Royals Rumblings - News for August 5, 2024

The Royals are as hot as the weather!

Jaylon Thompson talks to MJ Melendez about his first pinch-hit home run.

“We just have a lot of fight,” Melendez said. “We’re a winning team and that is just the bottom line.”...

“It’s definitely pretty cool,” Melendez said. “I haven’t had a ton of big home runs on the road. So that was something a little bit different. ... Just being able to get us ahead right there in the ninth inning was huge.”

Matt Quatraro believed in his young hitter.

“We have a tremendous ‘care’ factor,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “They don’t give up. Guys know that any one second can dictate an outcome of the game. It can be the first pitch, it can be the last pitch; you just don’t know when you’re going to have your moment to affect the outcome of the game.

“If you don’t take any pitches off, you’ve got a chance to impact the game, and that’s what these guys do. They just pass that down the line.”

Q also explained why he pulled Cole Ragans in the sixth inning on Friday to turn to Lucas Erceg.

“None of those guys ever want to come out,” Quatraro said. “I respect the heck out of them for that. ... That’s why it’s a tough decision. But I think it was the right one and Erceg comes in and gets the job done.”

Hunter Harvey struggled again in Saturday’s loss.

“We are going to take our chances every time we go to the ninth 3-1 with him on the mound,” Quatraro said of Harvey. “They put some good swings on (him) and he got ahead 0-2 to (Tigers first baseman Bligh) Madris and left a split in the middle. They squared some balls up and you’ve got to give them credit.”

Dawn Klemish at MLB.com writes about the underrated Freddy Fermin.

“I think we’re very fortunate to have essentially two frontline catchers, just one of them happens to be a future Hall of Famer, so Freddie gets a little bit lost in that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “... Everybody raved about him as a person and a teammate, and he just got up here and did his thing.

“That’s kind of the beauty of Freddy. The attitude he brings every day is contagious.”

Bobby Witt Jr. was named American League Player of the Month for July.

The Twins release former Royals reliever Josh Staumont.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman writes about three questions down the stretch.

The White Sox lose their 20th game in a row, one shy of the American League record.

Shohei Ohtani becomes the third-fastest player to join the 30/30 club in a season.

Astros pitcher Lance McCullers will miss the rest of the season.

How the trade deadline could impact this winter’s hot stove.

Can the Padres actually make a run?

The Pirates plan to manage Paul Skenes’ workload this season.

The Angels promote their 2024 first-round pick to Double-A ball.

Joe Mauer will get a statue of himself outside Target Field.

50 years later, a look at the MLB debut of Ron LeFlore after a stint in jail.

A age 37, tennis great Novak Djokovic finally has an Olympic gold medal.

Skip Bayless announces he is leaving FS1.

How Michael Cole became the voice of WWE.

The wild true story that inspired M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap.

Your song of the day is Glenn Frey with The Heat is On.