The Royals lose another battle of offensive ineptitude to the team that remembers how to hit things, 2-1

The Royals lost their second straight game in Atlanta. There isn’t too much interest to report. Seth Lugo only pitched two innings. He was followed by Michael Lorenzen for two, then Daniel Lynch IV for two. John Schreiber managed one inning and Sam Long tried to go more than one inning, but gave the walk-off dinger to Travis D’Arnaud with one out in the ninth. It was the second night in a row that an Atlanta backstop hit a home run, securing his team the victory.

From one perspective, the Royals’ offensive woes continued. They scored just one run on a double play groundout by Dairon Blanco in the third inning. On the other hand, most of their starters were on the bench for most of the night. Still, it’s fair to question whether the Royals have the bats needed to make it in October (although there are indications that Vinnie Pasquantino could be back in time for the Wild Card Series…)

From yet a third perspective, it seems equally clear that the Royals are prepared for the postseason. They gave up just two runs for the second straight game. The first was a throwing error on a ground ball by Lorenzen. The second was D’arnaud’s home run, which was given up by Sam Long, who most likely won’t be asked to pitch a second inning in October. Especially since he gave up the home run tonight.

It is a few Disappointing because the Tigers lost to the White Sox tonight and a win could have moved the Royals back up to fifth place, but ultimately they’re traveling to face one or another talented but flawed team in the Orioles or Astros. Which of them they will see is not as important as how they play when they get there. If pitching continues as it is, the Royals can play any team in any contest. But they’re going to need the bats to show up at some point.

The Royals play the season finale tomorrow. Cole Ragans will not start this game. He will probably prepare for the first start of the Wild Card series instead. At last check, neither team had announced starters for tomorrow’s game. It seems to me that after tonight’s work, Alec Marsh is the only qualified starter left for the Royals. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Royals used an opener on him, especially since he’ll be pitching out of the bullpen in October.

Hopefully we’ll see a more “normal” starting lineup from the Royals and maybe they’ll even unlock some of their missing offense while playing in a game that basically doesn’t matter to them. It would be nice to go into the postseason with a good offensive game to give them momentum and confidence. In any case, the game starts at 2:20 middle. So you can at least watch the beginning before the Chiefs take on the Chargers.