Royals vs Padres Game 76 Gamethread

Some late-night, west coast baseball action.

The 37-38 Royals bats have woken up. The Royals scored 6, 6, and 4 runs in their sweep of the Texas Rangers, but most importantly they started hitting home runs. Jac Caglianone finally got on the board with two home runs himself, including one on a pitch that was at neck level. The Royals hitting dingers are a dangerous team.

With a little momentum, the Royals head to San Diego for a weekend series against the 40-34 Padres, who are in third place in the NL West behind the Dodgers and Giants. The Padres are coming off a series loss against the Dodgers with a little bad blood. They may be looking to let off some steam.

The Royals will send Michael Lorenzen to the mound to start. Though his 12% K-BB rate is among the best of his career, he sports a 4.91 ERA, among the worst of his career. This is due to a career-normal HR/FB% but a very high FB% compared to career norms. Out of his 14 starts this season, only three of them have been pretty awful. He has otherwise been average-ish or better. His last start was on the 14th against the Athletics, a game I attended. He recorded a quality start.

The Padres will send Nick Pivetta to start. After 14 starts, Pivetta has so far turned in a career-best season, with career-lows in ERA and FIP. This is entirely due to limiting home runs at a career-best rate that is nowhere near his career norms. He has somehow concocted a situation in which he is throwing more strikes than ever but inducing less in-zone contact than ever. His strikeout and walk rates are within career norms. I’d love for Jac Caglianone to cause some regression to the mean for Pivetta’s HR/FB%.

Note: Fernando Tatis Jr is a go.

Game time is 8:40pm US Central. Tonight’s game is Friday Night Baseball, a nationally-televised game on Apple TV+. FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City will not carry the game. You can listen on the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups