Royals lose again, 10-6

What is there left to say about this team and its foibles?

Brady Singer pitched today. He had a couple of starts in a row where he managed to limit hits and runs but didn’t otherwise pitch well. Singer did not limit the hits today; he gave up a career-high thirteen in five innings. They weren’t cheap ones, either. Given that, it’s actually kind of impressive that he only gave up six runs. Singer’s biggest problem appeared to be an inability to finish guys off - something he’s struggled with in the past. He had plenty of two-strike counts but Guardians batters just kept reaching base anyway. Might be because they had a 50% chance of guessing right about which pitch was coming. Who can say?

For their part, the bullpen stepped in to make sure that once the Royals closed to lead to one that they didn’t get too hopeful of a victory. Especial shout out to Nick Wittgren who gave up three runs and recorded only one out to raise his ERA to 7.36.

Bobby Witt Jr. had a good day at the plate, racking up three hits and and a pair of RBIs. He finished a double short of the cycle - grounding out to lead off the ninth and guarantee that Kansas City continues to be the team with the longest cycle-drought in the majors. He also stole a base. Kyle Isbel never made an out, walking twice and earning a pair of hits. Nicky Lopez also snagged a couple of hits. Nick Pratto, on the other hand, earned a golden sombrero by striking out four times.

KC has one more game before the All-Star Break. They’ll need to win if they want to avoid the embarrassment of a four-game sweep. But I wouldn’t be surprised to discover they’d all checked completely out already. Ryan Yarbrough gets the start in his return to KC after getting hit in the face with a line drive. Staff ace Shane Bieber will go for the Guardians. The game will start at 12:40 CDT.