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KC Royals: Five players to watch in third series vs Cleveland Indians

By Leigh Oleszczak

May 31, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) is congratulated by first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) after scoring against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
May 31, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) is congratulated by first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) after scoring against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /
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KC Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) is congratulated by first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) – Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
KC Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) is congratulated by first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) – Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /

The Kansas City Royals are eight games under .500 while the Cleveland Indians are three games above the mark. The Royals need to start crawling out of the basement and another series win against the Tribe is the perfect way to start.

This season has been tough to watch at times, but watching Eric Skoglund pitch the other night showed me that this team is far from out of it. They’re starting to hit again (well, sometimes) and the starting pitching is good for the most part. The bullpen is hit or miss.

With the calendar turning to June, we’ll officially begin to see just who the 2017 Kansas City Royals truly are. Are they this bad offensive unit who can’t hit a baseball if their lives depended on it? Or are they just now getting hot at the plate?

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Whatever needs to happen for this Royals squad to pick up the slack and sprint to the finish line needs to happen soon. It might only just now be June, but two months of the MLB season have already come and gone. No more excuses, time to start to showing up and winning games!

Here are the pitching match-ups for this weekend’s series against Cleveland:

  • Friday, June 2nd – Jason Vargas (6-3, 2.39 ERA) vs Josh Tomlin (3-6, 5.79 ERA)
  • Saturday, June 3rd – Jason Hammel (1-6, 6.18 ERA) vs Carlos Carrasco (5-2, 2.89 ERA)
  • Sunday, June 4th – Eric Skoglund (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Trevor Bauer (5-4, 6.00 ERA)

Looking at those match-ups, I don’t feel too good about the Royals’ chances in this series. Tomlin just threw a complete game against the boys in blue last Sunday, so he clearly knows how to beat them. Carrasco has been great this season and Hammel sucks. Skoglund, as amazing as his debut was, isn’t going to have an equally great second performance. Side note, I can’t stand Trevor Bauer, so I hope the Royals have batting practice against him.

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Perhaps the KC Royals have turned the corner and can now fight fire with fire against the Tribe, but I think Cleveland will be pissed off this weekend. They just lost a series to the Royals last weekend, the Cavaliers are garnering all of the attention in their city, and they’re just furious with how their 2016 storybook season ended.

Fingers crossed that the Royals can come out on top in this series!

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