KANSAS CITY -- The Royals have scored more than four runs only 10 times in their 58 games this season, and Friday’s 7-5 series-opening loss to the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium was one of them.
Yet in a game that saw the two teams trade homers early, both starters complete just 3 1/3 innings and the offenses combine for 12 runs, the story was still centered around the Royals’ bats.
Particularly two stats that show up in every box score below the lineup:
Team RISP: 2-for-11
Team LOB: 11
“We don’t want to leave anybody on base,” catcher Salvador Perez said. “Eleven today. We need to figure it out.”
Two months into the season, and that has been the most striking difference between this year’s team and last. In scoring situations, the 2024 Royals were excellent, with a .282 average (second-best in the Majors), .348 on-base percentage (sixth) .446 slugging percentage (sixth) and 116 wRC+ (eighth).
Not so much this year, even with the same lineup plus leadoff hitter Jonathan India. Their team .224 average in scoring position ranks 25th in MLB, .284 OBP ranks 29th and .315 slugging percentage ranks at the very bottom.
“It just feels like you’re in one of those phases where you just kind of need, want, begging, just like, one person to just break through and do it,” first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “And to be honest, it kind of starts with me. Because that’s my job, is to drive in runs. And I’ve been terrible at it this year.”
Pasquantino has been on a tear in May, with an .844 OPS this month compared to a .507 OPS in April. But a year after he hit .360 in scoring situations for the Royals, he’s currently hitting .188. Pasquantino singled and walked twice on Friday night, but his strikeout in the fourth inning with runners on second and third with one out was what stuck with him. The Tigers had brought in lefty Brant Hurter for the tough left-on-left matchup, and Hurter froze Pasquantino on a 94 mph sinker.
The Tigers intentionally walked Perez to load the bases, and Maikel Garcia -- the Royals’ hottest hitter with an MLB-best 14-game hitting streak -- flied out to right to end the inning.
“At the end of the day, none of that matters,” Pasquantino said of the Tigers’ pitching change. “Just got to get the job done. You look at those as opportunities when you look at losses like that. That’s a big moment in the game.”
Right behind Pasquantino in the lineup, Perez is in a similar position; he hit .329 with runners in scoring position last season. This year, he’s hitting .221.
Perez smoked his 300th career double in the third inning Friday and came around to score on Drew Waters’ single. But he hit into a double play with runners on first and second with one out in the sixth inning.
“They did an incredible job of that last year,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We talked about it even when we were good at it last year: It’s a volatile stat. … Clearly, if they’re cashing in all those runs, we’re going to be in a better spot. They know that. Some of it is them trying not to do too much. I think they’re feeling like they have to get it done, and that’s not the case.”
No one feels those struggles more than the hitters themselves. The solution isn’t always clear or easy; if it was, this story wouldn’t exist.
“I’ve been looking at some things,” Pasquantino said, referencing data and video and a whole slew of other aspects to his game. “I studied some things about what I’m doing with runners in scoring position [on Thursday’s off-day] and tried to change that tonight. And it didn’t work out. Got to take another hard look in the mirror and figure out what’s going on.”
The Royals have lost 12 of their last 18 games but are still two games above .500 (30-28) and fighting in the standings of what has turned out to be a competitive American League Central. They’ve weathered a frustrating start on offense and injuries to their pitching staff, and the season is nowhere close to being determined. Making his first start in 19 days after dealing with a right middle finger sprain, Seth Lugo allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings for his shortest start of the year.
There are still a lot of questions facing the Royals this year. But there’s also still a lot of time left to find answers.
“We need to be better,” Garcia said. “You have to get those hits in those situations. That’s what we need -- be tough in those situations. We’re struggling with men on base. And we have to come back tomorrow and keep fighting again.”