Trying to remain a serious postseason contender, the Kansas City Royals must take advantage of their seemingly favorable stretch to conclude the current homestand.
That effort begins Tuesday with the start of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, who haven’t won a road set in more than a month.
Kansas City (70-67) has work left to reach an American League wild-card position, and losing two of three to the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers to open the nine-game homestand didn’t help. However, the Royals host the Angels and the Minnesota Twins — both below .500 — this week, before a potentially grueling stretch versus the Cleveland Guardians, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays.
”We’ve got some important games,” said Royals pitcher Michael Wacha, whose team trails the Mariners by 2 1/2 games for the last AL playoff spot.
Kansas City, 5-6 since winning five straight games, hope to rebound from a 5-0 loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The Royals could get a boost with the call-up of touted catcher prospect Carter Jensen and return of rookie Jac Caglianone during the team’s day off on Monday.
Jensen, a 22-year-old Kansas City native, homered 14 times in 43 games for Triple-A Omaha.
Caglianone batted .147 with five homers, 10 RBIs and 34 strikeouts in 41 games during his initial major league stint from June 3-July 26. He then went on the injured list because of a left hamstring strain. He hit .385 with five home runs and 16 RBIs during a 16-game rehab assignment at Omaha.
”If (Caglianone) can help us win, that’s what we want,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said.
All-Star Maikel Garcia continues to help the Royals by batting .338 with five homers and 14 RBIs in his past 19 home games.
Scheduled Royals starter Michael Lorenzen (5-8, 4.62 ERA) has not recorded an out past the fifth inning in any of his three starts since missing more than a month with an oblique strain.
He allowed a total of eight runs (seven earned) in his past two outings. Most recently, he permitted four runs on seven hits over five-plus innings in Kansas City’s comeback 5-4 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 26.
The 33-year-old right-hander, who pitched for the Angels in 2022, is 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA in nine career games (five starts) against them.
Los Angeles (64-73) had a chance to earn its first road-series victory since July 18-20 but fell 8-3 at Houston on Monday, thus settling for a split of the four-game set with the Astros.
Angels right fielder Jo Adell clubbed his 31st homer, and he is batting .327 with six home runs and 12 RBIs in his past 14 contests. He is 2-for-5 lifetime against Lorenzen.
Angels star Mike Trout had three combined hits over the past two games after going 1-for-24 in his previous seven contests. He is career .320 batter with six homers and 18 RBIs in 33 games at Kansas City.
Los Angeles outfielder Taylor Ward could return at some point during this series after he needed several stiches above his right eyebrow following a crash into the metal outfield scoreboard in Houston on Sunday.
”It certainly looked a lot worse than it turned out,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. ”We’re thankful for that. It’s fortunate for him that it turned out to be as good as we could hope for.”
Angels left-hander Mitch Farris will start on Tuesday in his major league debut, a day after he was called up to the parent club. Farris, 24, went 3-8 with a 4.27 ERA in 23 games (22 starts) for Double-A Rocket City this year. He struck out 142 and walked 55 in 116 innings.
–Field Level Media
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