KANSAS CITY -- It was a brief pause in Cole Ragans' normal rhythm of the season, having gone 10 days in between starts after a mild left groin strain caused him to skip last week’s start.
The Royals’ ace seems back like he never left.
The lefty punched out 11 batters across five scoreless innings Monday night in the Royals’ 3-0 win over the White Sox at Kauffman Stadium, tying Ragans’ season high in strikeouts (also done April 8 against the Twins) and giving him nine career starts of 10-plus strikeouts -- four of them coming this year.
That gave the Royals their third consecutive victory, and they’ve now won six of their last seven games and 12 of their last 14 games -- and they’ve thrown five shutouts in their last 10 games.
“Watching these guys every day is incredible,” Ragans said. “What the other starters have done, watching them, you just want to build off it. You want to follow [them]. Everybody wants to follow the next guy. I’ve been sitting here for [10] days watching these guys do their thing. … It’s fun to be a part of.”
Monday was Ragans’ first start since April 24, when he only went three innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Rockies, exiting early to a mild left groin strain. The Royals proceeded with caution for their frontline starter, having him skip last week’s scheduled start to fully move past the injury.
And while the Royals got a brilliant spot start from No. 5 prospect Noah Cameron last week against the Rays -- a start in which Ragans joked afterward that Cameron was “coming for my job” -- the team hoped it wouldn’t be without its ace for long.
Sure enough, Ragans threw a bullpen Friday in Baltimore, setting him up for Monday’s start and getting the Royals’ rotation back to full strength.
“He goes out there, throws five innings, strikes out 11 -- it’s just like another day at the office for him,” said shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who was 2-for-3 on Monday and added to the Royals’ lead with an RBI double in the fifth inning.
Against the White Sox, Ragans looked like a starter who had maybe gotten out of his rhythm with the 10-day layoff, needing 94 pitches to get through five innings, but once again showcased how great his stuff is to be able to work through a scoreless outing. The White Sox fouled off 24 of Ragans’ pitches, but of their 48 swings against him 17 were whiffs.
“Good intent,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “They had a lot of tough at-bats, foul balls, deep counts, but his stuff was really good. He was mid-90s the whole night, held his velocity.”
Ragans said there are things he’ll have to work on moving forward, efficiency being one of them. He was getting outs, but they weren’t quick outs. He relied again on the fastball-changeup combination but felt like his breaking stuff was “hit or miss.”
A good curveball, though, got Miguel Vargas to strike out swinging to end the fifth with Ragans reaching his pitch count and John Schreiber warming in the bullpen.
When he needed to, Ragans executed to get the swing and miss. He sits atop the American League, tied with Carlos Rodón, with 57 strikeouts. Ragans’ 57 punchouts are the second-most by a Royal through the first seven starts of a season, two shy of Zack Greinke’s 59 strikeouts to begin his 2009 Cy Young season.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Ragans said. “Really close to where I want to be. Still some tweaks to be made, but overall, felt like I’m in a good spot.”
It helps that the Royals' bullpen has been so effective; Quatraro had no problem turning the game over to his relievers when Ragans hit his pitch limit. Schreiber, Steven Cruz, Daniel Lynch IV and Carlos Estevez combined for four shutout innings, lowering the Royals’ bullpen ERA to 2.88 -- fourth-best in the Majors.
That allowed the Royals to do just enough offensively. Maikel Garcia knocked in the game’s first run in the fourth inning, the first of three times he’d be on base Monday night. Garcia hit an even .500 during the Royals’ 5-1 road trip and continued that heater to kick off the homestand.
Garcia said he’s “never felt” as locked in as he does right now at the plate.
The Royals, as a team, are following suit.
“It just feels like we’re playing our type of baseball,” Witt said.
With their ace back now, too.