Noah Cameron makes his return to the rotation as the Royals put two Cy Young finalists on the IL.
Well, things are looking pretty dire.
The Royals got a truckload of bad news yesterday and today . First, it was announced that Seth Lugo would miss his next start (originally scheduled for tonight) due to finger inflammation. Since then, he has been placed on the IL, so he’s going to miss more than one start.
Then, during last night’s game, Cole Ragans didn’t really look like himself and was pulled early after clutching at his legs. He has also been placed on the IL as his groin strain which caused him to miss a start against Tampa Bay in late April, has not gone away. The Royals added Noah Cameron, tonight’s starter, and Evan Sisk to the 25-man roster to take the spots of the two 2024 Cy Young top-five finishers.
Oh, and the Royals also got shelled to lose their fifth game out of their last six following a seven-game winning streak.
It’s unclear, currently, who will take Ragans’ spot in the rotation while he’s out, but as previously noted, Cameron will get Lugo’s spot tonight and at least until the veteran right-hander returns. The Royals have hung tough in baseball’s second-best division in large part due to their excellent pitching. Losing two of their starters with only one clear replacement puts them in jeopardy of letting the season slip away.
But in baseball, you have to take it one night at a time. And tonight’s game will see rookie Cameron make his second big league start against veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas. Cameron was stellar in his debut, pitching six hitless innings before eventually exiting his shutout start after 6.1 innings and one hit allowed. The Royals could use more of that tonight, for sure.
Mikolas’ numbers look pretty bad, but he had a truly disastrous start his second time out and has been much better since with a 2.78 ERA in six starts. He’s something of an anti-three-true-outcomes pitcher, accruing few strikeouts but also not walking players or giving up many home runs. He has allowed quite a bit of hard contact, and a 5.78 FIP says that he might be more vulnerable than those numbers appear. Vulnerable enough for the inconsistent Royals offense? Only time will tell.
Lineups
Saturday starters.
The Cardinals have a dangerous lineup, and they showed it by scoring 10 runs last night. The Royals will have Jonathan India starting at second for the third straight game and Michael Massey starting in left for the second straight night. Apparently, the Royals have tired of India’s defensive miscues at the hot corner and in the outfield, but an error on his part at second directly led to the game getting out of control last night, too. Personally, I think he does the least damage in left but the Royals think they know better. Let’s hope they’re right.
The saying goes, “It’s darkest before the dawn,” and the best teams will rise to the challenges in these moments. Think back to the 2014 Royals losing Eric Hosmer to an injury just as he was carrying the team, Billy Butler took over for him while he was out, and that team made it to Game Seven of the World Series. Now would be a good time for the Royals to show the resilience that has always been the hallmark of their best teams.