And as a result of that, the Royals set a team record for consecutive scoreless innings - 34 and counting.
Personally, I blame the Players Weekend jerseys.
Bret Saberhagen only got to 32 consecutive scoreless innings, if I recall correctly. As a side note, he was a career .121 hitter. The batting average for the Royals during the 3-game series was slightly better at .186, collecting 8 BB and 34 K over 97 AB.
Welp, another day, another shutout. A repeat of yesterday’s 12-0 shutout at that. This time, to the Rays, with Cy Young candidate Austin Pruitt and his 5.76 ERA leading the way to a near no-hitter as well. Lorenzo Cain’s two hits being the only two KC mustered.
The Royals’ streak now stands at 43, which is the longest in the majors since the '68 Cubs, who co-hold the all-time record of 48 along with the 1903 A’s, so that mark is suddenly within reach for tomorrow’s tilt.
Fun fact: The Astros have three separate scoreless streaks of 40+ innings in their history, the latest coming in 1985.
And now, enjoy this Kevin Pillar catch, and Edwin Encarnacion losing his bat and still fouling off a pitch:
Amazing that at the trading deadline the Royals decided that they weren’t going to be sellers because they were in the race. Then it all fell apart almost immediately.
And somehow, they’re still within 3 games of the Wild Card! As much as I hated playing in (and losing) the sudden death game in '13, the new format has added a lot more meaningful baseball to the schedule… maybe at the expense of future success for the small market teams.
I was a wild card hater (harrumph!), but I was totally wrong. 100% agree that adding it has dramatically improved the second half of the season.
I like the wild card just fine. [GrumpyOldMan] Just don’t go instituting the DH in the National League [/GrumpyOldMan]
The Royals may be within 3 games of the wild card, but they’re really going to have to do a 180 to get by the teams ahead of them. I suppose stranger things have happened, but with their offense so anemic, it’s hard to see it happening.
In addition to sharting themselves all over the field, the Royals are sharting in real life as well:
Apparently he was passed out in a Burger King drive-thru.
Goodbye, cruel season.
The Royals win the pennant! The Royals win the pennant! … okay, well, they scored a run at least.
What inning?
2 outs in the third (home run). Just a couple short of the record.
Verlander to the Astros. The AL post-season is going to be fun.
Ah, good, I was beginning to think the Tigers weren’t going to be able to unload him. Only eating $8 million per year of his contract, too, which is pretty good considering how huge that contract was.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/251757752/astros-trade-for-pitcher-justin-verlander/
I was already liking the Astros best of the likely AL playoff teams. Now I’m definitely pulling for Houston to get to the World Series.
I mean, they were already the clear favorites. Presumably Verlander will start playoff games for them. Dang.
It was a nice move which clearly helps both teams, I have to say. Not for nothing, but this year Cleveland has .981 OPS against him in 4 games.
Houston’s gone 20-24 since the All-Star break (5th worst in the AL) and both Cleveland and Boston have a very real shot at taking the top seed. Depending on if they get first half or second half Verlander this could be a steadying presence or a huge trainwreck.
Seeing as Cleveland has historically hit him well, I’m ok with this trade.
Yep, Houston’s played poorly since the ASG…but that’s also a time period that’s coincided with losing Carlos Correa. CC may be back in the lineup as early as Sunday, depending on how his thumb responds after playing in a couple of AA rehab games.
The minute I heard that they traded Upton, I knew that JV was gone as well. They have completely thrown in the towel. Sadly, it was very clear this season, that they needed to rebuild. It sucks but that’s the business of baseball. If you have decided to go full on rebuild, then from a financial standpoint, the JV trade makes sense. They got some good prospects and didn’t have to eat a huge portion of JV’s salary going forward. I hate the trades but I understand why they did them. Its not going to be fun in Tigertown for quite some time, that’s for sure. We are going to be fielding a AA team for awhile, so yeah, strap in Dorothy, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.