Three Takeaways From the Royals' 2-1 Loss to the Twins
The Kansas City Royals drop the final game of their homestand and series against the Minnesota Twins 2-1 this afternoon.
Kansas City went 4-2 during their homestand as they were able to get North of the .500 mark for the first time since May 7. The Royals will now embark on a six-game West Coast road trip for series against the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics.
Here are three takeaways from today's game.
This wasn't the Royals' best lineup.
Kansas City is four games into a 13-game stretch and with a night game coming up tomorrow, Royals manager Mike Matheny used today to rest some guys that could benefit from a day off. Michael A. Taylor, Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler were able to catch a break, and hopefully, it'll be for the better. The Royals still hung in the game despite not having all their everyday starters.
Brady Singer did what he could.
Brady Singer hasn't had the best starts in his last two outings but he really righted the ship with his appearance today. In 5 2/3 innings pitched, Singer allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks while collecting seven strikeouts. He also accrued the second-highest pitch count of his career. This is the Singer we are used to seeing. While he might not have gone as deep in the game as he wanted, he gave the Royals 5 2/3 quality innings and gave Kansas City a chance to win the game.
The whole bullpen has been nails.
In 3 1/3 innings of relief, the Royals bullpen only allowed two hits. Between Kyle Zimmer, Jake Brentz, Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow, the Royals top relievers have been suffocating on opposing offenses. Yesterday I had talked about how impressive Brentz has been and nothing has changed there. Barlow continues to be the most reliable arm, Zimmer has really created a niche for himself in the bullpen and Staumont made his first appearance since he was placed on the injured list. Even though this game was disappointing, there are a lot of positives to take from this game.
