This story was originally published by Dead Spin
A rested and relieved Kansas City Royals squad welcomes the visiting Minnesota Twins on Friday, opening a three-game series between teams vying for playoff spots.
The Royals had their first day off in two weeks Thursday, one day after ending a season-high seven-game losing streak.
The relief was palpable when Tommy Pham hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fourth inning on Wednesday, propelling Kansas City to a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
“I’m really, really happy for those guys,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Nobody wants to lose, right? And when you string a whole week of games together where you don’t win any, it wears on you, mentally, physically. It makes it tougher to believe in yourself.”
Lucas Erceg recorded his sixth save for the Royals with a hitless ninth, snapping a personal string of three consecutive outings in which he surrendered runs.
He said of Pham’s home run, “That was about as electric as it could get. That was a really cool moment. At that point in the game, you kind of sense the energy flipped.”
Quatraro added, “Somebody’s got to let the pressure off a little bit, and he did. You’re trying to play for a big inning there and it took till two outs to do it, but that was a big hit for Tommy.”
Deprived of the big hit over the previous week, the Royals were outscored 39-17 during the skid, falling from a first-place tie with the Guardians to 5 1/2 games back in the American League Central. The deficit was trimmed to 4 1/2 games with the Wednesday result.
The series against the Twins and a subsequent three-game trip to New York to face the Yankees will conclude Kansas City’s 20-game stretch of playing teams currently in playoff positions. The Royals (76-65) are 5-9 through the first 14 games and trail the Twins (76-64) by a half-game for the second AL wild-card position.
Left-hander Cole Ragans (10-9, 3.46 ERA) takes the mound for Kansas City on Friday while Minnesota will counter with rookie right-hander Zebby Matthews (1-2, 7.41).
In four career starts against the Twins, Ragans is 1-2 with a 2.45 ERA. He earned a win at Minnesota on Aug. 14, striking out eight in seven innings while allowing a lone run on Carlos Santana’s homer. That victory made him 1-2 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts against Minnesota this year.
Ragans is 0-2 in his past three starts, and he took a loss on Saturday at Houston despite striking out 10 in five-plus innings. He allowed five runs on four hits and two walks.
Matthews recorded his only career win in his major league debut Aug. 13 against the Royals, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. He surrendered a home run to MJ Melendez.
In his subsequent three starts, Matthews has allowed 15 runs, 12 earned, in 12 innings. The Blue Jays pounded him for nine runs on 10 hits in two innings on Saturday.
The expected return of Twins center fielder Byron Buxton for the weekend series is on hold after Buxton reported lingering right hip soreness.
“He didn’t feel the way he needed to feel in order for him to come back right now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’ll see how he’s doing over the next 24, 48 (hours).”
The Twins will also be without right fielder Max Kepler, who was placed on the 10-day injured list due to left patellar tendinitis prior to their 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Kepler was hitting .116 over his past 12 games.
–Field Level Media
