“Just put your little hand in mine”
The Royals have lived and died by their offense all season. This is because their pitching, at its worst, does well enough to keep them in the game. But too often, the Royals simply don’t score enough or even any at all. Today, the Royals’ bats got off to a good start. Jonathan India singled to lead things off, went to second on a wild pitch, and then scored on a Bobby Witt Jr. double into the gap.
That would be the last time the Royals scored. You could sense that this was going to be a vintage 2025 Royals performance when Witt made it to third with only one out and didn’t score thanks to a Vinnie Pasquantino pop out and a Salvador Perez strikeout.
Drew Waters was stranded at third in the third inning; that would be the last time the Royals would put a runner in scoring position. The Royals scored one run on five hits; the Dodgers scored five runs on seven hits. But of the Dodgers’ seven hits, four went for extra bases. The Royals’ only extra-base hit was Witt’s first-inning double. Halfway through the season, it’s still hard to score runs when you don’t hit for power or walk.
Kris Bubic was not especially sharp in this one. For the fourth straight start following the extra time off before the Yankees series, he struggled to put hitters away and keep his pitch count reasonable. Still, he ended up going five innings and only allowing two runs. Justin Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ bulk pitcher for this one, came into the game with a 4.91 ERA. He left with a 4.08 ERA after pitching six shutout innings.
This might be the most boring team I’ve ever watched. At least the teams in the early 2000s could hit. Sure, they lost a lot and it was frustrating, but they scored runs and it was fun. Watching this team fall to nameless pitcher after nameless pitcher is dull as anything
Good news for those among us who have to go to work early in the mornings, the Royals next series is in Seattle, and they’re all night games. They start tomorrow night at 8:40 PM CDT. Michael Wacha will duel George Kirby in the first Battle of Grass Creek for 2025.