Royals POSTCAST: Royals WIN 7-5 | Kansas City STORMS BACK In Win over SCORCHING Seattle Mariners

Royals POSTCAST: Royals WIN 7-5 | Kansas City STORMS BACK In Win over SCORCHING Seattle Mariners

[Music] This is the Royals Post Cast, your instant game reaction for the Kansas City Royals, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. All right, welcome in to the Royals postcast here tonight. The Royals pick up a 7-5 comeback win, blown lead win against the Seattle Mariners here in game 151. They moved to 76 and 76 or I guess that would be game 152. Royals moved back to 500 and that was a um a pretty big win for the Royals um in a lot of different ways. I think that if I were a Royals fan and I could uh pick out one of the starts, one of the games that I would want the Royals to win in this series, which ended up being I mean ended up being a pretty unimportant series in the grand scheme of the wild card, but obviously a uh a a a really good uh team coming in. You want to have that positive outlook coming back, seeing what the Royals were able to do tonight. I would rather have them won this game and look like they did tonight. have Cole Reagan’s look like he did tonight than to have them win last night in a Michael Waka start. And you guys know my feelings on Michael Walka, but this was a lot. This is about a lot more than just one baseball game. This is about a lot more than just 152. I mean, that’s this game was more than that. This game was the fact that the Royals had struggled here recently. and the Royals had had a barrage of injuries on the pitching staff in the first domino to fall in that in those injuries was the guy we saw tonight and Cole Reagan is a subject of what you’ll be talking about. This is what you’ll be talking about. I don’t think that anybody can come away from tonight’s Cole Reagan’s outing and believe that he was anything less than stellar. I mean, he gave up the one home run to Au Henio Suarez and you know, Aueno Suarez was hitting an 0 for30 coming into this series or coming into this game tonight and the Royals give up four hits to him tonight, including a home run. So, obviously, you don’t love seeing that, but a Henos Suarez is a really good player for the Seattle Mariners and a really good player, a guy that the Royals would have loved to have a month and a half ago. But now, the Royals sit in a position where Cole Reagan comes back. He gives up that two-run homer to AU Heno Suarez. But you can’t tell me that Cole Reagan’s wasn’t wasn’t good. You can’t tell me that he wasn’t anything less than stellar. I mean, let’s go ahead and take a look now at his uh his Savant screen or his Savant page because I really want to dive into what he was able to do tonight. That is going to be a big piece because the one number that I want you guys to see that’s the most important for you guys to see is this number right here. 35% swing and miss, 13 whiffs. I’ve talked about it so much this season. The Royals just don’t have swing and miss stuff. The Royals don’t have a fast ball that can generate a 36% whiff rate. They’ve seen pitchers this season that have been able to generate that whiff rate against them. The Royals just haven’t been able to do it because guys, he was touching 98 tonight, averaging 96. That’s up from where he’s been at. And I get it. He only threw those 62 pitches, but from what we saw tonight from Cole Reagan, I think that you can say that he is fully healthy. He’s ready to go. And you look at his line, just three hard hit balls and one of them was the homer to Au Heno Suarez. The Royals were able to manage what Cole Reagan’s did in terms of his pitch count tonight because he was throwing strikes, because he was getting swing and miss stuff because he was the guy that they envisioned him being at the beginning of this season. They just weren’t able to get that from him this year because he was banged up, he was injured, he had some freak injuries, he had um a couple of weird injuries and this last one kept him out for an extended period of time. And I think that while the general audience, the general public, um, would push back on the notion that you need to pitch um, you need to have a guy like Cole Reagan’s pitch in this kind of setting with two starts left under his two starts left available for him. I think it was important for him to come back uh, and pitch in this series against Seattle and then in the series coming up next week in Anaheim. Not because the Royals are, you know, competitive in the American League wild card, not because they need to win those games, but like Jack talked about, I think it was Monday, it was either Monday or Tuesday, he talked about on his show that, you know, it it’s one thing to have a guy come back, but you don’t want to shut down uh Cole Reagan’s after he builds himself back. He continues to build and build and they just shut him down completely. Yeah, he could probably throw side sessions during the offseason, which I’m sure he would do, but man, I I I uh I really liked what they what they gave him tonight. They were really uh you know, careful with how they used him. But you see a heavy dosage of fast balls, which is exactly what Cole Reagan is good at. At times this season when Cole Reagan has struggled, it’s been because he’s gone away from his fast ball. He’s gotten too cute with some of the other stuff. He hasn’t gotten the swing and miss because he’s been trying to mix it up too much. He knows he has a a an elite curveball, an elite change up, and an elite fast ball. He just needs to learn how to throw them much much more often than not. And I I really like what Cole Reagan did tonight. I think that, you know, the haters are sick right now. The haters of Cole Reagan are sick right now. He was exceptional tonight. I don’t think you could have asked for anything better given the fact that you’re only going to get about, you know, 70 or so pitches from him. But I I really like what I saw from Cole Reagan tonight, guys. That’s a Mariners team that’s won 10 games in a row. They played their agame tonight. They they played their best lineup. You know, Mitch Garver is really the only sub in that uh in that lineup. Mitch Garver is a really good hitter against left-handed pitching this season. That’s the that’s the blunt the the blunt truth about it. Um tonight, the Royals were really really good um on the pitching side with Cole Reagan. The rest of the bullpen I I mean they were not good. I did not like what I saw tonight from the rest of the bullpen. Jonathan Bowling gives up two hits and gets just one out. Michael Lorenzan comes in in relief. I liked what I saw from Michael Lorenzan tonight. I thought he was much better. John Striber was solid, but Anel Serpa continues to struggle. Gives up an earned run. Uh his fourth blown save. I feel like it’s his third in the last month or couple of weeks even really because he’s actually really struggled. I’ve I’ve actually been an onhel Serpa defender this season, but he’s actually struggled a bit this season uh here of recent. And then Lucas Ersk who has had a brutal second half of the season. and a guy that I thought was all-star caliber. Did not have a good outing today gives up a run and the Mariners are in front now. Forces the Royals to uh to come back uh in in this game. They shouldn’t have had to come back. They should have had a lead, but instead um Ursa gives up a run in the eighth and Estz gives up a run in the ninth. I don’t think it’s a I mean, is it a reason to be concerned tonight in the rest of the season? Maybe. I mean, but I’m not in the uh I I’ve I’m not going to say that I’ve given up on the season, but the rest of the season is not about wins and losses to me. It’s about, okay, who are the guys that are coming back next season that we can rely on? Who are the guys that maybe we haven’t seen much of this season that we’d like to see more of, that we need to see more of? What can we get from them? Guys like Jack Kagleon, Carter Jensen, those kind of young guys that we haven’t seen much of. Can we rely on them to be long-term pieces, at least pieces in 2026? I think that we saw tonight those guys are more than capable of doing just that. I think that with a full off seasonason of rest, guys like Ersk and Estz, I mean guys, look at bullpens around the major leagues. They’re taxed. They’re tired. I I mean, they are exhausted. The Royals bullpen here in the second half has pitched more innings than it feels like anybody has. Um, and that’s a reason why the bullpen has struggled here recently is because they have seen so many innings. They have been throwing so many pitches because the rotation has been an abject disaster here in the second half of the season. Um, all right. Uh, we are going to hit a break. When we come back, we are going to dive into the offensive performances tonight, including one of Jack Kagleon, who I felt like had one of his better hits of the uh the season. A really impressive opposite field double. We’ll talk about what we saw from the young guys when we come back here on the Royals Post Cast. 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Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Those terms apply. Again, that’s promo code Loc for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. All right, let’s talk about the offense. We talked to Nazium about the pitching staff, and I was really impressed for three innings tonight by the Royals offense. Um, or sorry, even just two innings. Um, they get three in the first, all after a two-run rally. Give credit where credit’s due. Benny Pascantino, Mike Garcia get on base for Salvador Perez, who has been really, really, I mean, really hot since Carter Jensen first made his appearance behind the plate. I mean, I I really really like what I saw from uh I really really like what I saw from uh Salvador Perez tonight. He was really impressive. Um he he was able to put together some good at bats. Uh two walks. How many times throughout Salvador Perez’s career has he drawn two walks in a single game. You got Michael Massie pinch running for him. Obviously able to uh get down there. But um I uh I really like what I saw from Salvi today, but the rest of the offense was uh left a lot to be desired. Um especially in the uh the sandwich six innings. I mean you go from the second inning to the eighth inning and really not even threatening. They had one threaten threatening opportunity. They had runners on first and second um with the middle of the lineup coming up with nobody out. How many time or sorry first and third with nobody out. And how many times this season um how many how many times this season have the Royals been in this position where they they just have the middle of the lineup up in a run creating prevent a run creating situation and the Royals just aren’t able to get it done. That’s the most frustrating uh thing that I’ve talked about in this in this Royals postcast. I’ve talked about it way too much. You guys call me a Vinnie hater even though he was two for five tonight. I liked what I saw from Vinnie, but uh I uh just didn’t didn’t like the at bats, especially in those clutch opportunities. First and third, nobody out. Get a ball in the air. I mean, I know Vinnie did. He got a popup into shallow center field that was fielded by the shortstop. Um but other than that, they just didn’t get anything done. That’s a prime field. That’s a prime scoring opportunity for the middle of the lineup. The middle of the lineup is supposed to be your run creation part of the lineup and the Royals just don’t do anything there. That’s very frustrating. But Adam Frasier broke out of his slump in a big way tonight. A two-run homer there in the ninth or in the eighth inning off of Matt Brash, who is a very, very good pitcher. Um, he was able to get on the board. Um, really like what I saw from him tonight. He gets two hits, broke out of a slump. Uh, Jack Kaggleó with an opposite field double. I felt like that was one of his best at bats of the season. Finally looking to go the other way. Too many times this season, we’ve just seen him roll uh roll roll things over. Um, I I just I I don’t know. I um I think that that was a really good step in the right direction for him, especially off a tough arm there in the ninth inning or eighth inning. Dang, I keep saying ninth inning. And then Carter Jensen drives him in and Carter Jensen draws guys another two walks. I mean, this guy might be the one sodto behind the dish for the Royals. He just seems to uh just seems to get him get him back. Uh and he just gets on base. I mean, that’s uh he’s the Kevin UCLAS of the Kansas City Royals. That’s what he is. And Shane, I appreciate your question about rushing Reagan’s back. I didn’t feel like he was rushed. He had an opportunity in the minor. He threw a couple rehab starts and we talked about it. I talked about it. Jack talked about it. We’ve talked about why they brought him back. Um, you can listen to this show. You can rewind it to when we talked about it. You can listen to Jack’s show on Monday. There are reasons why uh there are reasons why they brought Cole Reagan’s back. And uh if I understand there’s some frustration, but I mean are you just going to tell him to sit on the shelf all season then go into the offseason? That’s just not He’s a competitive guy. He’s a professional athlete. He’s going to want to compete. So I think it’s really hard to tell a guy that’s been working his tail off to come back for a potential postseason chase to say, “Hey, we just had a really bad two-eek stretch. Sorry, you’re not going to be able to make it.” Um that’s just not good management. That’s not good player development. And I think that the Royals made the right decision and at least bring him back to see what he’s got. I mean, at least let him pitch in a major league outing. I think that that’s something the Royals needed and especially since their pitching staff is so taxed right now. Um, you’re having to move Michael Orenz into the bullpen just because you don’t have anybody that can pitch in bulk. I think that it’s a uh a pretty pretty good move to bring him back. We also saw a comment from uh Hawklord Li Hinge. Please tell me the Mike Striky experiment will be over at the end of the season. Yeah, I like Mike Striky. I think he’s fine. I don’t think he’s a world beater. I don’t think he’s uh he’s I don’t think he’s uh uh a terrible uh option in the outfield. He’s perfectly fine. Uh but he’s better than the alternative. I mean, are you going to turn to Gavin Cross who can’t hit his weight in double A? Um I don’t know. I think that he’s the better option. Tyler Gentry who couldn’t cut it. You want to go back to MJ Melendez in the outfield? I don’t know about that. I think Mike Ystreky uh while he’s not great, he’s better than the alternative option. He goes one for five tonight. He’s had some big opportunities this season, but um I liked what I saw from him throughout this season, but um I understand the frustration with him kind of struggling here recently. All right, that will do it for tonight. We will be back tomorrow afternoon for a short edition because the Royals have a game at 110 tomorrow. I’ve got some work responsibilities that might keep me uh make it a quick episode. But uh appreciate you guys for joining us tonight. We will be back tomorrow with another edition of the Royals Post Cast.

Chance Liebau reacts to game two between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners. We discuss Cole Ragans’ return to the mound, the late offensive rally, and some standout performances.

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