals…after issuing a leadoff walk to Nelson Cruz, he struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and picked off pinch runner Adam Engel, who was attempting to steal second base… after getting ahead 0-2 on Jake Cronenworth, Chapman delivered a called third strike that registered at 103.8 mph, marking the fastest pitch thrown by a Royal since 2008, when pitch velocity was first tracked.
Chapman’s 103.8 heater last night surpassed the previous Royals record (since 2008) set by Kelvin Herrera at 103.5 mph in 2012, which Chapman has matched twice this season, including last Saturday in Milwaukee…it also matched St. Louis’ Jordan Hicks for the fastest pitch thrown in the Majors this season.
In 17 appearances, Chapman already has 13 of the 16 fastest pitches recorded by a Royal since 2008.
MAY FLOWERS: The Royals offense has blossomed in the month of May, and that trend continued last night with their 5-run 2nd inning, which proved to be the difference in a 5-4 win…after a slow start in March/April which saw the Royals rank among the worst teams in the Majors in several offensive categories, including 29th in runs per game (3.3) and 30th in OPS (.624), the Royals have been among the best offenses in the league since the calendar flipped to May…they rank top 10 this month in on-base percentage (.331), slugging percentage (.469), OPS (.800) and runs per game (5.5), and their 6 wins in May are 1 shy of their March/April total.
In 15 games this month, the Royals rank tied for 5th in the Majors with 23 home runs, already 3 more HR than the 20 they hit in 29 games during March/April…they are homerless in their last 2 games after beginning the month with 13 straight games with a HR, which marked the 3rd-longest streak in the Majors this season and the 2nd-longest HR streak in Royals history, trailing a 15-game run from April 6-22, 2001.
Of the Royals 23 homers in May, 18 have traveled at least 400 ft., which matches the Braves for the most 400-ft. HR in the Majors this month, and is 6 more than the next closest American League team (12).
Royals catchers have hit 12 home runs this season, the most of any position on the team and the highest total at the catcher position in the Majors, 2 more than the Athletics and Braves (10 each)…Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 9 home runs, including 8 as a catcher… MJ Melendez has homered once as a catcher and Freddy Fermin has 3 home runs in 9 games (6 starts) as a catcher since his May 2 recall.
ON DECK: Following today’s series finale in San Diego, the Royals will fly east for an off day tomorrow in Chicago, before they begin a 3-game series vs. the White Sox on Friday night…this will end a run in which the Royals will have played 26 games in 27 days, and will mark their first off day since May 1… tomorrow will be the first of four off days over a 15-day span, including May 25 at home and consecutive off days at home on May 31 and June 1, which will mark the first time the Royals will have scheduled back-to-back off days since April 6-7, 2016, which followed a season-opening series on April 3 and 5.
The Royals next two series, including this weekend in Chicago and a 3-game set next week in Kansas City vs. Detroit, will mark their only two American League opponents over a stretch of eight series, which began last week in Milwaukee…after hosting the Tigers next week, the Royals will play the Nationals, Cardinals, Rockies and Marlins in consecutive series through the first week of June.
TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP CARLOS HERNÁNDEZ (0-1, 4.50)
Is making his 1st start of the season today and the 22nd of his career, after making 7 starts last year, 11 in 2021 and 3 in his rookie 2020 season.
Hernández is 5-6 as a starting pitcher with a 5.61 ERA (60 ER in 96.1 IP), including an 0-3 record with a 9.10 ERA (30 ER in 29.2 IP) in 2022.
He last pitched on Sunday in Milwaukee and worked a 1-2-3 6th inning with strikeouts of Brice Turang and Tyrone Taylor.
Carlos pitched to an 8.64 ERA (8 ER in 8.1 IP) over his 1st 9 appearances, but owns a 1.54 ERA (2 ER in 11.2 IP) with 16 strikeouts in 9 outings since.
He took his 1st loss of the year last Saturday after allowing 2 hits and a walk-off sac. fly by Joey Wiemer to break a 3-3 tie in the 9th in Milwaukee.
Carlos helped Team Venezuela reach the quarterfinals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic this spring, where they fell to Team USA 9-7…he made a pair of appearances in the tournament, once on March 14 against Nicaragua, when he threw 2.0 scoreless frames with 4 strikeouts, and in the quarterfinal game vs. the United States on March 18, when he got 2 outs, including a strikeout of Team USA Captain Mike Trout.
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Seth Lugo exits game with a left calf strain and Padres mount 4-run comeback, but fall short 5-4 to the Royals
- Starter Seth Lugo allowed 5 runs in the 2nd inning and at the end of the frame, he suffered a mild calf strain when covering 1B on a ground ball…Lugo allowed 5 hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts.
- With 2 outs and runners on the corners in the B-8th, Rougned Odor was picked off at 1B, ending the Padres late-game comeback attempt.
- Juan Soto went 2-for-4 with a double, but San Diego overall went 0-for-5 with RISP.
Today is the Padres’ 6th rubber game, are 1-4 so far in 2023
- The Padres are in search of their 1st series win since they took 2 of 3 from the Reds from May 1-3 in San Diego, and today will be their 6th rubber game of the season, having gone 1-4 thus far…they’ve played a rubber game in 4 of their last 5 series played (including this one), and their 4 rubber game losses this year are the most of any National League team (Elias).
Padres go 0-for-5 with RISP last night, have gone 2-for-23 in last 3 games
- The last 2 games in which the Padres have had multiple hits with RISP, they’ve won those games (May 9 @ MIN and May 15 vs. KC).
- SD went 0-for-5 last night with RISP, have gone 2-for-23 (.087) in their last 3 games with RISP, and their .195 clip (68-for-348) overall this year is the lowest in baseball…43 games into the 2022 season, the Padres had hit .252 with RISP (88-for-349).
Happy Darvish Day
- Yu Darvish makes his 8th start of the season today, and he went 6.0 innings with 2 runs allowed in his last outing on May 11 @ Minnesota…Darvish is in search for his 3rd straight quality start.
- He leads the Padres’ rotation in ERA (3.16) and strikeouts (47), and his 42.2 innings pitched trails just Michael Wacha’s 44.1 for the most on the team.
Friars have lost 8 of their last 10 games
- San Diego hasn’t won consecutive games since May 3-5, and they’ve now gone 2-8 in their last 10 games…their 8 losses since May 6 tie with the A’s for the most defeats of any team in that time
STARTING PITCHERS
RHP YU DARVISH X RHP CARLOS HERNANDEZ
20-23 13-31
VS
2023 marks his 20th season
Entered ’23 with a 1,435-1,345 record
3x Manager of the Year (2007, ’12, ’18)
2001 World Series Champion (ARI)
Up Next: Padres to Red Sox in Armed Forces Weekend
- The Padres will host the Boston Red Sox for the 1st time since 2019, and they’ll look for their 2nd-ever series win over Boston (sole series win so far was when they took 2 of 3 in Boston back in 2011.
- Xander Bogaerts, who will face his former club for the 1st time since being signed by the Padres, will receive his 2022 Silver Slugger Award
in Saturday’s pregame ceremony…the weekend will be “Armed Forces Weekend” with “Armed Forces Day” on Sunday, May 21st.
STARTING PITCHER – YU DARVISH 11
Darvish in search of 5th winning decision vs. Royals
36-year-old right-hander Yu Darvish is slated for his 8th career start and his 5th career winning decision vs. the Royals… Darvish has 5+ winning decisions against 6 other teams, including 10 vs. LAA, 8 vs. ARI, 7 vs. both DET and SEA, and 5 vs. both NYM and HOU…he has quality starts in all 7 of his career outings vs. KC, including his start last season at Kaufmann Stadium, when he tossed 7.0 innings of 5-hit, 3-run ball in SD’s 4-3 victory….he is 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and .202 opp. AVG in the 7 career starts vs. the Royals.
Darvish’s quality outing in MIN not enough
Last Thurs @ MIN, Darvish made his 5th career start vs. MIN, and his 2nd at Target Field, tossing 6.0 IP of 2-run, 4-hit ball in SD’s 5-3 defeat…he allowed his first home run of the season outside of Mexico City, a solo shot to Kyle Farmer in the 4th inning…his other run allowed came in the 2nd inning on a bases loaded walk…it was his first bases loaded situations of ’23, and he’s now faced 84 career batters with the bases loaded with 5 BB.
Breaking bad
Since last season, Darvish has thrown the 2nd-most breaking balls (1,933) in MLB, trailing only CWS Dylan Cease’s 2,279 …he has the 4th-highest spin rate (2,757 rpm) on breaking balls among all NL pitchers (min. 1,000 pitches) since the start of ’22…rotation mate Joe Musgrove (2,721) has the 5th-highest spin rate on breaking balls among NL starters.
Stingy against the righties
So far this season, Darvish has limited righties to a .150 clip (9-for-60), the lowest opp. AVG vs. RHH in NL and 4th-lowest in the Majors (min. 65 righties faced), trailing only Chris Bassitt (.138), Shohei Ohtani (.140) and Taylor Wells (.144)…lefties are hitting .256 (23-for-90) against Darvish.
Expect the unexpected
Darvish has a .200 xBA and ranks in the top 15 percentile, his lowest since he had a .197 xBA in 2016 in the top 6 percentile.
