Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports Kansas City goes for the series win Back-to-back 3-2 wins put the Royals back in the win column after their first losing streak of the season and this afternoon, they look for their 4th series win. Alec Marsh cruised through four innings before an injury forced him out of the game after giving up just four hits and no runs in 4.1 innings. The Royals announced today that he would be placed on the 15-day IL. RHP Alec Marsh has been placed on the 15-day IL with a right elbow contusion. — Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) April 25, 2024 While the diagnosis may be discour ..read more

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports Four teams still ostensibly have a shot, but are all of them actually contenders? The White Sox are clearly not going to win much of anything this season, but there are reasons to believe that all four of the other teams have a shot at the division. I wanted to take a deeper look at each team and see who I believe will really be in the hunt and who won’t based on how their season has started. Cleveland Guardians After a torrid start, the Guardians have jumped into first place and the Fangraphs playoff odds now have them as the favorite at 38.4% to win the Centra ..read more

Photo by Adam Glanzman/MLB Photos via Getty Images The right-hander will make his MLB debut The Royals have called up right-handed reliever Will Klein and have placed Alec Marsh on the Injured List with a right elbow contusion. Marsh was struck in the forearm by a line-drive in his start last night, although X-rays were negative. Klein was originally a fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Eastern Illinois. He rose quickly with high strikeout rates, but high walk rates as well, posting a 4.62 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A, but with a 30 percent strikeout rate. This year he has allowed just one un ..read more

Kansas City Royals pitcher James McArthur (66) pitching during the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. | William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports Long live The General Every year, each team makes a variety of roster transactions involving bullpen arms and just general pitching depth. Traditionally, the result of those moves by the Royals has been less than stellar; from 2021 through 2023, the Royals bullpen had the second-worst ERA and the fourth-worst K-BB%. They were bad in aggregate, and outside of Scott Barlow, there weren’t a lot of reliable late-inning arms, either. S ..read more

Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Starter Alec Marsh left the game early, but the bullpen had his back. I had a good feeling when Wednesday’s game started off with a 1-2-3 inning from Alec Marsh. Then Salvador Perez started the scoring, and I had a great feeling. The Kansas City Royals held the Toronto Blue Jays in check, thanks to another scoreless Marsh start and some timely hitting up and down the lineup. The 3-2 victory tonight came in a picture-perfect spring evening backdrop. Perez put Kansas City on top in the first when his single scored Witt from third base. The ..read more

Photo by Reed Hoffmann/Getty Images These swahhps took players to Fenway Pahhk. This is a series that looks back at their trade history with each team in baseball. So far, we have looked back at trades with the Braves, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, Marlins, Brewers , and Rockies. Today we look at the history of deals with the Boston Red Sox Total number of Royals/Red Sox trades: 24 When I was a kid, I was always hearing rumors the Royals were going to trade for All-Star Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs. It never happened. Nearly two decades later, there were rumors Boston was ..read more

It’s Paul Skenes Day in Omaha, if anyone is free at 11 Omaha readers: are you free later this morning? Paul Skenes is scheduled to start for Indianapolis against the Storm Chasers at 11:05 a.m. Omaha will try to be the first Triple-A lineup to score any runs off the prospect. Anne Rogers on last night’s good break that cleared the way for a win: The Royals had been outscored 19-10 over their three-game losing streak, but there wasn’t much panic given what the Royals had done at the start of the season. They entered Tuesday with a plus-36 run differential, which ranked third in the Majors. Th ..read more

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports You take what you can get! In the middle of their offensive tailspin, the Royals used a timely error in the field to come from behind and defeat the Blue Jays 3-2. The victory snaps a three-game losing streak that began back on Saturday. It wasn’t an easy night, by any means, for veteran right-hander Michael Wacha. From the get-go, Toronto’s lineup made him work. With Wacha’s pitch count rising, the Blue Jays drew first blood in the third inning on an infield single. Wacha wouldn’t make it out of the fifth inning and departed with the bases loaded and one out ..read more

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports Stop the skid! Kansas City Royals (13-10) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (13-10) RHP Michael Wacha (1-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. RHP Kevin Gausman (0-2, 8.16 ERA) First Pitch — 6:40 p.m. CT Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri TONIGHT’S LINEUP: Here's how we're taking the field behind Michael Wacha tonight as we look to even the series vs. the Blue Jays. pic.twitter.com/nC233JeRGc — Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 23, 2024 ..read more

Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images It confounds fans. But there’s math behind it. Last night, the Royals had been unable to get much offense going against Blue Jays lefty Yusei Kikuchi. When Adam Frazier doubled off reliever Erik Swanson in the seventh, they had an opportunity to cut into the 5-2 deficit. Frazier advanced to third on a fly ball hit by Kyle Isbel, and with one out, he had a terrific chance to score. Michael Massey hit a grounder to first and Frazier was off on contact. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. threw home and got Frazier at the plate for the second out. Dairon Blanco struck out and the ..read more