The Royals were riding high last August. They just wrapped up a series win in Cleveland and were right in the thick of the division race, clawing back from being 10 games back at one point.
They were off to Houston, a team they swept with ease way back in April. The offense was rolling; the pitching was strong as always. The division looked like the Royals to lose. They were 75-60!! and a game back of Cleveland.
The Royals had just scored 3 runs in the top of the 7th, on a bases clearing double from Kyle Isbel to put the Royals in front 3-2. Kris Bubic threw a scoreless bottom half of the 7th, and we were off to the 8th inning.
With the top of the order coming up, the Royals deployed their best reliever, Lucas Erceg. A leadoff walk followed by a one out single brought cleanup batter and catcher Yanier Diaz to the plate. On the first pitch he would hit a chopper back to Erceg, who would attempt to barehand the 94-mph grounder. Erceg recovered though, and threw into the base path, first baseman Vinnie Pasquatino would break his thumb, Erceg would leave the game as well hurt.
We know how the rest of the year ended up last season, so I won’t go into great detail. However, the Royals offense has never recovered from that play. 113 games later (including six playoff games) and the Royals have only scored a total of 356 runs. Or 3.15 runs per game, which is dead last in baseball. The Pirates this season average 3.26 runs per game, only ahead of the Royals, who are dead last in runs per game this season.
The Royals record over the last 113 games is 52-61. It’s been tough sledding for the Royals offense since that moment, and it’s not been from a lack of trying to give different guys opportunities. From 41-year-old Yuli Gurriel to 22-year-old Jac Caglianone, the Royals have tried to reignite that offensive spark and swagger that they carried last season, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Hopefully, they wake up soon and are in the thick of the playoff race again in August and September.
But at that point in time, I don’t think any of us understood the impact and how altering it would be to the franchise.