Time will tell if the Kansas City Royals are headed to the postseason this year, but they plan to party like it’s 2014 this weekend.
The current Royals will honor their 2014 American League championship team all weekend during a three-game series against the visiting Oakland Athletics. That 2014 team eventually fell short in the World Series before the 2015 squad went the distance to give Kansas City its first title since 1985.
Fast forward back to the present and the Royals find themselves in the thick of the early AL Central race heading into the series opener on Friday. Kansas City won nine of 14 games before concluding a seven-game road trip with a 4-2 setback to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.
“We played good baseball,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We were competitive. The games we lost were close. … These guys compete their butts off.”
Bobby Witt Jr. recorded his fourth multi-RBI performance of the season by driving in both Kansas City runs in the series finale vs. the Mariners.
“Anytime you lose, it’s frustrating,” Witt said, per the Kansas City Star. “You’ve got to learn from it and move on.”
Freddy Fermin scored twice and joined Adam Frazier in collecting two hits apiece for the Royals. Fermin is 6-for-15 with two RBIs and three runs during his four-game hitting streak, while Frazier is 5-for-15 with a homer and three RBIs in his past four games.
Kansas City, which enters Friday 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians, will turn to left-hander Cole Ragans (2-3, 4.22 ERA) in the series opener.
Ragans, 26, will look to atone after allowing seven runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings during a 9-3 setback to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.
“Obviously not the best,” Ragans said of the outing. “Made some mistakes. Felt like a few times I made some good pitches (and) they hit them hard. A few times, left some pitches over the plate. Fell behind quite a bit, I felt like. Yeah, just not the best.”
Ragans is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA in four career appearances (three starts) against Oakland.
The Athletics have mustered just two runs over their past three contests to see their losing skid extend to a season-high five games. Oakland dropped a 2-1 decision in 10 innings at Houston on Tuesday, then totaled just two hits in a 3-0 setback on Wednesday and four more in an 8-1 loss to the Astros on Thursday.
Zack Gelof had an RBI single on Thursday for his first hit in three games since being reinstated from the injured list. He missed three weeks due to an oblique injury.
A’s rookie starter Joey Estes struggled in the series finale against Houston, allowing eight runs on eight hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
“If you don’t locate, you can’t get good hitters out, and that was an example tonight,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said.
Oakland did not name a publicly starter for the series opener as of Thursday night, one day after placing Opening Day starter Alex Wood on the 15-day injured list with rotator cuff tendinitis.
The A’s, however, acquired right-hander Brandon Bielak from the Astros in a cash deal on Thursday. Kotsay told reporters that Bielak would join the team in Kansas City on Friday.
–Field Level Media