Game thread CXXVIII - Padres at Royals

Just as things seemed to finally be turning the Royals way as the “Baby” Royals had won back-to-back four-game series, the Dodgers came into town and threw everything out of whack. Among the things that have gone wrong since then are Daniel Lynch’s pitching ability. Prior to that, Lynch had pitched OK in July. His 4.26 ERA wasn’t inspiring, but his 2.76 FIP turned some heads. He’d also struck out 21 and walked only three in 19 innings across four starts, including the first weekend in August.

Starting with the Dodgers game, however, he’s made three starts with a pretty good 3.45 ERA but a nasty 5.23 FIP. He’s struck out only five and walked nine over 15.2 innings during that time. According to Baseball Savant, Lynch got swings and misses on 12.8% of his pitches in the first sample size but only 9.6% in the second. For Daniel Lynch to take the next step for KC, he’s going to need to learn to control his fastball and find a way to get more swing and miss out of at least one of his pitches, probably his slider. He’ll look to do that tonight.

San Diego will send perennial All-Star Yu Darvish to the mound. Darvish didn’t go to the All-Star game this year, but he’s having a much better season than his first with San Diego, last year. Darvish is rarely spoken of in the same breath as guys like Gerrit Cole, Jacob DeGrom, or Max Scherzer, but he’s carrying a 3.39 ERA and has struck out nearly six times as many batters as he has walked. Even at the age of 35, the Japanese national is in the conversation for staff ace for the playoff-contending Padres along with Joe Musgrove, who started last night. Royals hitters would do well to take him seriously.

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