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Game 120: Royals at A's

Let's just forget about yesterday

By Ryan Heffernon
Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Have you ever been in a relationship that ended so badly that it was easier just to act like it never happened?

You go back and delete all of the picture on Instagram of the ex in question. Burn any memorabilia that they might have left at your residence. It makes sense to learn from defunct relationships but there are some that don't give you that learning experience. It is best to just move on as quickly as possible and pretend like it never took place.

That's what the Royals and their fans should do about last night's loss to the A's. I'm not going to summarize what happened or editorialize it. It happened, but now it's over. Shove it into that empty (or not so empty) room in your subconscious^ that you put all of the bad stuff you don't want to deal with.

^Note that Royals Review isn't responsible for any psychological damages that you may experience with this exercise.

So now, onto the topic of the day.

The Royals will attempt to salvage a much needed series win in Oakland this afternoon, as they set their sights on a huge three-game set against Cleveland this weekend.

They will send Danny Duffy to the mound to do so, who was roughed up a bit in his last start in Chicago, giving up five runs in 6.1 innings of work.

He has, however, benn getting a lot of swings and misses lately, with 16 strikeouts over his last 12 innings, as well as having the most fire spikes in the game.

The A's, meanwhile, will send rookie and former first round draft choice Paul Blackburn. Blackburn was drafted by the Cubs out of Heritage Highschool in Brentwood, California back in 2012 before he was shipped to Seattle last season in the trade that send former Royal Mike Montgomery to the Cubs. He finished out 2016 with the Jackson Generals before the Mariners traded him to Oakland for old (terrible) friend Danny Valencia in November.

After all that movement, Blackburn has settled in nicely during his rookie campaign, recording a 3.02 ERA over his first 50.2 innings as a big leaguer.

Here are the lineups for this afternoon's rubber match.

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