KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
HOW SWEEP IT IS!: The Royals completed a 3-game sweep of the Guardians with a 6-2 win at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday, in which Zack Greinke was charged with 2 runs in 3.2 innings and Angel Zerpa finished the game with 5.1 scoreless frames…the offense pounded out 10 hits but went just 2-for-18 in scoring situations…Nelson Velázquez provided a 3-run HR in the 1st—his 12th in 31 games with an at-bat since joining the Royals—which was all the offense the Royals needed as they completed the homestand with a 5-1 record.
REHABBING ROYAL: Daniel Lynch IV made his 1st rehab start last night with Triple-A Omaha and held Columbus to 1 hit and 1 walk over 2.0 scoreless innings, during which he needed only 22 pitches to complete… Lynch IV has made only 9 starts with the Royals this season, as he began the year on the Injured List with a left rotator cuff strain…he made his season debut on May 28 and completed at least 5.0 innings in all 9 of his starts, but was placed on the IL after his outing on July 18 with a left shoulder strain and had not pitched since. Yesterday the Kansas City Royals announced that infielder Matt Beaty, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday, has cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Omaha.
PENDING DEBUTS: Pitchers Jonathan Bowlan (boh-lin) and Anthony Veneziano (vuh-neez-ee-ah-no) were added to the roster on Tuesday but have not yet appeared in a game…when they debut, they would be the 10th and 11th players to make their Majors debut with Kansas City this season, and would be the 57th and 58th different players to appear in a game, the last of which would match the franchise record of 58 set in 2004. Bowlan and Veneziano would be the 35th and 36th different pitchers used by the Royals in 2023, which would extend their single-season franchise record that is already two more than last year’s total of 32. Bowlan, Kansas City’s 2nd-round pick in the 2018 Draft, would be the ninth player selected in 2018 to debut with the Royals, and would follow Brady Singer (1st round), Jackson Kowar (1st), Daniel Lynch IV (1st), Kris Bubic (1st), Kyle Isbel (3rd), Austin Cox (5th), Jonathan Heasley (13th) and Nate Eaton (21st).
VS. ASTROS: After going 147 games to begin the season without facing the Astros, the Royals are playing 6 games vs. them over 10 days, including a 3-game set at Kauffman Stadium last weekend, in which the Royals won 2 of 3…tonight begins the 1st of 3 games at Minute Maid Park, where the Royals have not won a series since 2017…with 2 wins here this weekend, the Royals would win the season series over Houston for the second time in three years—including a 4-3 advantage in 2021—after going 2-10 vs. them from 2018-19. Tonight begins Kansas City’s final trip of the season, which will conclude with a 3-game series in Detroit next week…the Royals are a Majors-worst 20-55 (.267) on the road this season and their 55 losses are 4 shy of the franchise record of 59 set in 2005…the Royals won their most recent road series last week in Chicago, taking 2 of 3 from the White Sox to clinch their first road series win since May 15-17 at San Diego, which snapped a drought of 16 winless series on the road that included 14 losses and two splits.
ROYAL RUNDOWN: The Royals have won 7 of their last 8 games—including 2 of 3 vs. Houston last weekend—a stretch in which they’ve outscored opponents 52-40 (+12)…they’re 10-8 this month—with 9 games left— already matching their highest win total in any month this season, following their 10-17 record in May. Ê The Royals lead the Majors in the month of September with a .275 batting average, rank 2nd in on-base percentage (.346), 4th in runs per game (5.8) and 5th in OPS (.805)…the Royals have posted double-digit runs in 4 of their 18 games this month and have scored at least 6 runs in 6 of their last 8 games. Counting tonight, the Royals have 9 games left, including a 3-game stay vs. the Yankees to end the year.
WHAT A RELIEF!: Kansas City’s bullpen has been responsible for each of the team’s last 8 wins, a stretch that dates back to Jackson Kowar’s 1st career victory on Sept. 5 vs. the White Sox…even more recently, Royals relievers have accounted for all 7 wins and 2 losses over the last 9 games—5 of which have required a save—a stretch in which they’ve combined for a 3.19 ERA (15 ER in 42.1 IP) and .203 opponents’ average (31-for-153). James McArthur’s stellar stretch continued Tuesday night, when he entered with runners at the corners and no outs in a 1-run game in the 8th, and struck out three straight batters to escape the jam…in 8 outings this month, he’s recorded 10.2 scoreless innings and has retired 31 of 32 batters, allowing only a double to Andrew Vaughn on Sept. 6…he’s retired each of his last 22 batters since, 11 shy of the franchise
record for consecutive batters retired set by Steve Busby, who retired the last 24 batters he faced during his no-hitter on June 19, 1974 at Milwaukee, and retired the first nine batters of his next start on June 24.
WOAH, NELLY!: Nelson Velázquez powered Kansas City to victory on Wednesday with a 3-run home run in the 1st inning, his 15th in 41 games with an at-bat in the Majors this season and his 12th in 31 games with an at-bat since joining the Royals on Aug. 11…his 12 homers are the most by a Royals player through 31 games with an at-bat in franchise history, and 7 of those have come in 16 games this month, during which he’s tied with Jose Altuve and Julio Rodríguez for the American League lead…of his 33 hits in the Majors this season, 21 have gone for extra bases (35.6%) which marks the highest rate among the 393 players with at least 30 hits.
BOBBY BASEBALL: Bobby Witt Jr. went 2-for-5 on Wednesday and is batting .357 (15-for-42) in his last 11 games, a stretch in which he has 5 walks and only 1 strikeout…he has 9 stolen bases in his last 10 games and 48 for the season, which ranks 4th in the Majors trailing Ronald Acuña Jr. (68) and Esteury Ruiz (61) and Corbin Carroll (50)…Bobby’s 48 steals are the most by a Royal since Tom Goodwin had 66 in 1996, and his 78 career steals are the most by any player through two seasons since Ichiro Suzuki had 87 steals from 2001-02. His 169 hits rank 3rd in the American League, trailing Julio Rodríguez and Marcus Semien (176 each). Witt Jr. remains 1 HR shy of becoming the first Royals player to record 30 HR and 30 steals in a season. Bobby is 1 HR and 2 seals shy of becoming the fourth player in Major League history with at least 30 HR and 50 steals in a season, and would join Eric Davis (1987), Barry Bonds (1990) and Acuña Jr. (2023). Tonight is Bobby’s 300th career game…among those who played their 1st 300 games with the Royals, Witt Jr. ranks 1st with 121 extra-base hits, 2nd with 49 HR—behind only Bo Jackson (58 HR)—and 2nd with 171 RBI, trailing only Carlos Beltrán (174)…his combination of 49 HR and 78 steals has been matched by three others through 300 games since 1900: Bobby Bonds (50/82), Eric Davis (65/134) and Mike Trout (56/81).
FALL BALL: Major League Baseball today announced the rosters and coaching staffs for the 2023 Arizona Fall League, which will begin on Monday, Oct. 2…the Royals will send eight players and one coach to represent the Surprise Saguaros, a team that will also be comprised of players and coaches from the Rangers, Blue Jays, Reds and Brewers…Kansas City’s eight players selected to the Arizona Fall League roster include lefthanded pitchers Rylan Kaufman and Angel Zerpa, right-handed pitchers Eric Cerantola, Jacob Wallace and Beck Way, infielders Nick Loftin and Peyton Wilson and outfielder Gavin Cross…Triple-A Omaha Hitting Coach Bijan Rademacher will join the Surprise coaching staff.
TONIGHT’S STARTERS: LHP COLE RAGANS (6-4, 3.33)
COLE RAGANS is making his 11th start of the season (28th appearance) and 20th start of his career tonight vs. the Astros in Houston…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.
LAST START: Cole faced these Astros six days ago in Kansas City but did not figure into the decision of a 10-8 win, in which he was charged with 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 6.0-plus innings, with 7 strikeouts…Ragans allowed only 1 hit through the 4th inning, a single by Jeremy Peña in the 3rd, but Houston got to him for 3 runs in the 5th, led off by a Yainer Diaz solo home run that snapped Cole’s career-long 37.2-inning homerless streak, and a pair of 2-out runs…he struck out the side in the 6th and took a 6-3 lead into the 7th inning, when he walked Peña and allowed a single to Mauricio Dubón, after which he exited with two on and no outs in favor of Collin Snider, who allowed both inherited runners to score on a 3-run home run.
ALL GOOD THINGS…: The 2 runs that scored on wild pitches vs. Ragans in the 6th inning on Sept. 10 snapped his career-best scoreless streak at 26.0 innings, a streak that began in the 5th inning on Aug. 18 at Wrigley Field…his 26.0-inning scoreless streak was the longest active streak in the Majors and was the longest by a Royal since Kelvin Herrera had a 31.0-inning run from June 27-Sept. 16, 2014…it matched Louis Coleman (2012-13) for the 8th-longest scoreless streak in Royals history… Ragans’ 26.0 scoreless innings was the 6th-longest streak by a Royals starter and was the longest since Zack Greinke’s club-record streak of 38.0 innings from 2008-09. In his start last Saturday vs. Houston, Yainer Diaz took him deep to center, snapping a career-long 37.2-inning homerless streak that dated back to Aug. 12 when Tommy Edman got him in the 3rd…the only longer streak by a Royal this season was Carlos Hernández’s 39.2-inning streak from April 24-July 19.
KING COLE: Cole’s September began with a flourish as he was crowned the American League Pitcher of the Month for August, as well as the Royals Pitcher of the Month, following a stellar 6-start stretch in which he went 3-1 with 3 scoreless starts and a Major League-best 1.72 ERA (7 ER in 36.2 IP) and 53 strikeouts, while his 36.6 K% and 13.0 K/9 led the American League and marked Royals records for any month. Ragans began last month with 6.0 scoreless frames against the Mets on Aug. 2, and allowed 1 earned run with a career-best 11 strikeouts in 6.2 innings on Aug. 7 at Fenway Park…his lone loss of the month came on Aug. 12 vs. the Cardinals when he allowed a 4 walks and surrendered 4 runs (3 ER) in 5.0 innings, but bounced back on Aug. 18 at Wrigley Field, where he limited the Cubs to 3 runs in 6.0 innings with 9 strikeouts…Ragans turned it up for his final 2 starts, as he dominated the Athletics in Oakland on Aug. 23 with 6.0 scoreless innings of 2-hit ball and his 2nd 11-strikeout game, and put an exclamation point on his Pitcher of the Month campaign with 7.0 scoreless innings with just 3 hits allowed against the Pirates on Aug. 29. Ragans’ 53 strikeouts in 36.2 innings last month were the 2nd most for any month in Royals history, trailing Dennis Leonard, who had 55 strikeouts in 59.1 innings in June 1977, the year he set the club’s single-season strikeout record (244)…Ragans’ 13.0 K/9 and 36.6 K% were the highest rates by a pitcher (min. 5 starts) in any calendar month in franchise history, and his 1.72 ERA was the best mark by a Royal in August since Bret Saberhagen had a 1.58 ERA (10 ER in 57.0 IP) in August 1989, the year he won his second Cy Young Award. He became the first Royal to be named American League Pitcher of the Month since Zack Greinke in April 2009, the year he won the Cy Young Award…he’s the third Royals left-handed pitcher to earn the award, following Charlie Leibrandt (April and September 1985) and Larry Gura (July 1980, September 1981).
“K”OLE RAGANS: Ragans was acquired from Texas on June 30 and made his Royals debut on July 15…in 10 starts with Kansas City, he’s 4-1 with a 2.28 ERA (15 ER in 59.1 IP) and 76 strikeouts (11.5 K/9, 32.5 K%)…since making his Royals debut, he leads the AL (min. 10 starts) in ERA, and trails National League Cy Young candidate Blake Snell (1.66) for the Majors lead…his ERA is the 3rd lowest by any Royals pitcher through 10 starts, behind Andy Hassler (2.05) in 1976 and Steve Farr (2.19) from 1985-90. Ragans’ 76 strikeouts through 10 outings as a Royal are the most in franchise history, ahead of James Shields’ 69 in 2013…the club record through 11 games already belongs to Ragans, who enters tonight’s start with the 3 more strikeouts than Shields had (73) through his 1st 11 starts with the Royals in 2013.
ELECTRIC SLIDE(R): When Cole was acquired by Kansas City on June 30, he had never thrown a slider…as noted in August by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, when he arrived in Omaha following the trade, he wanted to be more effective vs. lefthanded hitters and thought a slider could help him do that…Paul Gibson, the Royals Sr. Director of Pitching Performance, agreed and encouraged Cole add it to his arsenal. Since his Royals debut on July 15, when he started Game 2 of a doubleheader vs. Tampa Bay, he has thrown his slider 10.0% of the time, and it has induced 24 strikeouts with 8 hits for a .182 opponents’ average…that includes a 24.1% usage rate vs. lefties, who are 3-for-19 with 9 strikeouts against it.
VS. HOUSTON: Cole, a former Texas Ranger, has some experience with the Astros, a team he’s opposed four times in his career, including 3 starts, in which he’s 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA (12 ER in 17.1 IP)…Ragans made his 2nd career start in Houston on Aug. 11 of last season and allowed 5 runs in 4.1 innings in a 7-3 loss…on Sept. 7 of last season, Ragans started and pitched 3.0 scoreless innings in Houston with no hits allowed…in his most recent appearance earlier this season on Jackie Robinson Day at Minute Maid Park, Ragans suffered a loss after allowing 2 runs in 4.0 innings. This marks the first time in his career making back-to-back starts against the same team…he pitched twice in relief vs. the Cubs from April 7-9.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: In 12 games (4 starts) on the road this year, Cole is 2-2 with a 3.68 ERA (15 ER in 36.2 IP) with 49 strikeouts to 16 walks and a .203/.289/.233 opponents’ slashline…he’s made all 4 starts with Kansas City, and in those games he has gone 2-0 with a 2.22 ERA (6 ER in 24.1 IP) and a .176/.253/.212 slashline…he most recently pitched on the road Sept. 10 in Toronto when he allowed just 1 hit but 6 walks across 5.2 IP in a no-decision.
HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: With just nine games remaining on their schedule, the Astros will open their final regular season series of the year at Minute Maid Park tonight as they play host to the Royals…entering this series, the Astros adjusted their rotation and will start LHP Framber Valdez on normal four-days rest tonight…he’ll be opposed by fellow southpaw LHP Cole Ragans.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON: The first-place Astros enter tonight’s game with a slim half-game lead over the Rangers (84-68) and Mariners (84-68)…the Astros have held first place for over two weeks, since ascending to the top of the division after a win over the Rangers on Sept. …the Astros have won the AL West in five straight full seasons (2017-19, 2021-22).
IT’S MAGIC: The Astros magic number to clinch a postseason spot is six, thanks in large part to the seven remaining games between the Rangers and Mariners…according to Elias, the Astros magic number can only move down to five tonight following an Astros victory…the outcome of the Rangers and Mariners game tonight will not effect their magic number.
POSTSEASON CREDENTIAL UPDATE: Once again this season, the Astros will oversee credentials for potential ALDS games at Minute Maid Park, with that event opening on MLB’s credentialing system at some point next week…Major League Baseball oversees credentials for the ALCS and World Series… credentials for those events are currently available to be applied for on MLB’s system with a deadline set of Oct. 6.
HISPANIC HERITAGE WEEKEND: The Astros are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Weekend, presented by AARP Texas…the Astros will wear their Los Astros jerseys this weekend and there will be pregame festivities, a street fest and more…to celebrate the weekend, 10,000 fans tonight will receive a José Abreu Los Astros Replica Jersey, presented by AARP Texas.
LOS ASTROS THIS WEEKEND: In addition to their English broadcasts, AT&T SportsNet SW will televise the Astros week- end series in Spanish on their AT&T SportsNet SW Alternate channel…the Los Astros broadcast team includes Enrique Vasquez, Danny Gonzales and Gene Flores.
TONIGHT’S FIRST PITCHES: Houston Rockets first-round draft picks Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore will be throwing out ceremonial first pitches tonight…both will be made available to the media at approx. 6:30 p.m. in the press box lobby.
WALKOFF WINSDAY: The Astros earned a hard-fought victory on Wednesday vs. BAL, downing the Orioles 2-1 on a walkoff single by CF Mauricio Dubón…there were plenty of heroes in the contest, including SS Jeremy Peña, who doubles home the tying run in the 8th inning…RHP Cristian Javier (1ER/5IP) started for Houston and matched his season high with 11 strikeouts, while allowing just three hits and two walks…RHP Ryan Pressly picked up the win after tossing a dominant 9th.
TODAY’S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have reinstated RHP Ryne Stanek from the 15-day IL…to make for Stanek on the active roster, the club optioned RHP Joel Kuhnel to Triple A Sugar Land.
FINDING HIS GROOVE: LHP Framber Valdez has made five consecutive quality starts, posting a 1.59 ERA (6ER/34IP) with 230 strikeouts and a .179 opponent’s batting average (21×117) in those outings…on the season, Valdez ranks second in the AL in innings pitched (188.2), fourth in opponent average (.227), fifth in ERA (3.20) and seventh in WHIP (1.09).
SEÑOR SCORELESS:RHP Bryan Abreu has not allowed a run in his last 23 appearances (23 IP), striking out 25 batters during that span…his streak is the longest active scoreless innings streak in the Majors and the longest by any Astros pitcher this season…this streak is also the longest of his career and the longest by an Astros reliever since RHP Ryne Stanek had a 27.1-inning streak from April 29-July 25, 2022.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: RF Kyle Tucker leads the AL in RBI (108), surpassing his previous career high of 107, reached in 2022…108 RBI are the most by an Astro since 3B Alex Bregman had 112 in 2019…Tucker is looking to join OF Lance Berkman (128 RBI in ‘02) and 1B Jeff Bagwell (116 RBI in ‘94) as the only players in club history to lead their league in RBI.
STREAKING ‘STRO: LF Yordan Alvarez has reached base safely in 27 straight games, while hitting .347 (33×95) with a .484 OBP and a 1.115 OPS over that stretch (since Aug. 20)… his streak is the longest active streak in the Majors and his second-longest of the season (36g from March 30-May 16).
LEVELING LEFTIES: SS Jeremy Peña (.331) and OF Chas McCormick (.331) rank second and third in the AL in batting average vs. LHP…collectively, the Astros offense leads the AL in hits (428), HR (66), SLG (.469) and OPS (.808) vs. LHP… also, the Astros are 28-20 in games vs. left-handed starters.
TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: LHP FRAMBER VALDEZ
LAST START – 9/17 at KC: recorded a brilliant start on Sunday at Kanas City…allowed 1 run (0 ER) on 6 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts in 7.0 innings…has recorded a quality start in his last 5 appearances, notching a 1.59 ERA (6ER/34IP) with 30 strikeouts, a 0.94 WHIP and a .179 opponent batting average.
ABOUT VALDEZ: the 2023 All-Star is pitching in his 6th season (2018-23) in the Astros rotation…has made 105 career regular season starts and has earned 53 career wins… has also been a standout postseason performer, going 7-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 13 career postseason outings, including 12 starts. had an excellent first half this season, going 7-6 with a 2.51 ERA to earn his 2nd consecutive All-Star Game selection…at the All-Star break, had the lowest qualified ERA in the Majors. after a slow start to the second half, has rebounded over his last 5 starts, going 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA and logging 5 straight quality starts. ranks 2nd in the AL quality starts (20), 2nd in innings pitched (188.2), 5th in ERA (3.20), 5th in opponent OPS (.645), 6th in pitching WAR (4.4) and 7th in strikeouts (183).
VS. KANSAS CITY: is making his 6th start of his career and the 2nd of the season against the Royals. will be making his second consecutive start against the Royals as he faced them on Sunday in the Astros 7-1 victory. in his career against Kansas City, he has a 2-1 record with a 3.80 ERA (10ER/23.2IP) in 5 games including 3 starts…all three of his starts against the Royals have been a quality start.
STAYING GROUNDED: once again leads the AL in groundball percentage with a 55.1% rate…ranks immediately ahead of KCRHP Brady Singer (49.7%) in that category. owns a career 63.5% groundball percentage, which ranks as the lowest qualified percentage in the Majors since 2018….since ground ball percentage started being tracked in 1987, Valdez career ground ball percentage is the 2nd-highest ever posted by a starting pitcher (min. 300 IP), trailing only RHP Brandon Webb (65.1%).
