Lessons Learned From the Royals’ First Calendar Week of the Season
The 2022 season has begun, and there’s nothing quite like Opening Day around Major League Baseball. There were a few exceptions with games that were postponed due to weather, but other than that, there was much excitement around the league.
The Kansas City Royals opened their season on Thursday to a smaller crowd than anticipated. Only 28,459 tickets were sold for Opening Day 2022. A cold, windy day in Kansas City could have been the cause of the lowest Opening Day attendance (outside of COVID-affected seasons) since 1995 when a mere 24,170 tickets were purchased.
Maybe the lockout had something to do with low attendance numbers, maybe not, but that didn’t keep those fans who made it to Opening Day from enjoying themselves.
Zack Greinke made his Royal return and did an exceptional job for the team. He pitched 5-2/3 innings of one-run baseball on 84 pitches. It was more than enough to keep the team in the game. As the season goes along, the Royals will expect more of that from Greinke. As his pitch count is allowed to rise, he will be able to pitch deeper into games.
The relief pitchers — Jake Brentz, Josh Staumont, and Scott Barlow — combined to shut the Cleveland Guardians out the rest of the way. Barlow, in particular, was very impressive and picked up the win.
Throughout the game, the Royals' bats were mostly cold. Just five hits for the entire team ended up being enough to secure the win. Bobby Witt Jr.’s first MLB hit was a go-ahead RBI double that sealed the game. He also scored on an RBI single from Andrew Benintendi to extend the Royals' lead in what ended up being the final score of 3-1.
There were several defensive plays that stood out, but Nicky Lopez made the play of the day with a leaping, full-extension grab that saved a hit and potentially a run.
Game two from the Royals featured more dominant pitching. This time, it was Brad Keller who was stellar. He picked up a Royals offense that couldn’t get anything going all day. Keller got a quality start, pitching a full six innings while only allowing two hits and striking out five in the process. Dylan Coleman, Amir Garrett, Taylor Clarke and Staumont took the shutout to the ninth inning before rookie Collin Snider took over a 0-0 game in the 10th.
Snider got some help from Witt and Salvador Perez on a brilliant bang-bang play that resulted in an out at home plate. It was a play that showed the spectacular athleticism from the rookie third baseman and the Gold Glove qualities of the veteran Perez. Snider struck out the final batter of the inning to send the Royals to the bottom of the 10th with the game still tied 0-0.
Kyle Isbel started the inning on second base and Hunter Dozier led things off with a single to right field. Isbel was held at third, and Adalberto Mondesi came up to the plate with men on the corners while needing just a sacrifice fly to get the job done.
Mondesi did one better and whacked the first pitch he saw for a single to center field for a walk-off 1-0 win. The Royals started the season 2-0.
The Royals wanted to wrap up opening weekend with a win, one that would have clinched a series win in the four-game set against the Guardians. Things didn’t go according to plan, though.
The pitching that had looked so solid through the first two games disappeared in less than an inning of time when Kris Bubic got rocked to the tune of five earned runs in less than a whole inning pitched. Clarke came in with the bases juiced and gave up a grand slam to Oscar Mercado, and the Guardians had a 6-0 lead after one inning.
Things did not get any better from there. Jackson Kowar came in to try and eat some innings in what looked like a white flag game. He lasted 3-1/3 innings, giving up 11 hits and seven earned runs on 71 pitches. Gabe Speier actually had the only decent game of the Royals pitching staff, going 1-2/3 innings and only allowing one hit while striking out three batters. Brady Singer came in to close out the final three innings of the game and gave up four earned runs on six hits in his first action of the season.
The offense remained mostly stagnant. Witt had a two-RBI double in the third inning but at that point in the game, that only brought the Royals within eight runs. Kansas City tacked on one more in the bottom of the ninth, but it clearly wasn’t enough in a 17-3 blowout loss. Here are my big three takeaways from the first three games:
- Pitching and defense can only get the Royals so far. The bats need to come alive — and they will at some point — but things have not looked good through three games.
- It’s early, but Witt looks like the real deal. He’s made a few big hits and has had multiple great defensive plays. He will continue to be at or near the top of the leaderboard for 2022's Rookie of the Year campaign if he keeps this level of play up.
- Young pitching will still have its ups and downs. Outside of Bubic, Kowar and Singer, the Royals' pitching has looked solid. Sunday's outing was just one bad game, but it wasn’t a confidence booster for the young guns.
The Royals will look to try and win the series against the Guardians on Monday night before heading to St. Louis for a two-game set with the Cardinals and then returning home for a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers.
At the beginning of every week, 'Mondays with Mark' will dive into the latest developments with the Royals. Have something you want to be discussed? Let Mark know on Twitter @MarkTheOverseer or find Inside the Royals @InsideRoyals.
Mark Van Sickle was born in Seattle, Washington, but has lived in the Kansas City area for 30 years. He has followed the city’s sports teams along the way, from the KC Blades to the Chiefs to the Wizards/Sporting KC, now the KC Current and — of course — the Royals. Mark has been a radio producer and on-air talent in Kansas City since 2011 and is currently a producer for morning shows on KCMO Talk Radio. He is a writer and podcast host for the Heartland College Sports Network, a writer for Arrowhead Report on FanNation and a consistent guest on Roughing the Kicker Chiefs podcast. He is also a writer and weekly contributor to FanNation’s InsideTheRoyals.com