There must be a glitch in the Matrix because for the second time this week, Carter Jensen hit a leadoff home run to get his team up early, only for the Royals to fall to the Rays. This time Tampa won 5-2.
Let’s take a look at that Carter jack, though, shall we?
That was off of Ian Seymour who nearly masterminded a combined no-hitter against the Royals last week. Not this time. Unfortunately, he allowed 2 other hits the entire game while striking out 8. Isaac Collins added a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh off of reliever Cam Booser. It was so unimportant to the outcome that the Royals didn’t even bother to post a video of it, so I have nothing to show you.
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Stephen Kolek had a 9-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning. But with two outs in the second, things began to unravel. Chandler Simpson was standing at first when Taylor Walls hit a rocket to right field that clanked off of Kameron Misner’s glove for a double. The way the booth told the story, Misner had almost no shot at the ball and it was amazing that he managed to get a glove on it. However, Baseball Savant gave the ball an expected batting average of only .390. And I’d argue any MLB outfielder who gets his glove on a ball should bring it in, but Simpson scored and Misner escaped without an error.
Richie Palacios popped it up into left, but it dropped in no-man ’s-land to score another run. Then Hunter Feduccia gave Misner another chance, and Misner dropped that one, too! That one had only a .170 expected batting average, despite being a home run in 14/30 parks, and Feduccia was credited with a triple. Yandy Díaz walked, and then Jonathan Aranda hit a grounder to the right side that deflected off of Jac Caglianone’s glove. For a moment it looked like the Royals were going to give up a third hit off of a player’s glove. Fortunately for all involved, Michael Massey barehanded the deflection and managed to get it to Stephen Kolek, who was smartly still attempting to cover the bag, and blessedly ended the inning.
As the Royals were batting in the bottom of the second, Matt Quatraro was seen to go out and speak to the home plate umpire while Randy Dobnak warmed up in the bullpen. The broadcast booth theorized Kolek was hurt. There was never an official announcement, but for the second straight start, Kolek was unable to pitch into the third inning and looked awful doing it. It seems likely he’s injured. He was probably injured during his last start, too, but the team hoped it would magically vanish while he was on parental leave.
It’s possible Kolek wasn’t hurt, and that throwing 42 pitches in the second inning was simply more than the Royals were willing to let him throw before getting him out of the game. But I don’t think KC has earned the benefit of the doubt with how they’ve handled injuries this season.
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Lane Thomas had a two-out double in the first, Jac Caglianone had a groundball single to the right side in the sixth, and Carter Jensen added an infield single in the eighth to round out all of the Royals’ hitting for the night. Only when Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an error and stole second in the third inning did the Royals ever have a runner standing on second, and he was erased on a Jac groundout. They never had one standing on third.
Speaking of Jac, I saw him berating himself after a groundout in the bottom of the eighth. Combine that with the recent slump and I’m worried about him all over again just a week after I thought I wouldn’t need to worry about him for a good long while and had been praising his good body language even when he didn’t necessarily get a hit.
The Royals have tomorrow off thanks to the World Cup. They’ll start a three-game set with the Phillies on Saturday, the fourth of July. With Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and Bryce Harper leading the way, I expect there to be plenty of fireworks even before the game ends. See you then.
