Game thread CXVIII - Cardinals at Royals

Can KC guarantee a series split and take the season series from the cross-state rivals?

The Royals got a couple spots of bad news before tonight’s game. Well, starting with immediately following last night’s game.

After the game, Manager Matt Quatraro announced that Hunter Harvey had been available for the contest due to lower back pain. This was the second time lower back pain had been an issue for Harvey, as he was also removed from an outing against the Cubs in late July with the same issue. This time the Royals chose to place him on the 15-day Injured List and recalled Carlos Hernández. Hernández made waves last year by being a very good reliever prior to the Trade Deadline, but the Royals chose not to trade him and attempted to convert him into the team’s closer after dealing Scott Barlow. Hernández did not pitch well in the final stretch of the season, missed a good chunk of the beginning of the year with an injury, and then didn’t pitch well upon his return. It’s a bit concerning that the Royals chose to recall him instead of Evan Sisk or Jonathan Bowlan who have both been pitching well in relief for Omaha. Hernández has struck out a lot of batters for Omaha with a K/9 over 12, but walked almost five batters per nine and carries an ERA of 6.17. He does not figure to improve the bullpen.

In a second bit of bad news, Michael Massey, who went three-for-four with a triple and a sacrifice fly last night, was a late scratch from today’s lineup. No word yet from the Royals as to why, but it’s no secret he has been dealing with lower back issues of his own this season. Paul DeJong was inserted into the lineup to replace him.

Despite last night’s loss, the Royals’ playoff odds improved thanks to a pair of losses by the Guardians and a loss by the Boston Red Sox. Still, the more wins the Royals get, the faster their magic number can decrease. While it’s always a bit silly to beg for a sweep in an even-game series, it would be similarly problematic to be swept in such a series and with a much-needed day off tomorrow, the Royals would really benefit from winning a game tonight. Which I suppose is a bit like saying water is wet and even more wet in the rain, but that’s how the cookie crumbles.

The Royals will ask Michael Wacha to lead the way tonight. He has been pretty good for the Royals this season with a 3.55 ERA. And, despite my sense that it has been otherwise, he’s been even better since the All-Star break with a 2.55 ERA in four starts while averaging six innings a start. His strikeouts are a bit down, but he’s been very successful at stranding runners all the same. He did start against the Cardinals in their series before the All-Star Break and pitched five innings, allowing four runs, three of which were earned. With the recent increased ineffectiveness of the bullpen added to mounting injuries, they’ll need him to pitch more like the post-break version of himself.

The Cardinals will counter with third-year pitcher Andre Pallante. He has appeared in 20 games for the Cardinals this year, including 11 starts with a mediocre 4.43 ERA. He pitched in the opposite game of the doubleheader against the Royals and took the loss after allowing four runs in 6.1 innings. His last two starts have gone poorly with him allowing eight runs in fewer than ten innings pitched. The Royals will try to take advantage of the slumping pitcher.

Lineups

Renfroe, who has been an incredibly hot hitter since the beginning of June, including slashing .357/.406/.536/.942 on the road trip, has failed to reach base even once during the homestand while striking out six times in his sixteen at-bats. He gets the night off. Adam Frazier has started only one game since the trade deadline when he was kept on the roster and Nick Loftin was demoted. He’s not in the lineup again tonight, and I continue to wonder why he’s even still on the roster.

I can’t help but note Tommy Pham, who many Royals fans salivated over potentially acquiring to become the team’s leadoff hitter, bats eighth for the Cardinals. I don’t know what that means, but it’s something I noticed.

P.S. Twitter’s foremost Royals minor league guru, Preston Farr, notes that Carlos has actually had three very good relief appearances leading into this promotion. Maybe he tweaked something to get back to being effective. If so, it would be a huge boon for this bullpen.