Royals win series against divisional foe Cleveland Guardians; look to continue momentum in July
By Calvin Silvers
The Kansas City Royals were back at Kauffman Stadium this past four-game series, taking on divisional rival and AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians. Sitting in the third spot in that division, the Royals know reaching the top will be a long journey, but the team has a new sense of life heading into July.
On the flip side, one win, a Phillies loss, and the Cleveland Guardians would’ve ended the month as the best team in baseball. However, that didn’t happen, as Kansas City gained three games in the standings, winning the series 3-1.
Now the Royals are seven games back with half of the season left to play and seven matchups between the two clubs.
“We have the ability to keep things rolling, and even when one of us might not have the best start just picking each other up and keep going,” pitcher Alec Marsh said. “It’s good to keep things rolling, especially against this team. You know, we want to be at the top spot too.”
In this recent series, Kansas City outscored the Guardians 20-13, a combination of good hitting and pitching. Royals pitcher Seth Lugo was one that had a fantastic game on Sunday, cementing himself as the winningest pitcher in the majors, sitting at 11-2.
He also lowered his big league-leading era to 2.17, all while getting dinged up off a line drive hit.
“It certainly looked like it was bothering him, but it didn’t faze his pitching,” manager Matt Quatrari said. “You know, I mean, luckily it was in the left hand and not the right… it’s really hard to quantify or come up with new ways to talk about how good he’s been.”
On the batting side, veteran outfielder Hunter Renfroe has improved his game only striking out 17.3 percent of the time since May. His 173 home runs since his first full season in 2017 are the 23rd most in the majors in that span, behind only Aaron Judge’s 253.
As an outfielder, he has hit 166 home runs during that same period, ranking fifth in MLB.
“He’s getting back to that, which is great,” Quatraro said. “I mean, he’s been a true power hitter in this league for a number of years, and that’s exactly why we signed him.”
Of course, you cannot forget All-Star-caliber and MVP-caliber shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Witt’s raw speed translates into tons of exciting plays, especially because of how good of a hitter he is as he leads the American League with 107 hits
“No, I don’t take that for granted. You know, none of these guys, you don’t take any of them for granted,” Quatraro said. “This is really hard to do. It’s a really tough game to play and to be at this level like they are and go out there and put it all on the line every day, there’s no doubt you can’t take someone like that for granted.”
