By Adam Gardner / April 6, 2026
Kansas City is 4-5 through its first homestand of the season, a slower start than I hoped for after so many players had good outputs in the World Baseball Classic.
The sky is not falling, of course. Any team could be 4-5 through nine games, it’s only April 6, and nobody in the American League Central is off to a blazing start. The Royals are actually in a three-way tie for second place in the division as Cleveland leads the way with a 6-4 record.
Home series vs the Brewers
The Brewers series was a bit disjointed as Friday evening’s game was postponed and the teams had to play a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, plus Michael Wacha was scratched from his start due to illness.
That gave Luinder Avila an opportunity to make a start at the big league level after not making the club to start the season. Things didn’t go the way anybody hoped for Avila as he gave up 5 runs in 3 innings of work. Royals relievers didn’t give up a single run in 6 innings of work, so that’s something.
It didn’t help that Garrett Mitchell of the Brewers did his best Barry Bonds impression, notching 5 RBIs in his first two at bats. It put the Royals behind the eight ball and the bats couldn’t get much going.
Even when the Royals got on base, they didn’t score. KC had 10 runners left on base in the series opener.
The bats woke up in a big way in the nightcap on Saturday, an 8-2 Royals win powered by a 6-run sixth inning. Maikel Garcia had 3 hits, Salvador Perez homered, and Jonathan India and Carter Jensen both had 2 hits.
The bullpen added another 4 innings of scoreless pitching – love that!
And then Sunday happened. The Brewers made Kris Bubic pay for any mistake. Milwaukee scored 2 on Matt Strahm and 2 more on Lucas Erceg.
The Royals scored 5 runs and Garcia jumped on a fastball for a home run, if you’re looking for a bright side.
Outs on the base paths
The Royals made some base-running mistakes against the Brewers that left me scratching my head.
They attempted a double steal on Saturday that resulted in Jac Caglianone getting thrown out at home. Cags is an athletic big guy but he isn’t Bobby Witt Jr. on the bases, and he was thrown out fairly easily to end the inning.
Speaking of Witt, he was thrown out at home Sunday afternoon. I like the idea of trying to stress opponents’ fielders with Witt’s speed, but Vinnie Pasquantino’s hit into right field was very sharp and Brewers right fielder Luis Matos had the ball in his glove before Witt got to third base. Matos made a strong throw home that easily beat Witt.
Then came the play that made me bury my face into a rabbit-shaped pillow (Happy Easter!). India walked in the eighth inning Sunday, Royals down 6-5. Tyler Tolbert pinch ran for India, but was picked off by Angel Zerpa.
Tolbert has great speed and it’s OK to want to be aggressive in hopes to get into scoring position with 2 outs, down 1 run. But the absolute last thing you can do is get picked off in that situation.
Royals Manager Matt Quatraro said he was OK with sending Witt and knew Tolbert needed to be aggressive. But, really, the Royals can’t keep giving away outs on the bases.
Slow starts
It’s been a tough start for a Royals offense that I expected to be in the upper half of the league.
The Royals have scored 38 runs this season, which puts them squarely in the middle of all MLB teams, but their 13-run outburst against the Twins is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that stat.
Witt is yet to have an extra base hit. Pasquantino has just 1 double and no home runs. India hasn’t really bounced back yet, but he has had some moments early this season.
The good news is Garcia has gotten things going, Kyle Isbel is hotter than donut grease, and Caglianone looks a lot more comfortable than he did in 2025. There is still a lot of season left to play but I’d love to see Witt and Pasquantino get their bats going and there isn’t a better time to start than tonight at Cleveland.
Heading to the ballpark
I’ll be at my first game of the season Thursday evening when the Royals take on the Chicago White Sox. It will be my first ever Price Chopper Patio experience and the ticket I bought through a friend’s work outing includes food.
I told Emily that this will be a great time to practice for the 9-9-9 challenge. She doesn’t seem to agree.
The weather doesn’t look great for later this week, but it’s only Monday. The forecast could change five times before first pitch on Thursday – you gotta love Midwest spring. I’m looking forward to taking in the ol’ ballpark for the first of many times this season.
Forgotten Royals – Kevin Appier
Every so often I have a former Royals player pop into my head for some reason or another. Maybe it’s because I see an old highlight, or maybe a conversation reminds me of someone that used to don the blue and white.
Or maybe it’s just a guy thing. I’ve seen videos on social media joking about how guys can just sit around and recall old players – that’s the whole conversation, just guys thinking about sports dudes.
It’s because of these reasons that I’m introducing what will become an occasional section on The Looping Liner that I’m calling “Forgotten Royals.”
One of the most common sports dudes that pops into my head just happens to be one of the best pitchers in Royals history, but nobody ever seems to talk about him: Kevin Appier. Maybe that’s an exaggeration because Appier is in the Royals Hall of Fame (inducted in 2011), but I don’t feel like he gets the recognition he deserves.
The Royals drafted Appier in the first round (9th pick) of the 1987 draft and he made his debut just two years later, but pitched only 21.2 innings in 1989. Appier showed what he was capable of in 1990, finishing the year third in Rookie of the Year voting and notching 5.3 WAR in 185.2 innings.
Ape was a workhorse for the Royals; he pitched over 200 innings each season from 1991-1997 save for the strike-shortened 1994 season.
His best season came in 1993 when he accumulated an astonishing 9.3 WAR, recorded a 2.56 ERA (both led the league), and had an 18-8 record. He finished third in Cy Young voting that season mainly because voters weighed pitcher wins too heavily in that era. Jack McDowell won the Cy Young with a record of 22-10 but had a 3.37 ERA and 28 fewer strikeouts.
The difference is bigger when you use some advanced stats as Appier had a 179 ERA+ compared to just 125 for McDowell. ERA+ adjusts the number to equalize to a players park and the average ERA that season, with an ERA+ of 100 being league average. Ape’s 179 ERA+ is fantastic.
(Randy Johnson finished second in the Cy Young voting that season. He was 19-8 with a 3.24 ERA, a 135 ERA+ and a league leading 308 strikeouts. Appier had 186 K’s that season.)
Ape was traded to Oakland in 1999 but did return to KC for six starts across 2003-2004 before retiring. He finished with 115-92 record for the Royals with 47.1 WAR and an ERA+ of 130 (5 points better than McDowell in the year he beat out Appier for the Cy Young).
Appier had a unique delivery, rearing back and firing forward with his momentum carrying his body to the first base side. He gave it his all and he was a great strikeout pitcher: his 1,458 strikeouts are still first in Royals pitching history.
Oddly enough, I remember Appier not just for his pitching, but for a specific instance when he was up to bat. It was in 1997 when Interleague Play began, which meant the Royals couldn’t have a Designated Hitter in the lineup when playing at National League teams.
Appier pitched three times at NL teams that season and it was his second start, at the Chicago Cubs, that cracks me up. He never looked comfortable at the plate but he was trying against Kevin Foster of the Cubs. Appier tried to check his swing on one pitch but instead of the typical half swing we see, Ape fully dropped the bat.
It was genius. You can’t be accused of taking a full swing if you don’t have the bat in your hands, right? No matter, it was still a strike. He struck out in both at bats that day which wasn’t surprising.
Shohei Ohtani he wasn’t, but Appier was still a terrific pitcher for the Royals. Next time you’re bored, do what I do about twice a year and visit Ape’s baseball-reference page, look at his picture where he seems confused at what’s going on, and then marvel at the numbers he was able to put up in the 1990’s.
