10-4 loss is not OK for KC

This is all old news at this point, right? We don’t really need to dwell on it do we? Fine. Let’s get it over with.

Carlos Hernández was not good. Hernández pitched four-plus innings and allowed nine runs. He struck out three and walked three. He gave up eight hits including two no-doubt dingers. There is basically nothing positive to report. After tonight’s outing, his ERA has ballooned to 9.21. One has to assume that he is doomed for a demotion to AAA in the very near future so that Brady Singer can attempt to rejoin the rotation.

On the other side, Germán Márquez had a much better night. Despite struggling nearly as much as a Royals pitcher during most of the season, he earned a quality start by allowing three runs in six innings. Márquez lowered his ERA to 6.16 with the mediocre performance.

The Royals did have a couple of bright spots. Three of their four runs were driven in by dingers of the most coveted variety, by Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. Salvy is the one who attached a steak to his, going the opposite way for extra-base ribbies for the second night in a row.

The Royals will still have a chance to win the series and bring this road trip to 4-5, tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, this was a trip against some of the weaker competition in baseball this season and that sort of record isn’t how you get back to .500, much less back into competition.

Daniel Lynch (2-2, 4.01 ERA) will go against Austin Gomber (2-3, 4.36 ERA) at 2:10 PM CDT. I’d say that it makes sense to stop hoping for some wins and just hope for some interesting games, but I’m feeling pretty hopeless on that front, as well.

*For those of you wondering what the title is about, 10-4 is an old radio code that means “OK”, “Message Received”, or some other form of affirmative response. None of which could be applied to the Royals, right now.