MIAMI -- For John Rave, the All-Star break was much more productive than a four-day hiatus from baseball.
Instead, the work-focused break seemed to make quite the impact.
The rookie outfielder hit his first two career home runs and notched four RBIs in the Royals’ eventual 8-7 walk-off loss in 10 innings to the Marlins on Friday night at loanDepot Park. The unofficial second half of the season kicked off with a gut punch for Kansas City, which held a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the 10th only to watch Miami All-Star Kyle Stowers hit his second home run of the night, this one a game-winning blast off Royals All-Star closer Carlos Estévez.
Rave showed up to the visitors' clubhouse in Miami on Friday with a new number, having to switch from No. 26 to No. 16, with the return of the veteran Adam Frazier, who has worn No. 26 for most of his career and did so last year with the Royals.
After turning in the best game of his young career, No. 16 is Rave’s new favorite number. And the Royals happily welcomed No. 26 back when Frazier came in off the bench and ripped a two-run double in the 10th inning -- exactly what the Royals acquired him to do.
“Frazier can have No. 26,” Rave said. “Sixteen works for me.”
It wasn’t the only thing that was different about Rave on Friday. He spent the All-Star break across the state in Clearwater, Fla., driving into Tampa for three of the four days to hit at the recently opened Driveline facility. Rave has spent the last two offseasons working with Driveline in Arizona, and he met up with two of the coaches in Tampa over the break: Travis Fitta, who runs the new facility, and Elijah Boyer.
“We wanted a little bit of beach for relaxing, but also, I need to get some things right,” Rave said.
Just under two months into his big league career, Rave entered Friday hitting .176/.269/.235 in 35 career games. He’s struck out at a 26.3% clip and was struggling with the transition from Triple-A Omaha -- where he hit .301 with a .931 OPS this year -- to the Majors, like many young hitters do.
But Rave wants to prove himself, and the Royals need better production from both the bottom of their order and in the outfield. As the break approached, Rave formed a plan with the Royals’ hitting coaches and flew to Florida to get to work.
“I get a little caught up with lunging toward the plate a little bit, so [I] worked on a coil into my back hip,” Rave said. “That kind of kept me in the zone a little longer. That’s going to be a focus going forward. And then once the game starts, just putting together good at-bats.”
When Sandy Alcantara threw Rave a 2-1 middle-middle fastball in the fourth inning Friday, Rave unloaded on it and sent it 422 feet out to right-center field for his first career home run.
That brought the Royals within one run, but that’s where it stayed until Rave stepped to the plate with one out in the ninth inning against reliever Calvin Faucher. This time, Rave worked a seven-pitch at-bat, sending a sweeper out to left-center field for career home run No. 2.
This one tied the game.
“I felt especially the one late kind of gave us a jolt a little bit,” Rave said. “Everyone in the dugout was pretty hyped up about it.”
And why wouldn’t they be? The Royals had rallied from a five-run deficit and now had the game lined up to go their way. Especially when Frazier -- good thing he was wearing No. 26 -- lined the go-ahead double in the 10th inning, reinforcing the Royals’ vision for the type of at-bats they felt like the 33-year-old could bring back to this roster.
“The guys made me comfortable here,” Frazier said. “They’re great. Felt like I never left really, seeing all the familiar faces, their energy and the coaches as well.”
Of course, more than two runs would have been nice, especially when the Royals had two runners on base and no outs to begin the 10th. But the dugout felt confident with Estévez, who entered Friday tied for second in baseball with 25 saves, coming in for the 10th, even with the middle of Miami’s order.
Just three days after Estévez struck out Stowers in the All-Star Game, Stowers flipped that result with a walk-off two-run blast on a fastball that caught too much of the plate.
“You got a two-run lead with Carlos coming in -- that’s what we hope for, right?” manager Matt Quatraro said. “They put a couple of good swings on him, and it’s a pretty tough way to lose. But we’re going to take our chances with that.”