Anthony Lerew allowed just four hits and a walk in six innings, and the Royal bullpen was just as good, en route to a surprising 3-1 victory over the White Sox.
Heading into tonight's game, Lerew (a name that always looks misspelled) hadn't been particularly good or particularly bad for the Royals. In two starts he'd posted a 4.76 ERA and hadn't worked particularly deep into either game. While Lerew did manage four strikeouts tonight, I'm not so sure that his success wasn't mostly White Sox failure.
Meanwhile, after a terrible start, Robinson Tejeda is starting to look good again. When you get right down to it, it never really made sense that a guy that seemed like he might be a decent starter would suddenly be one of the worst relievers in the AL, but that was basically what happened in April. If Tejeda is functional and Soria is Soria, the Royal bullpen suddenly looks much better. Of course, we need to keep Tejeda's turnaround in mind when evaluating the Royals record under Yost. Hillman looked like a helpless idiot when the team blew lead after lead, while Yost looks like steady Sally with nearly the same cast of guys.