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Kansas City Royals: What we learned from series finale in Minnesota

By Leigh Oleszczak

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - AUGUST 17: Maikel Franco #7 of the Kansas City Royals is safe at second base after hitting a double as Marwin Gonzalez #9 of the Minnesota Twins fields the ball during the seventh inning of the game at Target Field on August 17, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Royals 4-1. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - AUGUST 17: Maikel Franco #7 of the Kansas City Royals is safe at second base after hitting a double as Marwin Gonzalez #9 of the Minnesota Twins fields the ball during the seventh inning of the game at Target Field on August 17, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Royals 4-1. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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The Kansas City Royals played just four games in Minnesota for the shortened 2020 season and that series wrapped up on Monday.

After the Kansas City Royals swept the Minnesota Twins in a three-game series last weekend, it was the Twins’ turn to win the series, winning three games to one over the past three days (a doubleheader was played on Saturday). This was the first game in the series not to be a 4-2 final though.

With the shortened season, the Royals only played four games in Minnesota and all of their games against the Twins were scheduled really close together, as they played them the past two weekends and face them yet again this upcoming weekend.

With the only series in Minnesota in the books, it’s time to discuss what we learned about  the 9-14 Royals.

The Kansas City Royals offense has vanished.

If it wasn’t for a ninth inning home run courtesy of Hunter Dozier, the Royals would have been shut out by the Twins on Monday night. They had seven hits on the night, but only Dozier was able to cross home plate throughout the course of nine innings.

Whit Merrifield narrowly missed what would have been a game tying two-run homer in the fifth inning, but instead was thrown out at second when he tried to get a double out of it. That ended the inning.

Jorge Soler struck out three times while Alex Gordon and Adalberto Mondesi continue to struggle (though Gordon did get a hit and a walk in this one) with Gordon batting well below the Mendoza line and Mondesi hitting just .217 and continuing to hit at the bottom of the order. Mondesi is going to have to step it up if this team hopes to go anywhere in the coming years.

Five different pitchers toed the slab for the Kansas City Royals.

Kris Bubic made start number five and threw 4.2 innings, surrendering two runs on four hits while walking out four and also striking out four. His ERA is 5.12 and he’s still searching for his first MLB win.

Four different relievers made appearances out of the bullpen: Tyler Zuber, Ian Kennedy, Jake Newberry, and Kyle Zimmer. Zuber and Zimmer both had scoreless outings while Kennedy and Newberry each allowed a run.

Kennedy has a 6.55 ERA and it was disappointing to see him cough up another run, though at least it wasn’t a homer. Zimmer, on the other hand, now has a shiny 1.00 ERA and the broadcast mentioned he hadn’t pitched for 11 days prior to this and hopefully that doesn’t become a trend. Zimmer has been outstanding in 2020.

The Kansas City Royals need to turn things around quickly if they want any shot of contending.

As KC Kingdom’s own Cody Rickman discussed, this is going to be an important week for the Royals when it comes to determining what they’re going to do at the trade deadline. Losing to the Twins on Monday didn’t help the case to being buyers, but there’s still time to turn things around if they take both games from the Reds on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hopefully there are indeed games to be played the next two days, as the Reds are scheduled to come to Kauffman Stadium for a two-game series against the Royals.

Twenty-three games down, 37 to go!

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