By Adam Gardner | June 11, 2026
It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me. I leave the Kansas City area and all of a sudden the Royals start winning baseball games and chipping away at their division deficit.
So I have to ask myself, is it just that baseball is a long season and each team will have ups and downs – or is it dictated by my physical distance to Kauffman Stadium?
All jokes and Taylor Swift lyrics aside, it’s enjoyable to see the Kansas City Royals actually score runs and protect leads again. They’re also making up a little bit of ground in the American League Central.
Cleveland has struggled a bit lately and the Royals have been able to knock a couple games off their division deficit. They were 11.5 games back a week ago but just 8.5 games back of the division-leading Chicago White Sox this morning.
This has mostly happened while I’ve been in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on a family vacation. We’re celebrating my parents’ 50th anniversary and all 12 of us are in one house. The cover photo for this post is the view from our back deck at 6:30 a.m.
It’s been wonderful having all this family time and having the Royals win games. Take Tuesday night for example: we took family photos on the beach at sunset and then had a great dinner at a restaurant. By the time we came home I was able to check that the Royals won and Jac Caglianone hit two home runs.
That’s one hell of a vacation.
Taking 3 of 4 at Minnesota
Thursday’s opener against the Twins was one of those games that reminds fans that we can always see something interesting in baseball – even if it’s a game between two below .500 teams.
Minnesota scored a run in each of the first six innings, but lost. The Royals got a game-winning hit from a guy who had doubled for the Omaha Storm Chasers earlier in the same day.
Josh Rojas was playing with the Storm Chasers, the Royals Triple-A affiliate, on Thursday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio. He doubled down the right field line during the game, but was pulled before it ended so he could head to Minnesota and join KC.
As Rojas was on his way, the Royals and Twins entered a rain delay. By the time the ninth inning rolled around, Rojas was in the dugout and able to pinch hit. He delivered a 2-RBI single up the middle past a pulled-in infield.
Life comes at you fast, though. Rojas was returned to Omaha on June 9 because Stephen Kolek returned from the Family Medical Emergency List and needed his spot on the roster. Thanks for the memories, Rojas, perhaps we’ll see you again.
Royals comeback win on Saturday
Carter Jensen hit a leadoff home run in Saturday’s afternoon contest, and then the Royals bats went cold.
Luinder Avila pitched five strong innings as he continues to settle into a rotational role – more on that later – and Daniel Lynch IV pitched a breezy inning.
That’s when things got interesting for the bullpen. Lucas Erceg worked a scoreless inning, which is a good sign, but Matt Strahm gave up a solo home run in the eighth inning as the Twins took a 2-1 lead.
KC battled in the top of the ninth, though. Isaac Collins singled to lead off the inning and then Tyler Tolbert pinch ran for him and stole second base. Rojas reached on a fielder’s choice and he and Tolbert each advanced on a sac bunt by Kyle Isbel.
Jensen drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to tie the game, then Bobby Witt Jr. singled home Rojas to give the Royals the lead.
Alex Lange allowed one hit in the bottom of the ninth but struck out the side for another save. A comeback win on the road? Thank you.
Sunday was something
The Royals bats were as busy in the middle innings as a Gulf Shores beach on Sunday. Nick Loftin hit an RBI double in the fourth inning, and Maikel Garcia had an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Then Starling Marte had the big bopper, hitting a 441-foot, 3-run home run to give Kansas City a 5-1 lead.
Jensen hit a sacrifice fly to score Vinnie Pasquantino – Vinnie had 2 hits and 2 runs in the game – to give KC a 6-1 lead in the eighth inning. Insurance runs are great, and they’re even better when you wind up needing them.
Freshly called up relief pitcher Beck Way struggled in the ninth inning, surrendering 4 earned runs and recording just 1 out. Enter Erceg, who has struggled mightily in the exact situation he was placed into on Sunday afternoon.
Things got dicey as he gave up 2 hits, but Erceg got the final two outs for the save. My heart sank when Brooks Lee lifted an Erceg pitch to deep left field, but the ball settled into the glove of Collins on the warning track and a deep sigh of relief could be felt across the heartland.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was two-straight outings with Erceg walking off the mound in a positive frame of mind. He needs his confidence back and the weekend in Minnesota should help. Wednesday night’s loss against the Rangers won’t help, though, as he walked two and got just one out.
Texas series
Wednesday didn’t go the Royals way – a 6-4 loss in 10 innings – but Caglianone kept up his hot hitting. Cags went 4-5 with a double and an RBI.
This came after the Royals defeated the Rangers 5-3 on Tuesday night when Cags hit two home runs. That’s 8 home runs for the season for the former first-round pick.
Caglianone is now at 1.1 WAR for the season and has become the second-most reliable hitter in the KC lineup. He’s got a slash line of .275/.348/.456 and an OPS+ of 127, which actually matches Witt.
Batting order isn’t super important as we’ve talked about before – you just need to maximize opportunities for your best hitters. The top of the order against right-handed pitchers needs to be Carter Jensen – Bobby Witt Jr. – Jac Caglianone – Maikel Garcia.
Against left-handed pitchers, just swap Lane Thomas for Jensen and stick with the rest. Caglianone has a higher on-base percentage against right-handed pitchers, but his average and slugging are actually better against left-handers.
Cags deserves to be in the top-third of the order as he continues to show progress in his first full season in KC.
Alex Lange’s late-inning success
The Royals announced a change to their bullpen plans a week ago. They talked about matchups and using guys in different roles, but so far the ninth inning has been Lange’s and he’s responded well.
Lange is a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities the past week and has 7 strikeouts in those 4 innings of work. Swing-and-miss stuff is crucial for high-leverage situations because teams not only can’t hit game-winning home runs if they’re striking out, but it also takes away the chance for bloop/bad-luck hits.
Wednesday’s outing was different as he pitched the 10th inning against the Rangers. Extra innings start with the automatic runner on second base and Lange wasn’t able to handle the situation very well. He gave up 2 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs. It’s definitely a negative blip on an otherwise strong stretch of pitching.
Lange’s ERA sat a lofty 8.38 after a bad 4-run outing against the Orioles on April 20th. He has lowered it to 4.06 and has given up just 4 runs in regular-inning situations since then.
I know the dread I started to feel when the Royals had a lead late in games when Erceg was struggling, so I’m guessing the entire team might have had a nagging little voice in their head, too. I can only imagine that the way Lange has performed recently has given the team more confidence and there’s nothing I like more for my favorite big leaguers than to play with confidence.
Starting pitching situation
I mentioned Avila has been performing well during his time in the rotation while Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic are out. Seth Lugo also had to exit Wednesday’s game early after getting hit in the head with a line drive. Safe to say that the starting pitchers are going through it right now.
Bubic threw a rehab start in Omaha on Tuesday, throwing 49 pitches in 1.1 innings. His command was off as he gave up 8 hits and 6 runs, but otherwise felt healthy.
Ragans threw 23 pitches in a bullpen session on Wednesday and reportedly felt fine.
We’ll see if Lugo is able to bounce back. It was a good sign he could walk off under his own power after getting hit in the head, but that’s a scary situation.
To quote Taylor Swift one more time, I hope Lugo can “shake it off, shake it off.”
