BALTIMORE -- There were two pieces of good news for the Royals prior to their series finale vs. the Orioles on Sunday: Salvador Perez was back in the starting lineup and Cole Ragans is set to make his next start as scheduled.
Perez, who was the designated hitter on Sunday, missed two games after exiting in the sixth inning of Kansas City’s series finale vs. Tampa Bay on Thursday with left hip soreness. The issue, which was a flare-up of a previous injury, wasn’t serious enough to warrant an IL stint, but it did keep the Royals’ captain out of the lineup for a few days.
“We don't know for sure how he's going to feel when he hits the ball and tries to get out of the box,” manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “I mean, he tested it yesterday. But luckily, as we've joked about before, speed isn't a big part of the game. But you know, if he hits two or three doubles today, [his hip will] get tested.”
Perez, like the Royals as a whole, had started to heat up at the plate before his short absence, hitting .423 with a 1.136 OPS in his past seven games after having a .185 average through April 22. Though Perez is cleared for action, the Royals don’t want to push him, slotting Luke Maile -- who the club recalled on Friday to back up Freddy Fermin -- some time behind the plate with his first start on Sunday.
Ragans, who exited his outing on April 24 in the third inning with a mild left groin strain, felt ready to go after throwing a bullpen session on Friday. He’ll be back on the bump for the Royals on Monday as they open a four-game series against the White Sox back at Kauffman Stadium.
“Yeah, we wouldn't have him out there if we weren't confident,” Quatraro said. “We would not risk it. He says he feels completely normal. So we're looking forward to that.”
Ragans missed his scheduled Wednesday start due to the injury, but Kansas City managed to be more than fine behind a historic spot-start debut from No. 5 prospect Noah Cameron.
Only missing Ragans for one start is huge for the Royals, who have relied heavily on their pitching -- which posted a 3.10 ERA in April (sixth best in MLB) -- as the offense stumbled to a slower start to the season (.224 average in April, 26th in MLB).
Last season, Ragans was stellar for the Royals, delivering a 3.14 ERA in 32 starts with an 11-9 record for a fourth-place finish in the AL Cy Young Award voting. He was even better in the postseason, too, with a 0.90 ERA in two starts (10 innings).
And though he missed that final start of April, Ragans is still among the top 15 in strikeouts this season, with his 46 K’s tied for 13th most in MLB with four others: the Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi, the Padres’ Michael King, the Tigers’ Jack Flaherty and the Braves’ Chris Sale.
Ragans has a career 0.00 ERA vs. the White Sox in two starts, having allowed one unearned run with 10 strikeouts over 11 innings. Both of those starts came with Texas, though, one in 2022 and one in ‘23.