The Royals not only took the series from the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday afternoon at the K (take that obnoxious Braves fans), but they also made history in their 1-0 victory in extra innings.
Despite it being a bullpen game, the Royals utilized nine relievers to produce a 10-inning shutout. According to Ian Kraft, assistant director of PR for the Royals, the number of pitchers Kansas City used matches the most in MLB history in a shutout.
The Royals also commemorated this memorable victory with an impressive graphic on social media that highlighted all nine relievers who appeared in their one-run, extra-inning victory.
Being at the ballpark, the Royals’ pitching staff was a sight to behold on Wednesday afternoon, especially against an Atlanta lineup that scored 16 runs in the first two games of the series. The rough performance of the pitching staff, especially on Monday (another game I attended in person), prompted me to write about whether the Royals’ pitchers were due for serious regression in the second half.
The nine Kansas City relievers proved me wrong today, much to the satisfaction of the Royals fans in attendance at Kauffman Stadium.
To highlight this historic performance from the Royals’ pitching staff, I decided to share and highlight the TJ Stats daily pitching summaries of all nine pitchers who threw for the club today in the victory. If you haven’t subscribed to Thomas Nestico’s TJ Stats toolset, please do so on Patreon ASAP. His stuff is the best in the baseball business, in my opinion.
Angel Zerpa, 1st Inning
Zerpa only threw 16 pitches, but it was an efficient outing for someone who pitched the previous day. I was surprised to see Matt Quatraro opt to utilize Zerpa as the opener initially, but it proved to be the right decision. The Venezuelan lefty set the tone by flooding the strike zone (56.2% zone rate) and generating weak contact (.080 xwOBACON) that resulted in three groundball outs.
Jonathan Bowlan, 2nd and 3rd Inning
Bowlan was the “bulk” guy in this game, as he was the only Royals reliever to throw more than one inning. The Memphis product has struggled in the second inning of multi-inning appearances this season, but he was sharp today. Not only was his stuff popping (107 TJ Stuff+ overall), but he produced a 50% whiff rate and had three strikeouts. His control was a little inconsistent (42.4% zone rate), but he only had one walk, and he limited hard contact, which was encouraging to see after some rough recent outings from the big right-hander.
Hopefully, this outing can help him stay in Kansas City and avoid being optioned to Omaha once again.
John Schreiber, 4th Inning
This was probably the best I’ve ever seen Schreiber. He not only struck out three batters on 16 pitches, but he also generated a 50% chase and whiff rate against the Braves lineup. The sinker looked good with a 111 TJ Stuff+ and 70 grade, but the rest of his offerings were in the 96 to 98 range. Nonetheless, that didn’t prevent him from getting whiffs, as his four-seamer and cutter, his two primary pitches, both had whiff rates of 50%.
Schreiber was named 96.5 FM Royals Pre and Postgame host Josh Vernier’s Top Performer of the Game, and it’s hard to argue with that based on the results.
Taylor Clarke, 5th Inning
Clarke has had a renaissance since returning to Kansas City. His ERA is back under four again after this outing, and on Wednesday, he struck out one and mowed down the order on 12 pitches. The former Arizona Diamondback struggled with high leverage situations in his last stint in Kansas City (2022 and 2023), but he’s performed much better in low to medium leverage situations this season.
He’s not setup or closer material, but there’s a value to having relievers like Clarke in the bullpen, as he has demonstrated this season.
Hunter Harvey, 6th Inning
After bailing out Seth Lugo on Tuesday, Harvey ran into the most trouble of any Royals reliever on Wednesday. He gave up early hits to Nick Allen and Jurickson Profar, which put two runners on with zero outs and the heart of the order coming up.
However, Harvey proved that he could come through in high-pressure situations. He got Matt Olson, Austin Riley, and Michael Harris II to all hit into fielding outs. The 30-year-old righty didn’t give up a hard-hit ball either to any of those three key Braves hitters.
Even though he’s missed most of the season to injury, the former Nationals setup man could be a key reliever for this group down the stretch, especially with him being 100 percent again.
Steven Cruz, 7th Inning
Cruz was terrible on Monday as he gave up four runs on three hits and four walks. He was much better on Wednesday. Cruz not only threw just 14 pitches, but he also put down the Braves in order and had a strikeout.
In terms of his metrics, he produced a 108 TJ Stuff+ and also posted a solid whiff rate (50%) and xwOBACON (.314). Cruz still doesn’t generate a lot of chase (zero percent in this game), and his zone rate can be inconsistent (50%). When he’s on, however, Cruz can be one of the Royals’ most dynamic relievers.
A hat tip to Quatraro for having the confidence to go back to Cruz on Wednesday in a key spot in the late innings after a rough outing on Monday.
Lucas Erceg, 8th Inning
It wasn’t Ecreg’s best outing on Wednesday. He struggled to generate strikes, as evidenced by his 40.9% zone rate and 10% whiff rate. However, the former Athletics reliever was able to get Braves hitters to chase (30.8%) and not generate a lot of productive contact (.217 xwOBACON). As a result, Erceg only faced four hitters and only gave up one hit in his inning of work.
Carlos Estevez, 9th Inning
Estevez did on Wednesday what he did best: He threw hard (101 TJ Stuff+ overall) and worked quickly (only 10 pitches). The Royals’ closer also made perhaps the defensive play of the game, catching a line drive from Harris that had an exit velocity of 108 MPH.
Even though he didn’t produce a strikeout, Estevez still generated a 70% strike rate and 33.3% whiff rate, the latter showing that he can produce swings and misses in the clutch. He’s not a high-strikeout closer, but he still proves to be dependable in high-leverage situations in the ninth, especially at the K.
Sam Long, 10th Inning
While Vern recognized Schreiber as the Top Performer of the Game, Long wins that honor in my mind. Yes, he gave up a leadoff hit to Ozzie Albies with a runner on second in extra innings. However, Long was stellar after that leadoff single.
With no outs and runners on first and third, the lefty from Sacramento struck out Sean Murphy and Eli White in consecutive at-bats. With two outs, he gave up a hard line drive to nine-hitter Luke Williams. Thankfully, that 100.3 MPH line drive went directly into Tyler Tolbert‘s glove in left field.
Long’s gutty performance eventually led to Salvador Perez knocking in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
Long not only earned the win, but he also earned the respect of Royals fans in attendance on Wednesday afternoon. That’s nice to see, especially after a challenging and injury-riddled season for him so far.
Hopefully, this is a step forward for Long to return to his 2024 self (which produced a 3.16 ERA in 42.2 IP). Having him produce efficient middle-innings relief would significantly boost their playoff chances down the stretch.
Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel – AP