As Seattle rolls into town, they’re having a really rough time. Even so, I think most Royals fans would trade places with them in a heartbeat. After coming so tantalizingly close to their first World Series appearance as a franchise last fall, the Mariners had a lot of expectations for this season. They even made the big offensive addition most Royals fans wished KC would make by getting Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals. Still, they sit 24-27, third in their division, and one game out of the last Wild Card spot.
The Royals, after hanging in tough following a couple of bad losing streaks, have seen that second losing period just keep extending, and while they were only 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot on Sunday, they’re now firmly 9 games off the division-leading Guardians and 4.5 games from the final Wild Card spot. Realistically, they’re not out of the playoff hunt as they stretch toward the end of May, but they’ve done very little to show us that they’re capable of playing well enough to escape these doldrums. It leaves us as Royals fans reminiscing about the early days when they were just not quite able to finish series off and were a game or two under .500.
Still, the Mariners were the team at the start of the Royals’ lone really good stretch and while KC can’t count on them to get the team out of a third such stretch as they’ll be done playing each other in the regular season after this weekend, perhaps lightning could strike twice? After all, things didn’t look remotely positive when Kansas City showed up in Seattle back at the beginning of this month, either.
To try to find their winning ways, the Royals will send a pitcher who has also been searching for himself a bit. But Noah Cameron actually did seem to kind of find himself in his start against the Cardinals last Saturday. His arm slot is still much lower than last season, but his pitch mix reflected the way that has changed his pitches and led him to rely primarily on his fastball and changeup with some curveballs instead of the cutter and slider, which were so effective last year but have seen their shape ruined by his mechanical changes. He pitched a definitional quality start, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings. But for the first time this season, he didn’t walk a single batter, and for the first time since his initial two starts, he struck out four more than he walked. The Royals’ offense, which has somehow been less than the sum of its parts, probably needs him to find even another gear, but at least it was a start.
The Mariners will counter with Logan Gilbert. Gilbert has really struggled this season, with the worst K-BB% of his career since his sophomore year, but adding nearly 2 home runs per 9 innings pitched. He allowed 7 runs on 3 home runs to the Padres in his last appearance. He didn’t face the Royals in their last series, but faced the Royals twice last year, giving up 2 runs in each start across only 10.1 innings total. He could be vulnerable, and if the Royals want to right this ship, they’ll need to take advantage of it.
Lineups
The Royals are using the same v RHP lineup they’ve used for weeks now, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez are still prominently in the 3 and 4 spots. I don’t think there’s anything else to say about that. Here’s hoping if we do the same thing something different will result.