Royals are staying in the hunt | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Royals are staying in the hunt | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Though the Royals are still just four games back of a playoff spot, they remain in the hunt. We’ll talk about it next on Locked on Royals. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. It is a Monday edition of Locked On Royals and the Locked On Podcast Network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can catch me on Twitter at johnnyj_15 that is johnyj_15. You also can catch us on wherever you listen to podcasts. That can be Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe. For you first-time listeners wondering how this channel works, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday. And Chance Lebo brings you episodes after every single Royals game. He’ll be in action tonight at the conclusion of the Royals and Rangers game which will begin game one of a fourame series. Before we get started, want to tell you that today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, so visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now. The Royals are coming off of a sweep of the Chicago White Socks. And even though they are two games over 500, they remain four games back in the wildcard race. And if we want to get technical, they are five games back of the Yankees because of the tiebreaker. You can add an extra half game as well. I should say four and a half games back of the Yankees because they just need to be a half game better than New York because they went 0 and six against the Yankees during the regular season. They only went two and four against Boston and they split with Seattle in that four-game series a couple of weeks back. They still will face the Mariners coming up at Kaufman Stadium in September. So, not a great spot to be in. Of course, much better would be holding one of these playoff spots with the tiebreaker attached to it, but they still remain in the hunt. And now they’re just a half game back of second place in the American League Central. And if they jump Cleveland tonight, which Cleveland is in Arizona taking on the Diamondbacks, there would be no other teams ahead of them and a playoff spot where originally coming out of the break, remember they had to jump Texas, they had to jump Cleveland, they had to jump the Angels, if I’m not mistaken, there were more than just one team. Uh there was more than just one team that they were trying to leaprog to get a chance at one of those playoff teams. But as long as they keep winning, as long as they can add to this winning streak, the rest is going to take care of itself. And I’ve been asked that a few times today. You know, is it a a bad thing that, you know, they’re playing good baseball. They went five and one last week and yet they didn’t gain any games in the wild card race. It’s not a great thing, but the longer that stretch goes on, right? you turn five and one into nine of 10 or maybe eight of 10 and you turn eight of 10 into 15 of 20, you’re just going to keep climbing up the standings because the likelihood of four teams all doing just as good as you very very low. Now, it’s not an ideal thing to be chasing four teams or relying on different teams to lose, but since that wildcard race is so tight with the three playoff spots. I mean, you’ve got the Yankees who hold the third wildcard spot, but they’re only a half game back of Boston and Seattle, and then you got the top of the division in the American League West, which seems to flip every other day with Houston and Seattle. So, there’s going to be a lot of teams in the mix here, and the Royals are just hoping one of those teams falls off. And the Yankees have a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way. Boston still has some really tough opponents, but Boston has just been so exceptional since trading away Raphael De. Seattle, they’re a team that did the most of the trade deadline, but history would tell you that they seem to, you know, burn out a little bit toward the back half of the season. Maybe things are different this year, though, because they also made the postseason a few years ago and were able to hang on to one of those playoff spots. This year, it feels they’ve got the offense and the pitching staff to lock up one of those three playoff spots. So, for the Royals, who are you really trying to zero in on? Of course, you need to focus on yourself, and that should by far and away be the top thing on the list of priorities here. You got to keep winning games. I mean, the the best thing about that five in one stretch is that if the Royals went three and three or they went, you know, two and four, you can make a strong case their season would be buried. They’d be six and a half games back or seven games back and you’re not really playing for much anymore. Yes, you could still get hot and you could go on a ridiculous winning streak, but to be right there at four games, like I always look at four games that you can still make that push in one series cuz if you sweep a se a series and the team you’re chasing gets swept, there you go. You’re a game back. In the case of the Royals to open up this week, they got four games against the Rangers. So, what’s ahead of them is they can bury Texas. they can go out there and put a Rangers team that’s been struggling way, way behind them. The goal at bare minimum should be to split with Texas. That gives you a seven and three home stand. You’re not going to complain about that. And then you head off to Detroit to try to gain some ground in the American League Central. Still, I look around at these other teams and who they’re going to be chasing. Boston’s got Baltimore at home. Baltimore’s offense can always catch fire. They just can’t slow down anybody offensively. You look at Seattle, they’re actually in Philadelphia. We’ll see how that series goes. The Phillies are incredibly tough to beat at Citizens Bank Park. And then for the Yankees, they’re off tonight. So, if the Royals were to win tonight, they would be 64 and 61. And no matter what, they’d be three and a half games back because the Yankees are off today. And tomorrow, they will begin a series against the Rays. That’s right. I could not remember off the top of my head if it was the Rays or if it was Baltimore. I got them and the Red Sox mixed up, but the Yankees are going to be taking on the Rays. And then this weekend is absolutely monumental uh for the American League East and also the Wildcard race because the Yankees and Red Sox will be playing each other. And if you are a Royals fan, which I’m assuming you are if you’re listening to this podcast, you are hoping that one of those teams just gets beaten up on. The last thing you want is a split. And I want to say that this series begins on Thursday in the Bronx. Yeah. So, it’ll be on Thursday. The Red Sox and Yankees are going to play. If we’re going by like a checklist here on what needs to happen, the Royals need to either split or take three of four from Texas. We’ll go over this series at the very tail end of today’s episode. And then you’re gonna hope that the Rays can do some damage against the Yankees and that Baltimore can maybe sneak two games playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Then when these teams meet over the weekend or I guess Thursday through Sunday, yes, the Royals will be in Detroit. I feel it’s a different Tigers team than they faced earlier in the season. They aren’t as dominant as they were back then. I mean, man, when they were facing each other in Detroit and then in Kansas City, that was a Tigers team that was just so much better than the Royals in nearly every single aspect. But if you can take this momentum from the National Series to the White Socks to the Rangers, then into Detroit, you can see some movement in the wildard race. Still a lot has to happen. And I know that people before in the comment section will say, “Well, we’re playing this whatif game. We’re playing all these hypotheticals and it’s very unlikely they do happen and I totally get that. But for the sake of this segment if you want to be a believer that this team can catch fire, this is what I’m focusing on. You got to split, take three or four from Texas and then we’ll see what happens with the Red Sox and Yankees and Mariners for that matter. If the Phillies go and sweep the Mariners, the Mariners become that final team, depending on what Boston and New York do, but they would likely become that final team in the playoff picture that you are now chasing. And who knows, maybe by the end of this Ranger series, you’re two games back. Whereas all of last week, you go five and one and you don’t gain one game. Think about in one series you could gain two. These things are all on the table. And then over the weekend, man, if the Yankees beat up on Boston, let’s say for to play along with this hypothetical, they sweep Boston. Let’s say go in there and and take all four games. Now Boston’s teetering a little bit. It would matter what you’re doing against Detroit. And that series is going to be incredibly difficult just on the road against the Tigers. I want to say Ryan Bert will throw game one and then we just start this cycle over. Walk would be game two. Lugos on Saturday and then it would be Michael Lorenzan or Noah I think it’s Noah Cameron will be on Sunday the series finale in Detroit. Uh at the same time Boston will be taking on New York. You will have the Mariners playing looks like they will be on the west coast I believe. Uh well technically they are on the west coast but they’ll be at home against the Athletics. weird team to really describe. The Athletics are 56 and 70, but man, do they have some threats in that lineup. Uh that’s a good matchup. That’ll be a fun matchup to watch truthfully uh with the Mariners and the Athletics. I do at this point in time though want to give a little bit of an update uh this week slightly different. I have my Bachelor trip this week. So the tail end of this week I plan to get an episode out, you know, of course this one. Tomorrow, I’m aiming for that to be around the same time, like a a 5:00, 5:30 release. Then on Wednesday, you can count on that being an afternoonish episode. And then I am going to pre-record an episode probably after the game on Wednesday, and that’ll come out very early on Thursday. But it’s not going to be a mailbag Friday. I’m actually leaving for my trip on Thursday. So, if you’re going to be wondering where some of my updates are, where the podcast will be, just Friday. We’ll have Monday through Thursday. Uh, that is the reason I will be on my Bachelor trip. Not going to be as attentive on social media, but we’ll be back to normal on Monday to gear up for that series against the White Socks. Okay, let’s take our first break of the show. When we come back, I want to talk about some of these rentals for the Royals. Do any of them contemplate coming back to the Royals in the offseason? I’ll tell you some guys I would love to have back next on Lockdown Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Locked On podcast network. I am your host Jack Johnson and you can catch us on wherever you listen to your podcast. Want to tell you about prize picks and whether you’ve got your eye on big name quarterbacks or breakout running backs, Prize Picks makes it easy to get in the game. The daily fantasy platform that lets you turn your football predictions into real rewards. Preseason is already heating up and college football actually begins this coming Saturday. You’ve got K State and Iowa State in Ireland. You’ve got KU and Fresno State in Lawrence. And then if you’re into that night cap, you’ve got Hawaii and Stanford uh playing actually in Hawaii. I believe that uh will be a home and home series if I’m not mistaken going into next year as well. Uh, but with prize picks, you can download the app today and use code lockdown MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on MLB to get $50 in lineups after your first $5 play. Prize picks run your game. Going back to the trade deadline, there was this field toward the rentals, Adam Frasier, Randall Gridic, Mike Shremsky of why are you going after rentals if you’re not a playoff team right now? Uh you’re having to give up prospects and guys that could become something to try to make this late season push that is not very likely. And I did see that side of it. I saw that argument from fans of I really don’t get it if you were going to trade for somebody. And it wasn’t even people that were against buying. It was people that wanted the team to buy, but you need to acquire players with multiple years of control. They got that with three pitchers and Ryan Burger, Steven Kolick, and Bailey Falter. But for all of the bats that they brought in, they were all rentals. And I have to imagine JJ Mako’s thought process was these guys that we’re wanting to bring in that have multiple years of control, they’re just too expensive and we’re not in a position to mortgage away our future to maybe or maybe not make the postseason. So I saw that side of it once the trade deadline wrapped up and the Royals ended up with three bats for the lineup. The good news is these three bats have worked out pretty well. All three of them have been above league average bats. Adam Frasier’s been ridiculously good now being an everyday player, hitting 330 for the team. Randall Gritick has gotten hot of late. He’s a slightly above league average bat and still gives you that platoon split against lefties. And Mike Yremsky might have the funniest slash line of the bunch. He’s hitting 190, which you go, well, that’s terrible for a leadoff hitter, but he’s slugging 500. So, he’s opsing north of 800 and he’s got an ops plus that is 20 plus points above the league average. So, all three of them have been good additions and what you gave up for those three players has been something you’ve been willing to part ways with or you’re not looking like a fool in parting ways with those players. Uh we’ll start it off with Cam Deanny. He still has not gotten a shot in Pittsburgh and he’s hitting 255 in TripleA Indianapolis. You go to the Randall Gritic deal, man. Andrew Hoffman got lit up in their series against the Rockies in Colorado. His erra is right near eight with the Diamondbacks. You go to the Mike Stressky deal. Junior Mart’s only appeared in two games so far in lowe for the Giants organization. Junior Marte was the one guy I was not really too high on trading, but since it was a one for one, I was okay with it in the end. But now I’m starting to wonder if these guys or one of them or two of them make sense in bringing back because you have to imagine the market for these players are not going to be super super high. The Royals will be able to bring back all three of them if they wanted to. There’s also the difference in falling in love with a player for 40 50 games and then really asking yourself, do we want to pay him for an entire season? Like I have always gotten this vibe that Mike Estreky when he was traded because of how much he loved the Giants and he spent his entire career there that he would make his way back and I want to say he was on a podcast or something and even Buster Posey who’s the acting GM for the Giants said, you know, this isn’t even a goodbye to see you later. I get the sense that if the Giants wanted them back, Mikey Stressky would just go back to San Francisco next year. but it may not match up. And the Royals have now become that second team that he’s played for. And if you make a deep playoff push and you’re playing him every single day and the Royals look at the state of their outfield and say, “Man, Mikey Stressky back next year as a platoon bat, one-year deal, that seems fine by me.” Same goes for Randall Gritick and Adam Frasier. Those guys might have a little bit of a market, but they’re not going to be asking for multi-year deals. I mean, you might be able to do a one-year deal with an option mixed in there and not overpay there, but get more stability in the outfield. I mean, I thought it was so fascinating with Annie Rogers article on Adam Fraser where last year he played with this thumb injury. And then for Pittsburgh this year, he was a league average player. He was just fine for them. And now he’s been a tremendous acquisition, one of the more valuable pickups for any team in baseball since the trade deadline. And I have to wonder going into the off seasonason, if Adam Frasier finishes out the year the way he’s been playing, why would you not bring him back just as depth? In the same way you went to go acquire him, focusing on depth, he’s now turned into an everyday player for you. And you don’t need to pay him as an everyday player. But look at what the Royals got with Michael Massie this year. Michael Massie with the advanced data was the least productive hitter in all of baseball. you go out and bring Adam Frasier back, you’re already getting a slight upgrade there. That’s why I was for the trade in the first place, you look at what the Royals have gotten from their left fielders this year, who they had on opening day out there in left and right field. I mean, they had Kevin Bigio at first base, if you can remember that, because Vinnie was working back from the the hamstring injury, I believe it was. So, you can add to that depth and keep this group together. I doubt they would bring all three back. I could see them bringing back one. Absolutely. And I’d probably lean more toward Adam Frasier, not just because of the overall numbers, but because I believe he really likes it here and the players really love him here and the coaches do. And if you end the season on a high and you’ve become this super versatile player you can plug in anywhere in the lineup and you’re hitting over 300, why would you not entertain coming back? You know, if he’s healthy and you can get a 280, 285 hitter out of Adam Frasier, maybe I’ll even take 260. He was 255 in Pittsburgh before coming over. That’s absolutely an upgrade over what you have. Randall Gritic. The only reason I would put him above Yusky in terms of the likelihood of coming back is because the Royals showed interest in him last off season. They showed interest in him again at the trade deadline. And I don’t see it being a very hot market for Randall Grick. He’s a platoon bat and the Royals love to platoon players. That’s what both Yaz and Grick are going to have to really ask themselves, too. Do I go roll the dice and try to do what Tommy Fam did last year, which actually ended up working out very well for him. He bet on himself. I can still be an everyday player and I’m going to go somewhere that’s going to give me the money to be a starter. And the Pirates were that team to do it. But Tommy Fam has not played in a playoff worthy baseball game this season for the Pirates, not on him. He’s been great. The Pirates have been bad. But for Mikey Stressky and Randall Gritic, if they want to go be everyday players, they may not have a market for it. Where the Royals could say, “We want both you guys back, and you know how much we mix and match that lineup. You can get consistent abs here, and you absolutely fit into our plans.” I’d expect Kyle Isel to be back. We know Jack Kaggleó’s going to be back, but you have that opening for one spot in the outfield. Uh maybe you go with a bigger addition than that, but I don’t see it being harmful to this team to improve the depth because I firmly believe that’s why this team struggled so much early on, especially offensively. They didn’t have any depth and the guys they were counting on to build off last year or to improve off last year were not doing that in the first half of the season. Now they’re getting better production, better play for some of those guys. And then you add in these players. Think about the offense. They’ve added three league average or better bats to the lineup. And you pair that with Bobby, Mike, Vinnie, and Salvi. Four league average bats. And now on a night bynight basis you are putting sixish guys in the lineup that are league average bats or better some much better than the rest. But that’s how you get that average to slightly above average offense. You pair that with the pitching staff and now you’ve got the success. It would not surprise me in the slightest with how the market may play out if the Royals try to bring back one or two of these guys in the off season. Okay, we’ll take our final break of the show. When we come back, let’s preview this series with the Texas Rangers. That’s next on Locked on Royals. You are tuned in to Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown podcast network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can catch me on wherever you listen to your podcast. Going to tell you about the title sponsor in FanDuel. August 26, that’s coming up pretty quickly, is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and pre-season hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longot division winner, are ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week 1 even kicks off, this is your moment. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now because FanDuel futures day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. And I’ve already given a couple futures picks. I’ll throw one more out there. And I think for rookie of the year, uh maybe this won’t be too much of a surprise. I’m pretty high on Cam Ward. I think he does well in Tennessee, so I’ll take him as one of my futures picks as well. The Royals will begin a four-ame series with the Rangers tonight. I’m going to be out there tonight. I’m going to be out there on Wednesday. I am hoping that the 95 96 degree weather will feel a little bit cooler by first pitch. Uh but tonight getting out in the parking lot uh probably to have a drink or two before the game, it’s going to be very steamy and I know it was steamy on Sunday. If you were out there, please let us know in the comments cuz braving that whether you were sitting in the shade or not, that just looked miserable out there. I mowed yesterday before the game and it still felt like the hottest place on earth. But it’s going to be a pretty hot series, not just for the American League wild card race, but an overall temperature against the Texas Rangers. So, the Rangers come in at 62 and 63. The Royals ahead of them in the wildard race at 63 and 61. Game one tonight, first pitch 640. It’ll be Jack Lighter, MLB Legacy Kid, going up against Michael Waka. Lighter is 7-6 with a 394 erra. and he did face the Royals earlier this year and he had probably his worst start of the season. And if you go into his baseball reference page, minimum of one start, his highest ERA against any team is Kansas City because of what he did back in that series in June against the Royals. He went just five and two/3 innings, gave up six earned runs on eight hits, did strike out four, but walked two, gave up two home runs in that series or in that start. want to say it was Jack Kagleion and Salvador Perez. I know it was Kaggs. I want to say the other was either Garcia or Salvador Perez. But in the month of August, he’s been much better. He’s faced Seattle, the Yankees, and Arizona. Three really tough teams. He hasn’t worked that deep into any of those starts. Went only four and a third against Seattle, went three and a third against the Yankees, and then went five against Arizona. But he gave up two earned runs, one earned run, and one earned run against the Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Mariners. that was coming off a 343 erra in the month of July. Really struggled in June. That’s when he faced the Royals. So, he has been much better of late. High-powered fast ball. Feel that favors the Royals a little bit. That’s why I feel they tagged him in that first start. They love hardthrowing righties. Can’t really explain it. Don’t know why soft tossing lefties are their kryptonite, but hard throwing righties seem to fit uh you know what they’re looking for right in their wheelhouse. He can always bounce back and be much better. And I would expect him to be better than he was in Texas because to give up six earned runs in a pitcher ballpark uh like Globe Life Field, that’s pretty hard to do. But on the season, an erra, that’s just under four. He’s got seven wins. But he’s going up against Michael Walka who’s been just the steady hand in the Royals rotation. And when he’s pitching at home, he’s been even better. He was able to pick up his first win at Kaufman Stadium the last time out since May. And I want to say it was early May as well. So, Waka 335 erra on the season. He also has seven wins but nine losses to go along with that. As for the matchups in this series, Garcia is opsing over 133 at bats. Jonathan India is 0 for three. Kyle Isbel’s 0 for two. Vinnie Pascantino is 0 for two. Salvador Perez is opsing uh north of 4,300. Uh that’s because he homered twice off of him. So, I want to say it was Salvi and not Mikel Garcia that homerred off of him. John Ray was 0 for three, Vinnie or Bobby Wood Jr. is two for three, and Mikey Shremsky 0 for two. As for the Rangers, Jake Burgerer is one for six off of him. Uh Evan Carter is one for five. Jonah is one for six. Kyle Hagashi 0 for five. Josh Young 0 for two. Wyatt Langford is two for seven, I believe. Jock Peterson has the most at bats against Micah Waka in his career. He’s hitting 250 but opsing a,000 in 24 at bats. Uh Cory Seager is hitting 350 and 20 at bats against Waka. Marcus Simeon 308 and 13 at bats. Josh Smith who is leading off for Texas tonight. He’s one for four. And Rowdy Telz is one for three with a home run off of Walk in his career. So some good numbers against Waka, especially from some of the stars of that Rangers lineup. Then on Tuesday, it’ll be Mel Kelly, the former Arizona Diamondback, going up against Seth Luga. We will see if Seth Lugo can bounce back after three straight disastrous starts for him. Mel Kelly’s actually coming off of a very impressive performance against his former team in Arizona. He was very impressive in that series. On the year again, he’s 9 and seven with the 336 CRA. And in his last seven starts or seven games, I should say, he’s made only three starts. has a 4550 erra. Got lit up a little bit by the Phillies back on August 8th, but he did walk five in that outing. That was coming off a five and two/3 performance of two-run ball against Seattle on the road. But against Arizona, quality start for him. Six innings, a two-run ball, and he struck out five. We know how bad it’s been for Lugo of late. His RA has now ballooned to 377. He’s got a 66-9 RA in his last seven starts. And in his last three, he has failed to make it out of the fifth inning, and he’s given up a total of 15 runs in those three starts. So, we’ll see if Seth Lugo is going to be able to bounce back in this one. As for some of the matchups, Randall Gritick, not good numbers against Mel Kelly, his former teammate. He is hitting 077 and 13 at bats. Mike Yrimsky has 46 at bats against Mel Kelly. That doesn’t surprise me being a former Giant. He’s hitting just 217. Adam Frasier’s one for four off of him. and Jonathan and he’s 0 for one. No other Royal has faced him. As for the Rangers, they really have poor numbers against Seth Lugo. So maybe it is that bounceback game that Royals fans are hoping for. Jake Ber’s 0 for six. Jock Peterson’s 063 and 16 at bats. Cory Seager is one for six in his career off Lugo. Marcus Simeon 0 for two. And Rowdy Telles is just 1 for2. First pitch tomorrow night will be at 640. As for Wednesday’s game, Jacob Deg Grom and his 10 and5 record, 276 ERA, will go up against Noah Cameron, another sub3 RA guy. He’s seven and five with a 247 ERA. I’ll be out there for that game as well. Should be a fantastic pitcher duel. And the Royals will have their hands full against Deg Grom, though he has struggled a little bit over his last seven. not as good as he was early on in the year. A 438 erra, one and three in those seven starts, but he did shut out the Toronto Blue Jays on the road over five innings. Struck out five, didn’t walk anybody, and gave up just two hits. He did get roughed up in Seattle back on August 3rd, went just five innings, gave up five earned runs, walked three, and struck out five. As for Noah Cameron, I feel like I say this all the time, but what more can you ask out of him? I mean 98 and a third innings pitch an erra that is under 2.5. We talk about Michael Walk and his consistency. Noah Cameron’s right there with him. Last time out against the White Sox, it was on Friday. Ran into some trouble. Wasn’t as efficient, but five and a third of one run ball. Only struck out two and walked two, but he gave up one run. You put yourself and put your team in a great opportunity to win that game. He was also coming off five and two/3 shutout against the Minnesota Twins on August 9th. As for some of the matchups, guys with some history against each other, Adam Fraser is actually hitting .417 off of Deg Grom and 12 at bats. Randall Gritic’s hitting .385 in 13 at bats. Vinnie Pascantino’s three for four off Deg Grom and Bobby Wood Junior’s 1 for5. So some of the newer additions in Randall Gritic and Adam Frasier, and I say newer technically for the season, they’re newer additions. They are absolutely crushing Jacob Deg Grom over the course of their career. And nobody on the Rangers has faced Noah Cameron before. And then to wrap up the series on Thursday, 110 first pitch, Michael Lorenzan will go up against Patrick Corbin. Royals saw him and Mikel Garcia had that great game in Arlington. They destroyed Patrick Corbin in that start. Maybe that’s too strong of a word, but they were not fooled by him. And he had not allowed more than three earned runs in a start prior to that outing back in June. And the Royals tagged him. And he has not been the same pitcher since. now on the year a 445 erra should be able to get his 100th strikeout on the year he’s at 99 so unless the Royals put everything in play I would expect him to hit that mark but in his last seven of 523 erra he was torn apart in Toronto against the Blue Jays in his last goound seven earned runs in two and a third innings gave up eight hits struck out only two so the Royals will be hoping to do somewhat uh of what Toronto did against Corbin on sun or on Thursday excuse Excuse me. And Lorenzan coming off four shutout innings against the White Socks. Wasn’t that efficient, but again, you’re not going to be asking a lot of a guy making his first start since coming off the injured list. He had been stretched out down to the minor league level. We just all know that it’s different. Uh much tougher lineup than he’ll be facing in this goound. If you can get five solid out of Michael Lorenzan, three-run ball or less, I feel pretty good about their chances. Royals do have some history and plenty of it against Patrick Corbin. Uh Bobby Wood Jr. hitting 556 in nine at bats. Uh Salvador Perez 250 and eight at bats. Randall Gritick’s got 18 at bats. He’s hitting 222. Jonathan India hitting 375 in 16 at bats. And Mikel Garcia is four for eight with a home run against Patrick Corbin in his career. As for the Rangers, not great numbers against Michael Lorenzan. Only one with good numbers to show for it. Marcus Simeon’s three for four. Rowdy Telles 1 for six. Jock Peterson 1 for six. Jake Burgerer is 1 for8. First pitch in that game will be at 1:10 p.m. Well, that’s going to do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. Thank you for making Lockdown Royals your first listen today. For your second, find the allnew Lockdown MLB Game Night. Every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Tomorrow we’ll break down what happened in tonight’s game and look for Chance Lebo on the Lockdown Royals postcast tonight. But for us, we’ll see you tomorrow, Kansas City.

We react to the latest sweep of the White Sox and how the Royals continue to stay in a competitive Wild Card race. Next, we ask if the Royals should bring back at of their rental players. Lastly, we preview the upcoming series against the Rangers.

Host Jack Johnson talks about it all next on “Locked On Royals”!

0:00 – In the hunt
12:17 – Rentals
21:56 – Rangers

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