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Kris Bubic understands he needs to stop leaving the ball out over the plate, writes Lynn Worthy.
“I just went back and looked at my heat map for the day in terms of pitch location, and everything is just middle-middle — the majority right now,” Bubic said. “That’s just been killing me. To give up seven homers in not even nine innings, that’s a product of leaving the ball in the heart of the plate.”
Scott Barlow has been dependable, but he couldn’t stop the A’s on Saturday.
“He did such a nice job in the eighth,” Matheny said of Barlow. “He was so efficient, and he has been our rock and so good. We got to push him right there. He’s going to give us our best chance, so we gave him an opportunity, but he was right about at the end of his rope.”
The Royals are hoping to see more of the Jorge Soler who homered on Thursday.
As Matheny pointed out, the swing that resulted in a home run on Thursday night was a much more under-control version of his typical uncoiling.
“I’m still trying to be aggressive,” Soler said with assistant strength and conditioning coach/Latin American coordinator Luis Perez translating. “But when I’m on and I feel like everything is where I want it, I can swing hard and still control it. Right now since there hasn’t been that much contact and I’m struggling with it, I’m just trying to shorten up and get the bat to the ball more smoothly.”
Jackson Kowar struggled again, writes Anne Rogers, but the Royals see it as a stepping stone.
Kowar on what he struggled with against the A's: "I don't know how many times, if any, I threw strike one. Which is stuff that you do since high school. It's hard to get anybody out when you're constantly 1-0."#TogetherRoyal pic.twitter.com/oiLMVXcfzp
— Bally Sports Kansas City (@BallySportsKC) June 13, 2021
Mike Matheny was impressed with Carlos Hernandez and Ronald Bolaños over the weekend.
“You’re talking two guys with big stuff that could come in as starters or be those potential leverage guys in the bullpen, as well,” Matheny said. “It’s impressive to watch them take that next step. Having the big stuff, but having inconsistencies with it, and a lot of it has been mechanical adjustments to simplify and make it repeatable. I think it’s a difference-maker.”
Your Adalberto Mondesi update:
Broadcast just said Mondesi can't be activated yet because of the pressurized cabins in an airplane, elevation, and time zones.
— Shaun Newkirk (@Shauncore) June 13, 2021
WHAT? pic.twitter.com/69nzfFN9wb
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter thinks pitching coach Cal Eldred deserves more scrutiny.
Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report has a scouting report on Asa Lacy’s last start.
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