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Just when you thought the Royals had started playing some ball by winning 5 of the last 7 games in the recent road trip, they dropped a steaming heap of a series against the Texas Rangers at the K.
Game 1 saw the Royals extend their winning ways to 6 out of their last 8 with a 5-3 win over the Rangers. That would be it for the series though, as KC dropped the next two games 6-4 and 4-2. Along the way they lost their starting centerfielder, had their $23M starting pitcher nearly decapitated by a line drive, and embarrassed themselves as an organization with some rain-less rain delay tomfoolery.
It’s been a bad week at One Royal Way.
THE GOOD
We have to start with OF Jac Caglianone. Cags is scorching hot. We haven’t seen this much Italian lava since that unfortunate incident in Pompeii. All he did against the Rangers was go 9-12 (.750!) with a double, 2 HRs, 4 RBI, and 5 runs scored. For the month of June, Cags is hitting .533 (16-30) with an absurd 1.511 OPS.
For the season Caglianone now leads the Royals with a .279 average and .457 slugging percentage, and he trails Bobby Witt Jr. in on base percentage by 0.001.
Oh and by the way, I think we can stop sitting him against left-handers….
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It’s great to see the kid break out, hopefully some sustained production from him in the middle of the order will lead to a few more wins as the 2026 season grinds on.
RHP Steven Cruz threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in 2 appearances against Texas. He was dominant in the series opener, registering 4 outs with only 10 pitches! Yes, a 2.5 P/O is good. Very good.
RHP John Schreiber has been quietly excellent lately. Over his last 18 appearances dating back to April 19th, the veteran reliever has allowed only 14 hits and 3 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings. During that time he has struck out 14 and walked only 3. For the year his ERA is down to 2.67 and his WHIP to 1.18.
Royals fans finally got their first look at right-handed reliever Beck Way this week. Kansas City acquired Way in July of 2022 from the Yankees along with P Chandler Champlain and P TJ Sikkema in exchange for OF Andrew Benintendi. Champlain is now in AAA for the Washington Nationals and pitching well, Sikkema is in AAA in the Red Sox organization and not.
Way’s first two big league outings were a mixed bag, but he was excellent yesterday against the Rangers. With the pen depleted from the day before, Way provided 2 scoreless innings in relief of starter Michael Wacha, striking out 4 and walking none. Manager Matt Quatraro has to be desperate for reliable arms out of the bullpen, particulaly ones that can go multiple innings. The Royals made room for Way on the roster by optioning the terrible Eli Morgan to AAA Omaha.
THE BAD
Bobby Witt Jr. may not be driving the struggle bus, but by his standards he is onboard. For the month of June Bobby Baseball is hitting .231 with a .644 OPS. Am I worried about him? No, no I am not. With a red-hot Caglianone moving up in the order to give him some protection Witt will be just fine. He was 3-12 against the Rangers.
Sadly when the doors of the KC struggle bus swing open, it’s none other than Salvador Perez behind the wheel. Salvy went 0-13 against the Rangers, and is 3-26 (.131) with a microscopic .238 OPS in the month of June. He’s without an extra-base hit this month, and hasn’t homered in almost 3 weeks. His bat speed is down and his hard-hit % has followed accordingly.
Am I worried about Salvy? Yes, yes I am. The future Hall of Famer has fought an amazingly valiant battle against Father Time, but it’s a fight we are all doomed to lose. The old bastard seems to have Salvy on the ropes.
I don’t pretend to know what is wrong with RHP Lucas Erceg, but I do know that you absolutely can’t use him in game situations right now. Quatraro tabbed Erceg to pitch the 8th inning against the Rangers on Wednesday night with the Royals leading 4-3. After Ezequiel Duran struck out to open the inning, Erceg then walked Evan Carter and Kyle Higashioka and hit Nicky Lopez (!) to load the bases. Daniel Lynch relieved Erceg and gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly.
THE UGLY
We have to start with Seth Lugo. The veteran right-hander was hit square in the forehead in the 4th inning Wednesday by a 100+ mph line drive of the bat of former Met teammate Brandon Nimmo. It was one of the most horrifying incidents I’ve seen in 55 years of watching baseball. The ball caromed off Lugo’s dome all the way into medium depth right field.
Nimmo was horrified as well, and as soon as he reached first base he called timeout and went to the mound to check on his friend. Amazingly Lugo got right back on his feet, even as the giant welt was growing on his forehead. He walked off the field under his own power, and the Royals reported later that his CT scan was “normal”.
The next day Lugo had this to say about Nimmo… (from the Dallas Morning News)
Lugo was in the Royals' clubhouse on Thursday and said of Nimmo’s reaction: “He was shaken up pretty good. I was really just trying to calm him down. ‘I’m OK, Nimms.’ He’s always been a sweetheart like that. As a buddy of mine, I felt for him. You’ve hit guys before as a pitcher, and you feel bad. So that was just an unfortunate situation, but everything’s OK.”
Lugo would be scheduled to start Monday night in Washington, we’ll see if he sits out a start.
CF Kyle Isbel came up lame at first base during the series opener with the Rangers and was removed from the game. The next day the Royals announced Isbel was diagnosed with a Grade 3 tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot and placed him on the 10 day injured list.
That is a very painful injury that usually requires an extended absence from the field. Nothing definite has been announced by the team, but I suspect we have seen the last of Isbel in 2026.
The Royals replaced Isbel on the roster by calling up OF Kameron Misner from AAA Omaha. Misner played in 71 games in the big leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays last year, and made his KC debut yesterday going 1-2 with an RBI and a walk against the Rangers. Like Isbel Misner bats left-handed, and like Isbel is a defense first player. The 28 year-old was hitting well for the Storm Chasers, hopefully he can bolster what continues to be anemic production from Kansas City outfielders not named Jac Caglianone.
UP NEXT
The Royals have finished their season’s business with the Rangers (1-5), and now get their first look at the 2026 Houston Astros this weekend at the K. The Astros are 31-39, 5 games behind first place Seattle in the AL West. Offensively they are middle of the road in most categories, but rank 7th in HRs.
That’s due to Yordan Alvarez who leads the American League with 22 bombs and all of baseball with a 1.066 OPS. Keeping Alvarez from going nuts this weekend is the key to winning the series for the Royals. Unfortunately Alvarez has a career .339 average and ludicrous 1.164 OPS against KC. Good luck with that.
Here are the pitching matchups for the series…
Tonight - RHP Luinder Avila (1-2, 4.02) vs RHP Tatsuya Imai (3-3, 5.24)
The 28 year old Imai is making his 9th major league start, and first against the Royals. He relies on his slider and 4 seam fastball against hitters from both sides of the plate, and gets a lot of ground balls (87th percentile). This will be an interesting matchup. Baseball Savant lists Luinder Avila as the pitcher most similar to Imai.
Saturday - LHP Noah Cameron (3-4, 3.84) vs RHP Mike Burrows (3-8, 5.77)
Burrows spent his first two big league seasons with the Pirates, Royals outfielder Isaac Collins is the only KC hitter who has faced him. He is a 4 seam fastball/changeup guy who adds in a sinker against right-handed hitters. Lefties are raking him to the tune of a .992 OPS this year, so look for Vinnie and Cags to eat against this guy.
Sunday - RHP Stephen Kolek (3-1, 3.14) vs RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-1, 2.21)
Arrighetti made 35 mostly bad starts for Houston in 2024 and 2025 before hitting his stride this season. He won’t overpower anyone with his fastball, but does a great job at limiting hard contact (95th percentile in hard-hit%). Walks are a problem for Arrhighetti, he averages 4.9 per 9 innings. His entire career against the Royals consists of one godawful inning in 2024 where he gave up 7 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks.
Despite Alvarez’s heroics this year the Astros are a bad team. Go get a sweep and give the KC fans something to cheer about for crying out loud.
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