In midst of a major offensive funk, Royals may be digging a hole they can't get out of
The Royals have not scored more than two runs in a game since Saturday. *Last* Saturday
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
The Chicago White Sox blew out the Kansas City Royals (CWS 12, KC 1) on Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field thanks largely to Matt Davidson's big game. The 26-year-old went 3 for 4 with a double, a home run, and four RBI.
Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez stifled the Royals for eight innings, holding them to one unearned run on two hits and a walk in eight innings. Great game for Gonzalez! No doubt about it. That said, lots of pitchers have been having great games against the Royals lately. Their offensive futility seems to reach a new low daily.
With Monday's loss, the Royals have failed to score more than two runs in each of their past eight games. They haven't scored more than two runs since April 15. The last team to go eight straight games with two or fewer runs was, oddly enough, the 97-win Cubs in 2015. The Royals have scored more than three runs only once in their last 13 games. Yikes.
The modern MLB record for consecutive games scoring 2 or fewer runs is 11, last done by the 1978 Cardinals. Just in case you were wondering.
— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) April 25, 2017
This level of offensive futility takes a total team effort. Lorenzo Cain (.313/.429/.375 following Monday's game) has been really good. So has Mike Moustakas (.288/.329/.591). Others like Eric Hosmer (.192/.253/.247), Alex Gordon (.178/.259/.219), Alcides Escobar (.182/.217/.242), and Brandon Moss (.125/.232/.250) are all performing far below their career norms, however.
The Royals aren't really this bad, of course, but they need to turn things around sooner rather than later. They're 7-12 on the season and already 3 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot. This recent skid -- the Royals have lost five straight games and six of their last seven -- has sunk their postseason odds down to 4.8 percent as of this writing, according to FanGraphs.
Kansas City has several core players due to become free agents after the season -- Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas, and Escobar are the most notable -- meaning general manager Dayton Moore will have no choice but to consider a fire sale at the trade deadline if the team is out of the race. He doesn't want to do that, but he might have to do.
The only way the Royals can avoid a fire sale is by putting a halt to this losing streak and getting back on track on offensively. Not next week or next month. Right now. As in Tuesday. Far too many players on the roster are under-performing right now. Going eight straight games without scoring more than two runs is a sign something is very wrong here.
