Royals Rumblings - News for June 15, 2023

Jordan Lyles took yet another loss on Tuesday night:

The 32-year-old is now 0-11 in 2023 with the highest ERA in the Majors (6.89) among qualified starters. The Royals have not won any of Lyles’ 14 starts this year, matching Matt Beech (1997 Phillies) for the longest team winless streak in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).

The last pitcher to lose his first 11 decisions was Anthony Young of the 1993 Mets, who began the season 0-12 in a mixture of bullpen and starting appearances. But the last pitcher to lose his first 11 decisions and have all of those decisions come as the starting pitcher was Kyle Abbott in 1992 with the Phillies, finishing that season 1-14.

“No one likes losing,” Lyles said. “I will say from my perspective, individual loss means a loss as a team. We’ve been losing a lot when I’ve been out there. Majority of that is on my shoulders. A lot of it is. But when it’s game time, there’s not one thought of that. I couldn’t tell you what my numbers are. I’m trying to go as deep as I can and come out of the game with the lead.”

Things aren’t going so smoothly behind the scenes with downtown stadium negotiations:

Privately, people inside those meetings expressed exasperation that while the Royals publicly portray progress on the stadium effort, there’s actually little momentum behind the scenes. Despite months of meetings, public officials still have no sharper picture of what the team wants.

They wonder: After all this time, do the Royals even know?

“Get us out of purgatory,” said one city official who has been in meetings with the Royals. “We’re all exhausted by this conversation.”

The Royals insist they are not hiding specific details, but rather have not settled on them. In an interview with The Star on Tuesday, team president of baseball operations Brooks Sherman said the team has narrowed to two possible sites and is on course to announce its choice by the end of the summer.

Jackson County residents can get 50% off tickets for every Friday home game for the rest of the season.

Oakland A’s fans showed out for a “reverse boycott” on Tuesday night.

Rafael Devers hit the shortest big league home run since 2019. Our own Lorenzo Cain used the same strategy in 2017 to hit the shortest home run of the Statcast era:

Arizona is surging in large part thanks to their rookie superstar.

Houston outfielder Yordan Alvarez will miss at least four weeks with an oblique injury, while starter Lance McCullers Jr. will not pitch at all this year after undergoing flexor tendon surgery.

Detroit reliever and old friend Trevor Rosenthal will undergo yet another surgery. He’s been in multiple organizations over the past few years but still has not pitched since 2020.

San Francisco outfielder Aaron Judge Mitch Hanigar will miss time with a forearm fracture.

Mets reliever Drew Smith became the third pitcher this season to be ejected and suspended after a sticky stuff check. Interestingly, all three pitch for New York teams.

Five more MLB teams could soon find themselves in the same boat as the Padres as Diamond Sports Group owes them payments in the coming weeks.

A new docuseries starring Patrick Mahomes - among other NFL quarterbacks - will premiere on Netflix on July 12.

The College World Series starts tomorrow in Omaha! If you haven’t been paying attention this season and need a primer, Michael Baumann at FanGraphs has you covered.

On a related note, here’s a great piece on how #1 seed Wake Forest developed such an elite rotation.

The U.S. Open tees off in Los Angeles today, what should we expect from the USGA’s biggest event?

Boulevardia is this weekend in Kansas City and yours truly will be in attendance.

Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, has been found to contain the six elements necessary for life.

Your song of the day is Can’t Sleep by K.Flay.