KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The Royals suffered a series-deciding, 8-4 loss in Philadelphia yesterday to mark their first series defeat since July 24-26 at Cleveland, snapping a two-set win streak…they blew a 3-run lead for the 2nd straight game, as the Royals scored 3 runs on 5 hits off Taijuan Walker in the top of the 1st inning, but were held to 1 run on 2 hits for the rest of the game…the Phillies responded with a 3-run homer by Bryson Stott in the bottom of the 1st, and took the lead on a 2-run homer by Kyle Schwarber in the 2nd…Salvador Perez exited in the 2nd inning with a left hand contusion after being hit by a pitch, but X-rays were negative.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: The Royals scored only 4 runs in yesterday’s loss in Philadelphia, just the third time in their last 9 games since July 28 that they’ve been held to fewer than 6 runs, a stretch in which they lead the American League in several offensive categories, including runs per game (6.3), triples (5), stolen bases (19), batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.487), OPS (.826) and batting average in scoring situations (.321).
The Royals are 7-2 over the last 10 days, which trails only Baltimore and Seattle (8) in the win column.
Maikel Garcia has a hit in a career-best 10 straight games, in which he’s batting .310 (13-for-342) with 8 RBI, marking the longest hit streak by a Royal since Bobby Witt Jr.’s 13-game hit streak last Sept. 16-Oct. 1.
FRED HOT: Freddy Fermin recorded his 4th straight multi-hit effort yesterday and 8th in his last 11 games since July 17, a stretch in which he ranks 2nd in the Majors (min. 45 PA), in batting average (.452), slugging percentage (.833) and OPS (1.300), trailing only Freddie Freeman in all three categories…on Saturday night in Philadelphia, Fermin had his 1st career multi-HR game, and despite playing in just 48 of Kansas City’s 113 games (42.5%), only five Royals have more homers than Fermin’s 8…for the season, he leads primary catchers (min. 150 PA) with a .313 batting average (44-for-143), ranks 2nd with a .544 slugging pct. and 3rd with an .895 OPS.
Royals catchers have hit 23 HR this season, which ranks 2nd in the Majors behind Atlanta’s catchers (27).
BLOWN LEADS: The Royals blew a 3-run lead yesterday in Philadelphia for the 2nd straight game to suffer their Major League-most 37th blown lead loss of the season, more than the White Sox (35), Cardinals (34) and Athletics (32)…the back-to-back blown lead losses follow a season-long 12-game stretch without a blown lead loss…their 37 blown lead losses are 1 more than their total from all of last season, and are 16 shy of the franchise record of 53, set during their 103-loss 2019 campaign…they have held a lead in 58 of their last 83 games (69.9%) since the start of May, but they’re 29-54 (.339) during that stretch with 29 blown lead losses.
WALK THIS WAY: Royals pitchers did not issue a walk yesterday for the 10th time this season and fourth time in 22 games since the All-Star break…for the season, their 10 games with no walks are tied with Minnesota for the 3rd most in the American League, behind only Seattle (14) and Tampa Bay (12), and are already twice the number of no-walk games the Royals had all of last season (5)…with 49 games remaining this season, the Royals 10 games with no walks issued are their most in six years, since the Royals had 11 such games in 2017.
Royals pitchers ranked tied for 23rd in the Majors before the All-Star break with a 9.5 BB%, but they’ve cut that to 7.2% in 21 games since the break, which is tied for 5th best in the Majors during that time.
GLOVE LOVE: The Royals have not been charged with an error since July 28 vs. Minnesota, when Brady Singer overstepped first base on a play that allowed Max Kepler to reach…they have played 8 games of error-free ball since, which matches their longest streak since they began this year with 8 straight errorless games from March 30-April 7…with another clean game tonight, it would mark their first 9-game stretch since June 14-24, 2022.
For the season, only four American League teams have fewer errors than Kansas City’s 50 in 113 games, and since the All-Star break, its 5 errors are 3rd fewest in the Majors behind the Twins (3) and Blue Jays (4).
VS. RED SOX: The Royals continue this 7-game east coast road trip tonight with the 1st of 4 night games at Fenway Park, where they haven’t won a series since 2017…they’re 3-10 in four consecutive losing series since, in which they’ve been outscored 84-59 (-25)…despite dropping 2 of 3 here last September, the Royals won 3 of 4 vs. the Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium last August to win the season series for the first time since 2017 (4-2).
UNDER THE LIGHTS: Tonight begins a run of 9 straight night games for the Royals, including 4 here in Boston, 2 this weekend vs. St. Louis, followed by 3 straight night games next week vs. Seattle…this will match their longest run of night games in the Wild Card Era (since 1995), previously done from July 30-Aug. 11, 2014…the only other team to play 9 straight night games to this point this season is the Giants, who did so from June 12-17.
ARMS RACE: Drew Waters recorded his 4th outfield assist of the season yesterday, when he threw out Kyle Schwarber at third base in the 5th inning…it also extended the Royals Major League lead in the category to 27, which are 5 more than the next closest team, the Tigers (22), and are 5 more than their total from all of last season…the Royals are attempting to lead the Majors in outfield assists 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.
Nine different Royals have recorded an outfield assist this year, led by MJ Melendez’s 7 outfield assists.
THE RUNNING ROYALS: The Royals are 19-for-20 on stolen base attempts in their last 9 games since July 27, and their 19 steals are 2 more than the Diamondbacks (17) for the Major League lead and 8 more than the Astros (11) for the American League lead…the Royals did not record a steal yesterday to snap a 6-game steal streak while also halting a stretch of 19 steals in 8 games, their most in any 8-game span since May 5-12, 1996.
After recording only 40 stolen bases in 56 games through the end of May, the Royals rank 3rd in the Major Leagues and lead the American League with 65 steals in 57 games since June 1…they also rank 3rd in the Majors and 1st in the American League with 29 stolen bases in 22 games since the All-Star break…for the entire season, the Royals rank tied for 4th in the Majors with 105 stolen bases in 113 games.
Dairon Blanco has 7 stolen bases in 15 games since the break, tied with José Ramírez for 3rd most in the American League behind Willi Castro (9) and Kyle Tucker (8)…for the season, Bobby Witt Jr. ranks 4th in the Majors with 32 steals behind Ronald Acuña Jr. (53), Esteury Ruiz (44) and Corbin Carroll (36).
TALE OF TWO HALVES: Bobby Witt Jr. didn’t play yesterday after going 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI groundout Saturday night, snapping a 7-game hit streak in which he hit .531 (17-for-32) with 7 extra-base hits, 15 RBI and 4 stolen bases…as first pointed out by Jake Eisenberg, Saturday night was Bobby’s 110th game of the season, which allows us to split hit totals into two halves and see the remarkable improvement he’s made at the plate over his last 55 games since June 1…after hitting .228 (52-for-228) with a. 695 OPS through May, he’s batting .311 (68-for-219) since the start of June with a .525 slugging percentage and .875 OPS, while cutting his strikeout rate from 22.8% to 17.2%…his 2.6 fWAR since the start of June ranks tied for 4th among american League position players, trailing only Shohei Ohtani (4.4), Corey Seager (3.1) and Luis Robert (2.7).
TONIGHT’S STARTERS: LHP COLE RAGANS (3-3, 4.33)
COLE RAGANS is making his 3rd start of the season (20th appearance) and 12th start of his career tonight vs. the Red Sox…Ragans, 25, was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 1st round (30th) of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of the North Florida Christian High School, and was acquired by Kansas City with 17-year-old Dominican outfielder Roni Cabrera on June 30 for Aroldis Chapman.
TAKE A RIDE ON THE COLE TRAIN: Cole made his 2nd start as a Royal last Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium vs. the New York Mets and earned his 1st win for Kansas City with a career-high 6.0-shutout innings, scattering 7 hits and a walk with a career-high 8 strikeouts en route to the Royals 4-0 victory…Ragans’ night got off to an inauspicious start as Jeff McNeil cracked a leadoff single and he proceeded to walk Francisco Álvarez to put two on and no out, but he retired Francisco Lindor (K), Pete Alonso (L5) and Mark Vientos (F9) to strand them…from there, he finished by retiring 12 of his final 20 hitters as the Mets punched 5 additional singles and a double (Vientos), but were unable to score.
He became the fifth Royals pitcher to record a start of at least 6.0 scoreless innings this season, following Kris Bubic April 9 at SF (6.0 IP), Daniel Lynch IV June 20 at DET (7.0 IP), Brady Singer (2x) on June 27 vs. CLE (6.0 IP) and Aug. 3 vs. NYM (8.0 IP) and Jordan Lyles on July 17 vs. Detroit (6.0 IP).
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Ragans joins the Royals for the second time after being acquired on June 30 from the Texas Rangers, with whom he posted a 5.92 ERA (16 ER in 24.1 IP) with 24 strikeouts in 17 relief appearances this season…Ragans broke camp with the big league club and began the year with 5 consecutive scoreless outings, covering 5.0 innings while allowing just 2 hits…overall, he allowed 16 runs across 24.1 innings in 17 games, with 13 of those runs (12 ER) coming in 3 outings.
Made 9 starts with Texas last year, going 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA (22 ER in 40.0 IP).
Ragans endured two stints on the 15-day Injured List last season due to a left calf strain, from Aug. 26-Sept. 7 and Oct. 3-end of season.
CHASING STORMS: Cole has made 4 starts for Triple-A Omaha since joining the organization just over a month ago…he made his Storm Chasers debut on July 2 vs. Iowa and allowed 5 runs on 8 hits in 4.2 innings, but all 5 of those runs scored in the 5th inning, after he began with 4.0 scoreless frames…his 2nd outing came five days later at Gwinnett, where he held the Braves to just 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks with 7 strikeouts, and earned his 1st win in the Royals organization…in his most recent start last Thursday at Columbus, he allowed 1 hit and 5 walks over 5.0 scoreless innings in 7 starts between Omaha and Round Rock, he’s 2-1 with a 4.13 ERA (13 ER in 28.1 IP), 37 strikeouts (11.8 K/9) and a .221 opponents’ average (23-for-104).
MLB DEBUT: Ragans made 9 starts for the Rangers in 2022, including in his Major League debut on Aug. 4, 2022 vs. the White Sox, when he threw 5.0 innings and allowed just 1 unearned run on 3 hits with 4 walks and 3 strikeouts in a no decision.
He became just the 10th pitcher (2nd left hander) in Rangers history to log at least 5.0 innings without allowing an earned run in a Major League debut.
AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY: A 1st-round selection in 2016, Cole overcame two Tommy John surgeries and missed the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to become one of the top minor league pitchers in 2022…Ragans had his first Tommy John surgery on March 28, 2018 and felt discomfort while on a throwing program in early 2019, which led to another procedure on May 15, 2019.
He made his return in 2021 with 19 appearances (17) starts—his first game action since 2017—and was selected for the 2021 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.
In 2022, he earned Texas’ Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award after going 8-5 with a 3.04 ERA (32 ER in 94.2 IP) and 113 strikeouts (10.7 K/9) in 18 starts between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock.
WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: Cole appeared in 9 games that the Rangers went on to win before being acquired by the Royals, and in those games, he spun 9.2 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts and just 3 hits allowed for a .100 opponents’ average…however, in the 8 games he appeared in that the Rangers lost, his ERA was 9.82 (16 ER in 14.2 IP) with 10 walks, 17 hits allowed for a .288 opponents’ batting average and 15 strikeouts.
THE GREEN MONSTER: Ragans is making his 1st career start vs. the Red Sox and his 1st appearance at Fenway Park, making them the 20th franchise he’s opposed in the Majors, and the fourth team in the National League East, joining the Orioles, Rays and Yankees…he is 0-1 in 4 games (1 start) vs. AL East opponents, which Includes his Royals debut vs. the Rays in Kansas City on July 15 as part of a doubleheader.
BOSTON RED SOX NOTES:
STATE OF THE SOX: The Red Sox have lost 7 of their last 8 games…Prior to this stretch, they owned MLB’s best record since 6/30 (16-5) and the AL’s best since 6/14 (23-12). The Sox are 6-10 in their last 16 games. At 57-54 (.514), Boston owns MLB’s 16th-best record.
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays yesterday, 13-1, setting a season high in runs allowed. Prior to yesterday, the Red Sox were the only team in MLB that hadn’t allowed more than 10 runs in a game… They were also only 1 of 5 teams that hadn’t lost a game by 10 or more runs (also: ATL, CLE, LAA, and SD).
SERIES BUSINESS: The Sox over the weekend lost their 3rd straight series…They snapped a streak of 4 straight home series wins from 7/4-26. The Sox were swept for the 6th time this season, 4th at home (previous: 6/27-29 vs. MIA). This is just the 2nd time this season Boston has lost 3 consecutive series (also 5/30-6/8 vs. CIN, vs. TB, at CLE). They have not lost consecutive home series since 5/30-6/5.
BACK TO THE GRIND: Boston is currently on a season-long 10-game homestand (3 vs. TOR, 4 vs. KC, 3 vs. DET). Boston is in a stretch of 32 games in 34 days, from
7/28-8/30…They will only have 1 day off (8/14) in a 27-day span from 8/4-30. After their off day on 8/14, the Sox will play a game on 16 consecutive days from 8/15-30.
IT’S GO TIME: The Red Sox today begin a stretch of 10 straight games against teams who currently hold a record below .500 (4 vs. KC, 3 vs. DET, 3 at WSH). Those 3 teams own a combined record of 134-202 (.399). Yesterday, BOS concluded a stretch of 11 straight games against teams at or above .500…They went 4-7 over that span (2-0 vs. ATL, 1-2 at SF, 1-2 at SEA, 0-3 vs. TOR). 6 of the Sox’ 11 series from 7/7-8/17 are against teams that entered today with a record of .500 or lower.
SOX & ROYALS: The Sox were 3-4 against the Royals in 2022…They went 15-4 vs. KC from 2018-21. Boston is 11-3 vs. KC at Fenway Park since the start of 2018, including 6-1 in their last 7…They’ve won each of the last 4 series played at the venue. The Red Sox will visit Kauffman Stadium for a 3-game series from 9/1-3.
CENTRAL TIME: Boston is 11-8 against AL Central teams this season, after going 18-15 in 2022. They’re 3-2-1 in series against AL Central opponents (3-0 at DET, 2-1 vs. MIN, 2-1 vs. CLE, 1-2 at CLE, 2-2 at MIN, 1-2 at CWS). Today begins a stretch of 7 straight games against AL Central teams (4 vs. KC, 3 vs. DET).
SLUGGING SOX: The Red Sox lead MLB in doubles (243)… They rank 2nd in the AL in AVG (.263) and XBH (382), and 4th in OBP (.329), SLG (.433) and OPS (.762). In their last 28 games since 6/30, the Red Sox lead the AL in AVG (.275), and rank 2nd in SLG (.470) and OPS (.800). The Sox have hit 35 HR in their last 22 games since 7/8, 5th most in the AL and 10th in MLB during that span.
RED SOX OFFENSE BY DATE
Dates Record AVG OPS Runs/G
3/30-5/6 21-14 .273 .800 5.9
5/7-6/13 12-21 .243 .704 3.8
6/14-7/27 22-12 .281 .803 5.4
7/28-pres. 2-7 .228 .667 3.0
HOME COOKING: The Sox have lost 3 straight home games after winning 9 of their previous 10. In 14 home games since the start of July, the Sox have hit .302 with an .848 OPS (46 XBH: 25 2B, 3 3B, 18 HR). At home, the Sox lead the majors in AVG (.290) and OBP (.356)…They also rank 3rd in OPS (.824) and SLG (.468), and 4th in runs scored per game (5.5).
HIGH FIVE: Boston is an AL-best 46-7 (.868) when scoring 5+ runs, the 2nd-best record in MLB (ATL-.875)…They’ve scored fewer than 5 runs in 8 of their last 9 games.
LOCK IT DOWN: The Red Sox own MLB’s best record when leading after 6 innings (43-3, .935)…In 2022, they ranked 18th in MLB when leading after 6 (63-10, .863). Boston leads MLB in save % (77.5; 31-for-40). Kenley Jansen ranks 5th in the AL with 24 saves.
LATE SURGE: Boston has scored 235 runs in innings 6-9, 2nd most in the AL behind TEX (245)…BOS leads the AL and ranks 2nd in MLB in hits during those innings (424; MIA-449).
MARTY PARTY: Since 6/9, Chris Martin has allowed only one run over his last 20 outings, including 16 straight scoreless appearances from 6/9-7/25…His 0.51 ERA over that span is 4th best in MLB (min. 15.0 IP). Overall, his 1.53 ERA leads the Red Sox and is 7th best in the majors (min. 30.0 IP).
TRISTON TIME: Triston Casas was named the AL Rookie of the Month for July, batting .348 with a 1.199 OPS during the month (23-for-66, 4 2B, 7 HR, 13 RBI, 11 BB). Prior to Casas, the only Red Sox player to post an OPS that high in any calendar month (min. 50 PA) before turning 24 was Ted Williams (8 times, 1939-42). Casas has 8 HR since the All-Star break, tied for most in the AL with Ohtani and T-4th in MLB over that span.
ON THE MEND: Trevor Sory, Chris Sale, and Tanner Houck are on rehab assignments with Triple-A Worcester. Sale tossed made his 2nd rehab start yesterday at Syracuse, striking out 7 batters over 4.1 scoreless innings (3 H, 53 pitches)…He also tossed 2.0 scoreless innings on Tuesday at Syracuse (H, 2 BB, 3 SO, 40 pitches). Houck made his 1st rehab start Saturday at Syracuse, allowing 2 runs in 1.2 IP (3 H, 3 BB, 3 SO, 46 pitches). Story has played in 13 games with Worcester and Double-A Portland, making 9 starts at SS and 4 as the DH (.300 AVG, 12-for-40, 4 2B, 4 HR, 8 R, 9 RBI, 7 BB, HBP, SB).
TONIGHT’S STARTER: 66 BRAYAN BELLO – RHP
W-L ERA G GS IP ER HR BB SO WHIP AVG
2023 8-6 3.79 18 18 102.0 43 15 28 89 1.24 .249
CAREER 10-14 4.12 31 29 159.1 73 16 55 144 1.43 .274
Is making his 1st career appearance against the Royals. Earned his team-leading 8th win Tuesday night at SEA, after allowing 4 runs over 6.0 IP (8 H, 7 SO, 2 BB HR)…The Sox improved to 12-6 in his starts. In his MLB career, opponents are 27-for-158 (.171) with 2 HR against his changeup (18-for-101 with 41 SO in 2023). Owns a 3.29 ERA (20 ER/54.2 IP) in 10 games at Fenway Park this season. Is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA, .227 opponent AVG, and 1.08 WHIP in his last 9 starts (56.2 IP, 20 R, 48-for-211, 13 BB, 43 SO, 3 HB). Has tossed 6.0+ innings in 9 of his last 10 starts (7.0+ in 4 of his last 6).
