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It’s a rare mid-series edition of Diamond Chronicles, and with Ecuador and Curacao about to kick off at Arrowhead, a rare home Saturday off for your Kansas City Royals.
Yes, the boys have won 3 in a row after salvaging the last game of the road trip in Washington and taking the first two in the home edition of the I-70 Series. A modest streak to be sure, but in the hellscape that is the 2026 Royals season you have to take what you can get. It’s only the 5th time this season they have won at least 3 in a row, their longest winning streak in 2026 is 5 games.
Let’s look at the good, bad, and ugly from the 3 game heater…
THE GOOD
RHP Luinder Avila got the streak going in game 3 against the Nationals. He bounced back nicely from a truly grisly outing against the Astros last weekend by limiting a good Washington offense to 3 hits and 1 run over 5 2/3 innings. Inconsistency is the hallmark of a young pitcher, and we have certainly seen that this year with Avila.
We can stop shoveling dirt onto the baseball grave of C Salvador Perez, at least temporarily. El Capitan has gone 5-14 with 2 doubles and a home run in the last three games. That home run was his first in almost a month, and his 138th career home run at the K. That put him ahead of George Brett’s 137, and makes Perez the all-time HR king at Kauffman Stadium.
1B Jac Caglianone is continuing to look like he has arrived as a #3 hitter. Cags has gone 4-14 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs over the last three games. It’s been interesting to see him on the same field as St. Louis rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt.
When the Royals were on the clock with the 6th pick of the 2024 draft, I wanted them to take Wetherholt. Wanted it bad. They took Cags, and the Cardinals snapped up Wetherholt with the next pick. He’s been incredible for the Cards, accumulating 3.2 bWAR already compared to Cags’s 1.6.
The two will be forever linked together, at least for me. Wetherholt has been the better player this year, but Cags is closing the gap.
The hottest Royals hitter during the win streak might be the much-maligned LF Isaac Collins. Collins is 5-12 with 3 2Bs, 4 RBIs, and 3 RS. He hasn’t struck out over that span either. It’s a good thing he’s been hitting, because he continues to look a bit lost in left field. Collins has really struggled playing balls at the wall and in the corner in left field.
The KC offense as a whole has been humming, plating 26 runs in the last three games. They are hitting .349 with 14 doubles and 8 HRs over that span.
2B Michael Massey is only 2-11 in the last three games, but yesterday he and SS Tyler Tolbert combined for a Play of the Year candidate…
Massey is so good defensively, I am once again begging Matt Quatraro to put him out there every night.
THE BAD
Reliever Matt Strahm continues to get tattered and battered every time he climbs the bump. He’s now allowed at least one run in 6 consecutive appearances. He’s appeared in 2 of the 3 games in the winning streak, allowing 4 runs in 1 total inning. Not great.
THE UGLY
I know what you are thinking….hang on a sec Jeff, did you just say SS Tyler Tolbert? Yes, yes I did. While the 3 wins in a row have been fun, Royals fans may be too busy worrying about SS Bobby Witt Jr to have noticed. Witt left the game on Thursday in the 4th inning after going awkwardly to his knees to field a ball in the hole.
The next day it was reported that he has a Grade 1 sprain of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his right knee. The MCL is one of the main stabilizing ligaments of the knee joint…
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Most players can recover from a Grade 1 MCL in 1-2 weeks. Grade 2 (partial tear) MCL sprains are a 6-8 week injury. Grade 3 (complete tear) MCL injuries can sideline a player for 6 months or more, particularly if surgical stabilization is required.
As of press time on Saturday, Witt has not been placed on the injured list by the Royals. Tricia Whitaker of Apple TV reported this before Friday’s game…
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I’m becoming increasingly concerned with the Royals approach to player injuries. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by trying to force Witt back onto the field with a barking MCL. If you do, you are absolutely risking a higher grade and potentially season-ending injury.
Besides, you are 32-45 for crying out loud. The season is for all intents and purposes lost. There is no downside to putting Bobby Baseball on the 10 day IL and letting him rest that knee for a couple weeks. That’s exactly what the Royals should do, I’m shocked it hasn’t happened yet.
All you need to do is look back at how JJ Picollo and/or Matt Quatraro botched the Carlos Estevez situation at the beginning of the season to know that something is fundamentally wrong with the team’s approach to injuries.
Don’t forget that 3B Maikel Garcia has missed the last three games with “left hand soreness”. This after he previously missed a week with a mysterious hamstring injury that somehow didn’t require an IL stint.
From a roster standpoint, the bottom line is that the Royals are playing 2 men short right now. Does that seem like a good plan? Of course not. The right thing is to do put Witt (and maybe Garcia) on the IL and get a couple warm bodies up here from Omaha.
Speaking of the roster, there have been some other shenanigans this week. If you didn’t think the Royals are desperate for pitching, they tried to convince you this week by signing geezers Randy Dobnak and Matt Moore. Moore just turned 37 and hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2024. Dobnak is 31, made one relief appearance for the Twins last season and has not pitched in the majors this season.
Desperate times indeed.
Royals fans got more bad news this week as the club announced that injured ace LHP Cole Ragans had been transferred to the 60-day injured list. He joins closer Carlos Estevez on that list, don’t expect either one to throw another pitch for the Royals in 2026.
Let me tell you folks, in the absence of a defined injury and recovery timeline like you get with Tommy John surgery, the 60 day IL is where pitching careers go to die.
Don’t believe me?
The Royals also have pitchers Alec Marsh and James McArthur on the 60 day list. Marsh last pitched in a game on September 29th, 2024. McArthur’s last appearance was September 16th, 2024.
Desperate times indeed.
UP NEXT
The I-70 Series concludes tomorrow at 1:10 as the Royals go for the sweep. DC will be in attendance, let’s hope the weather cooperates.
RHP Stephen Kolek (4-1, 2.68) gets the start for Kansas City. The Cardinals will counter with RHP Dustin May (5-6, 3.75). The Royals have had success in the past against May, he has a career 6.59 ERA against KC in 13 2/3 total innings. However he is coming off maybe the best start of his career, a complete game 1 hit shutout of the Padres on June 15th.
Sweeping the Cardinals would be a great Father’s Day present….oh and did I mention that I will be in attendance for this one? Let’s get it done fellas!
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