By Adam Gardner | June 4, 2026
Rejoice, Royals fans, for Kansas City has won a road series once again! It’s their first time doing that since they swept the Mariners in Seattle at the beginning of May.
The Royals took two of three in Cincinnati this week and it’s always a good idea to enjoy a series win even if the season has been disappointing.
Watching the Royals win is one of my favorite things – even more than watching goat roping like I did last Saturday, which is where this story’s cover photo comes from.
Next up for KC are four games in Minnesota to cap off this 10-game road trip. The Twins aren’t lighting the world on fire, so it would be pretty cool if the Royals could win that road series, too.
Routing the Reds
Monday’s 9-2 stomping of the Reds was cathartic for me as a fan, so I can only imagine how good it felt for the Royals players and staff. They got an early cushion, too, so a good portion of the game felt pretty stress free.
Lane Thomas launched a grand slam in the first inning, giving the Royals a 4-0 lead before the Reds ever held a bat in their hands.
“I think it was good for us to get out ahead in a game early, and just give everybody a littler breather for a minute,” Thomas said after the game.
It makes perfect sense that a team struggling as much as the Royals have over the past three-plus weeks needed a breather.
Thomas and Michael Massey both had 3 hits in the game, and Jac Caglianone and Vinnie Pasquantino both had 2 hits. Massey and Cags each homered, as well.
Luinder Avila pitched 5 innings in a spot start, striking out 5, walking 4 and giving up 2 hits and 1 run. It was a solid outing as he flashed his potential, even if he needs to work on his command.
The bullpen only gave up 1 run as Eli Morgan allowed a couple hits in the ninth inning and was optioned to Triple-A Omaha after the game. The Royals called up Beck Way as KC needed another available arm as the club continues to work through pitcher injuries.
Back to the same old stuff on Tuesday
Things were looking good in the second game of the series on Tuesday as the Royals scored 3 runs in the fourth inning thanks to an RBI by Caglianone and 2 runs driven in by Massey.
But that was all the offense could muster behind a stellar outing from Noah Cameron, who went 7 innings, struck out 8 and allowed just 1 hit and 1 run.
Matt Strahm gave up a solo home run in the eighth inning as the Reds pulled within 1 run, and then Lucas Erceg blew his third-straight save opportunity in the ninth inning. Erceg gave up a home run to the first batter he faced for the second-straight game. He walked two batters in the inning but was able to get 2 strikeouts to get out of the inning.
The Reds then walked off the Royals in the 10th inning to beat KC 4-3.
Erceg is broken. His velocity is down, his strikeout numbers are nowhere near his 2024 season, and he just hasn’t been effective since the 2025 All Star Break.
In the first half of 2025 Erceg carried a 2.15 ERA and allowed opponents to hit just .211 and OPS .559 against him. Those numbers jumped to a 3.42 ERA, .277 batting average and .765 OPS in the second half of 2025.
What changed? Erceg did go on the Injured List in late May of last season with a back injury – has that been more serious than we know? He also went on the IL last September with shoulder issues. Again, are these sapping him of his once-great stuff?
Erceg’s 2026 has been abysmal. He has a 6.45 ERA, opposing hitters are batting .326 with an OPS of .877. He leads the Major Leagues with 6 blown saves.
The Royals simply cannot keep putting him in high-leverage situations. He needs a mental reset and possibly a physical break.
“Yeah, things have been going horrible for me,” Erceg said after the game. “I feel bad for the guys, because it’s been a little bit of a tough season so far for us, and we expect better, and I expect better of myself.”
I’ve talked about the bullpen issues before and things haven’t gotten better since May 26. There are only so many options for KC manager Matt Quatraro but it’s time for him to shake up his normal assignments.
He can’t keep putting Erceg in those crucial situations and it’s time to use Daniel Lynch IV in the most-important situations of every game. Lynch hadn’t pitched since Saturday, so I have no idea why he didn’t see the field as the Royals tried to protect a slim lead on Tuesday.
That just can’t happen. Lynch has been the Royals best reliever *by far* this season and he must be used to protect leads. Erceg needs to slide into a low-leverage role – if not put on the Injured List – and KC must go forward with Lynch, John Schreiber, Alex Lange and Matt Strahm in important situations.
Maybe Way will provide some help as he was the Omaha pitcher of the month for May. I hope so, because the Royals desperately need bullpen help.
Bullpen shakeup announced Wednesday
Quatraro thankfully told reporters before Wednesday’s game that the plan had shifted regarding who would be used in different situations. He didn’t put Erceg on blast, but framed it as using the reliever in “better pockets” based on situation which may not be the ninth inning.
We didn’t have to wait long to see what would happen in high-leverage situations late in a game. The Royals and Reds entered the eighth inning tied 2-2 on Wednesday. Lynch was first out of the bullpen and gave up 1 hit and no runs to keep the Royals level.
Massey and Nick Loftin came up big for the Royals in the top of the ninth. Massey worked a long at bat that led to an RBI single, then Loftin drilled a line-drive home run. Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre was prescient in the moment before Loftin’s home run.
“Loftin has not hit a home run yet this year,” Lefebvre said with a certain tone that made you think that maybe it was time for that to change.
Sure enough, not 2 seconds later, Loftin drilled a meatball of a pitch into the left field seats. “Did you partner?” Rex Hudler hollered on the broadcast. “You did!”
That meant the Royals had a 3-run lead going to the bottom of the ninth, a situation that Quatraro had previously turned to Erceg. But Lange had been warming up even before the Royals scored and that didn’t change once there was a save situation.
Lange came on in the ninth and, though he wasn’t perfect, got the save. He gave up 1 hit and 1 walk but also struck out a pair to earn the save.
Lange had a tough start to the season. He gave up 10 earned runs in 13 innings in April, but has bounced back and allowed just 3 earned runs in 13.1 innings in May/June. Hopefully a combination of Lynch/Lange/Strahm/Schreiber can help guide the Royals through close games – it worked out Wednesday.
Noah Cameron shoved
What will likely be forgotten from Tuesday’s loss is the continued improvement from Noah Cameron this season. Cameron had a stellar rookie season in 2025 but got off to a poor start to begin 2026.
Cameron had 17 earned runs in his final 21 innings of April but has found his groove. He’s pitched 28 innings since then and given up just 9 earned runs.
His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), which measures how effective a pitcher is at limiting home runs, walks and hit by pitches while also accumulating strikeouts has been lowered from 4.42 on April 30 to 3.38 as of Wednesday morning. The lower the number, the better the FIP.
Digging deeper, the numbers continue to show that Cameron has figured it out. Take a look at the improvements on value from Baseball Savant I tracked on May 11:
- Overall pitch value is up from 5th percentile to 32nd percentile
- Breaking ball value is up from the 2nd percentile to 36th percentile
- Fastball value is up from 28th percentile to 38th percentile.
But in those five starts that Cameron has shown his improvement in May and June, the Royals are 0-5 as a team and have scored a grand total of 8 runs.
Baseball, like life, just isn’t fair.
Fun with mascots
I noticed something fun while watching the game on Tuesday. You know those advertisements on the backstop that show up when you’re watching a game – the ones behind the batter/catcher/umpire?
The Reds had one pop up with their old-school Mr. Red on it and he really got my attention. Check this out.
Am I crazy or is he definitely on cocaine? If not blow, then certainly some kind of upper. I love baseball a lot, but it’s never caused me to make a face like that. Maybe he ate some Skyline Chili and he’s scared for his life as he runs to the bathroom.
The great thing is this isn’t even the most coked-up looking mascot I’ve ever seen. Look at what the Detroit Tigers used to put out into the world.
That image haunts my dreams/nightmares. I don’t know if we should celebrate the coked-out Tiger or be terrified of it. Detroit used this logo in the 1970s and 1980s, so … it tracks.
This Tiger has seen some things and probably committed a few crimes. It has talked friends into jumping off bridges and stealing cars. Cocaine Tiger has seen the sunrise not because he wanted to see natural beauty, but because he Just. Can’t. Sleep.
If you’re ever hanging out with me and I’ve been quiet for a while and you’re wondering what I’m thinking about, there is a 50% chance I’m thinking about Cocaine Tiger.
