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Kansas City Royals: What we learned after Whit Merrifield drove in all four runs

By Leigh Oleszczak

DETROIT, MI - JULY 29: Whit Merrifield #15 of the Kansas City Royals tosses his bat after hitting a pop-up for an out against the Detroit Tigers during the seventh inning at Comerica Park on July 29, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the Royals 5-4. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - JULY 29: Whit Merrifield #15 of the Kansas City Royals tosses his bat after hitting a pop-up for an out against the Detroit Tigers during the seventh inning at Comerica Park on July 29, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the Royals 5-4. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /
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The Kansas City Royals went 1-1 during their doubleheader with the Twins.

Going into Saturday’s doubleheader, going 1-1 on the day was what Kansas City Royals fans were hoping for and they did just that, losing their first game, but winning the second by a score of 4-2.

The highlight in Game 2 was the performance of utility man Whit Merrifield, who went 3-for-4 and had all four of the Royals RBIs in this game. Three of those four runs cam via home run in the fourth inning. Way to go, Whit!

Duffman got the start. Oh yeah!

Danny Duffy got his first win of the 2020 season and looked pretty good, even after a shaky start. He went five innings, allowing just two hits and walking one batter while striking out eight. He gave up two runs, but rebounded nicely after doing so, something that isn’t a guarantee with Duffy.

The bullpen looked dominant.

That was easy to do though when Josh Staumont and Trevor Rosenthal both got the nod to pitch in the sixth and seventh inning respectively. Both guys threw scoreless innings and now have ERAs under one as a result. Who saw that coming in 2020?

All in all, the Royals pitchers struck out 13 batters. Duffy had eight, Staumont had two, and Rosenthal had three. Yowzas.

Thanks for showing up, Whit!

As mentioned previously, Whit Merrifield WAS the Royals offense in the second game of the doubleheader, plating all four Royals RBIs. Merrifield is huge for this offense and when he gets going, he’s nearly unstoppable, evidenced by him now coming one triple shy of hitting for the cycle in two separate games.

Merrifield is currently hitting .305 and without that three-run bomb in the fourth inning, the Royals likely go on to lose this game.

What’s next for the Kansas City Royals?

The postgame broadcast mentioned that half of the Twins’ losses have now come to the Royals. This is after a season in which Minnesota smoked the Royals time and time again, but it’s the opposite so far in this shortened MLB campaign.

The Royals have two more games in Minnesota before they pack up and head home to Kansas City. Don’t be surprised if those Tuesday and Wednesday games get postponed, however, as the Reds recently had a player test positive for COVID-19 and their Saturday game against Pittsburgh was canceled as a result.

As of now, the Kansas City Royals are 9-12 and although they’re still in last place in the division, any Royals fan would have taken this record at this point in the season. Oh and fun fact, this was Mike Matheny’s 600th win as an MLB manager.

Twenty-one games down, 39 to go!

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