September 20 – The Kansas City Royals are struggling through a rough stretch of the season.
The Royals have lost four games in a row and 13 of their last 20 and need to turn things around quickly when they take on the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
Kansas City’s collapse has knocked it out of the race for the American League Central title and intensified the wild-card race.
The Royals (82-71) are in the second wild-card spot, but the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers are only two games behind. Detroit beat the host Royals in three games in a series that ended Wednesday.
“I know we still have control of our destiny in terms of getting into the playoffs, and that’s all you can really ask for,” Kansas City coach Matt Quatraro told reporters. “We’ve got to play better. Obviously, we’ve got to win some games and we can’t expect to lose a lot of games to other people this time of year, but you don’t want that anyway.”
“You don’t want to trust other teams. You want to trust yourself. We wouldn’t be in this position if we didn’t have the guys we trust.”
Still, Kansas City needs to wake up against the Giants in their final three home games of the season. The Royals close the season with three-game road series against the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves, who could be playoff contenders.
Star catcher Salvador Perez, who has 27 home runs and 103 RBIs, isn’t worried about the situation.
“I’m not worried,” Perez said. “I think we’re going to be fine. I think we’re going to make the playoffs. That’s our mentality here. Everybody has some bad series. It’s part of the game.”
The Orioles beat the Giants 5-3 on Thursday thanks to Anthony Santander’s two-run home run in the ninth inning, leaving the Royals three games behind Baltimore for a wild-card spot.
San Francisco (74-79) won the first two games of its series against Baltimore. But since being just one game above .500 on Aug. 27, the Giants are just 7-13 in their last 20 games.
Coma reduced San Francisco to a spectator in the National League wild-card race.
“We just want to finish strong,” Giants head coach Bob Melvin said. “We’re trying to develop some players there, but it’s always about maintaining balance while getting the best lineup possible.”
Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer on Thursday and went 6 of 13 with two homers and five RBIs in the three-game series.
“He’s hitting the ball a lot better and hitting it a lot harder,” Melvin said of Conforto. “We’ve seen him go through some really good stretches this year and he’s doing really well right now.”
Conforto went 3-for-12 with three strikeouts against right-hander Michael Wacha, who will start the opener for Kansas City.
Wacha (13-7, 3.29 ERA) has won nine of his last 10 games, including his last two starts. He allowed one run and four hits in five innings in a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Wacha, 33, is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in nine career starts against the Giants. Mike Yastrzemski (2-for-6) homered for Wacha.
Right-hander Mason Black (0-4, 7.07) will start for the Giants. He has lost three in a row since Aug. 31, his second appearance of the season at San Francisco.
Black, 24, lost his most recent game Saturday to the San Diego Padres, allowing two runs and six hits over four innings in an 8-0 loss. The rookie has yet to face the Royals.
–Visual-level media
