Game thread CLV - Giants at Royals

The Royals can’t lose every game for the rest of the year, right?

We’ve been here before. Twice, actually. Once in the middle of June when the Royals, finally out of a tough stretch, lost five of six to the Rangers and Athletics. Then again a couple of weeks ago when the Royals lost seven in a row to the Astros and Guardians. And now, today, as the Royals have lost five in a row to the Pirates, Tigers, and Giants. But each of the previous times, the Royals came out of the slump and had a hot stretch. Maybe they’ll start a new hot stretch, today.

If they’re going to, it’s going to take a bit of an uphill climb. Brady Singer, who was being named by some as the Royals’ third ace headed into the All-Star Break, has an ERA over five since two shutout starts immediately coming out of the break. Over that span, he has not recorded an out in the seventh inning even once. The Royals won only one of those games when he pitched six shutout innings against the Reds despite a rain delay. His walks and home runs are comparable to his season stats, his strikeouts are up. But he has been BABIPed to death at .389 and has not stranded nearly as many runners as you would expect. The batted ball profiles are also not far off his season stats. So either he was lucky for most of the year or he’s been unlucky recently. Here’s hoping it’s the latter.

The Giants will counter with Landen Roupp. The rookie spent most of the year in the bullpen before joining the rotation in September. He has two starts and a bulk appearance in his last three. He has been very good, giving up only two runs in fourteen innings. He doesn’t strike out many but he also doesn’t walk anyone and doesn’t give up home runs. His WHIP over that span is a mere 0.857. He could be tough.

Lineups

The Royals are giving the slumping Pham the day off, which means Adam Frazier, the Royals second-hottest hitter after Bobby right now, gets another opportunity to lead off. The red-hot Gurriel is demoted in the lineup from fifth to sixth in order to maintain the left-right rotation that occurs when the slumping Michael Massey is bumped ahead of the slumping Salvador Perez. The Royals actually managed to get their four hottest hitters - minus Gurriel - batting all together. Kyle Isbel and Maikel Garcia will bat eighth and ninth.

As we have come to expect in Brady Singer starts, the Giants will be using a bunch of left-handed hitters. Let’s see if he’s figured out how to pitch to them, yet.