KANSAS CITY -- One wacky defensive play and errant throw home from reliever Lucas Erceg ultimately led to the Royals’ 1-0 loss to the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night.
But this whole series, this whole season, was defined more about the offense than any defensive miscue and the subsequent “what if” and “should have” statements that followed Thursday’s game.
Kansas City was swept by the Yankees and finished the season series 0-6 against the reigning American League champions, who got the better of these Royals in last year’s AL Division Series and showed a jarring gap in 2025. It was just the third time in franchise history that Kansas City didn’t win a game against the Bombers in the regular season, following the 2001 (0-6) and 1998 (0-10) teams.
The Royals are now one game below .500 (34-35) for the first time since the end of April. Thursday’s shutout was their seventh such loss of the season, which is the second-most shutout losses in the AL and which accounts for 20% of their losses.
“That series sucked, plain and simple,” first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “[Starter Seth] Lugo was unbelievable tonight, and we gave him nothing. We just simply have to be better.”
That’s the story of the season so far, plain and simple.
The pitching got back on track with Lugo’s 5 2/3 scoreless innings. The veteran right-hander allowed just two hits and worked around three walks. Lefty reliever Angel Zerpa handled a 28-minute rain delay in the top of the sixth inning with his usual ease and resiliency, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings after the quick downpour paused the game.
The errant throw from Erceg in the eighth handed him the loss, but he mitigated further damage to get the Royals out of the frame down only one run.
One run is not an impossible deficit to overcome, but the Royals have struggled offensively across the board this year.
The Royals went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on Thursday and 0-for-17 against the Yankees over the three-game series. In the past six games, the Royals are 3-for-39 in scoring situations – and all three hits came last Sunday against the White Sox.
“I think it is actually becoming a weight,” said Pasquantino, whose single in the second inning extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. “And I probably shouldn’t say that. But yeah, when there’s a guy in [scoring] position, like when you get up to the plate, you really want to get him in. And we don’t have an answer to solve that right now. At least, we haven’t up to this point.
“Hopefully there are more opportunities [Friday], and hopefully we cash in on those opportunities.”
The Royals are getting hits – their .251 team batting average ranks 11th in the Majors, and they’re hitting .279 this month, which ranks second best. But with runners in scoring position, their average drops to .222, tied for fifth worst in the Majors.
“They’re going through it right now, where the execution just isn’t there,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “And that’s not for lack of effort, but it’s happening, and they understand it.”
On Thursday, Nick Loftin tripled with one out in the fifth inning. Freddy Fermin and Kyle Isbel followed with groundouts.
“A foot left or right from scoring me from third,” Loftin said. “That’s just how it goes.”
There’s no easy fix for a stat as volatile as hitting with RISP, and rest assured the Royals are racking their brains to do so. They’ve made several roster changes this year, including calling up top prospect Jac Caglianone, but the fix will fall to the everyday players in the lineup.
They watched the Yankees all series work counts and work their at-bats to get Royals pitchers’ pitch counts up.
Navigating the Yankees’ lineup is “challenging,” Lugo said.
Pasquantino thinks the Royals could learn from that.
“You never want to give a team that just beat you credit,” Pasquantino said. “But you just watch the at-bats and how they approach their at-bats, and how they just make the pitchers grind it out. We just got to do a better job of that. Find a way to get the extra 90, find a way to score somebody.
“But it’s tough. It’s a whole range of emotions – anger, sadness. Like you really want to get the job done. And right now, we’re not. And it’s all across the board. It’s not one guy, it’s everyone. We all got to pick up the weight and find a way to put some runs on the scoreboard.”