ARLINGTON, Texas — While the Texas Rangers get to enjoy home cooking again after their first road series, the Kansas City Royals are in the middle of their first road trip, having just played a series in San Francisco.
The beginning of the year hasn’t been particularly kind to Kansas City so far, as they were swept at home by the Minnesota Twins in the Opening Series at Kauffman Stadium and then lost three-of-four to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Royals did end up taking the series against the Giants, two games to one, in a very tightly contested and energetic set. Texas, meanwhile, is coming off of their second series in a row where they dropped the first two before coming back to convincingly grab the third game, having beaten the Chicago Cubs 8-2 on Sunday, after losing 10-3 on Saturday and 2-0 on Friday.
Where Kansas City’s coming from
The Royals have been getting pretty decent pitching from their starters so far this season, and the Rangers are going to see their top three – Zack Greinke, Jordan Lyles and Brad Keller.
Game 10, 7:05 PM CT: RHP Zack Greinke (0-2, 2.38 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Heaney (0-1, 23.63 ERA)
Game 11, 7:05 PM CT: RHP Jordan Lyles (0-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob deGrom (1-0, 5.59 ERA)
Game 12, 7:05 PM CT: RHP Brad Keller (1-1, 2.61 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 4.22 ERA)
Greinke, who returned to the Royals last season, has been a standout but hasn’t won a game on the road since August of 2021. In his first two starts this year, he took losses despite pitching better than well enough to win. On Opening Day, he held the Minnesota Twins to two runs on seven hits in 5 ⅓ innings, and then his next outing, against the Blue Jays, Greinke produced another seven-hit affair, but he only gave up one run in six innings of work in a 3-0 KC loss.
Boasting a lineup where Salvador Perez, at 32, is the oldest position player on the roster, the Royals want to see what they can get out of the likes of Bobby Witt, Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, and Nicky Lopez while supplementing them with veterans such as Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Franmil Reyes. This is a very high ceiling group of graduated prospects, but they haven’t exactly hit their stride yet in 2023.
The KC bats had their best day on Saturday against the Giants, scoring all six of their runs from the sixth inning on in a come-from-behind effort. Aside from that, the Royals have been shut out three times already in the early goings, with performances being highly inconsistent from their young hitters.
Things to watch for
Zack Greinke is 8-8 against Texas during his 20-year career with a 3.63 ERA in 24 games. Watch out for Corey Seager and Marcus Semien against Greinke; in 21 at bats against the enigmatic righty, Seager has 8 hits, including 3 homers, two doubles and 5 RBI. Semien is 7-for-23 with a double and a homer.
Texas was 4-2 against the Royals last year. That was without the revamped rotation they will be bringing against KC this time around. The Rangers will send Andrew Heaney, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi to the hill in Arlington this week. deGrom and Eovaldi have been cruising right along so far, but Heaney had an awful first outing against Baltimore and will be looking to bounce back and put that behind him.
The offensive approach didn’t change much for Texas during the Chicago series. The Rangers were still first pitch aggressive, it just didn’t play in their favor until the third game of the series. Against Greinke and Lyles, two pitchers who are definitely not known for pumping high heat, the Rangers will have to be more patient and adapt to lots of movement and secondary pitches.
Undoubtedly, manager Bruce Bochy is well aware of that from his times facing Greinke when he managed the Giants when Greinke was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.
Will Texas come away with a series victory over KC? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
