Game thread CXII - Royals at Tigers

The Royals haven’t yet lost on this road trip. Can they keep it going tonight?

After winning the first two games against the Tigers the Royals have a chance to guarantee themselves a winning series tonight. Michael Lorenzen will make his Royals debut, starting in place of the recently demoted Alec Marsh. Tyler Holton will open for the Tigers, most likely to be followed by Kenta Maeda.

Lorenzen was brought in by the Royals to eat some innings as most of their rotation is nearing or has already passed career marks for innings. To start with, he has taken Marsh’s role. Marsh was demoted to Omaha so he could continue to work on a set schedule and throw fewer pitches/innings so as to hopefully remain fresh and ready to step in later in the season. Lorenzen has a 3.81 ERA on the season but a 5.19 FIP powered by a low strikeout rate and a return to form in walk rate after he had managed to limit them for most of last year. Lorenzen did make one start against the Tigers this year for the Rangers before being traded, it was his first start of the season but he did manage five scoreless innings. Still, he walked five and struck out only four. In fully one-third of his starts, Lorenzen walked more batters than he struck out but maintained a Left On Base percentage of over 80% to keep from giving up too many runs. It will be interesting to see if he and the Royals’ coaching staff have been able to figure anything out in his short time with the team that may lead to more success tonight.

Holton’s last three appearances have all been as an opener, and he hasn’t allowed a run in any of them. He has averaged slightly more than two innings in those “starts.” Maeda was one of the free agent acquisitions the Tigers made in order to try to match the Royals’ plan of hitting on some mid-tier free agents and making a dark horse run at the post-season. Unlike the other three free-agent starting pitcher signings the Tigers and Royals made, Maeda has been something of a disaster with a 6.72 ERA and 5.26 FIP. His strikeout rate has plummeted precipitously. Since moving to more of a bulk reliever role three appearances ago, his strikeouts have come back up and he hasn’t walked a single hitter. He had a 3.2 inning, scoreless appearance against the Dodgers, allowed three runs in only two innings to the Blue Jays, and last time out gave up one run in five innings to the Twins in a game the Tigers ultimately lost. It’s probably far too early to say the move has fixed him, but the Tigers certainly seem to be on the right path.

Lineups

As expected, Bobby Witt Jr. was named player of the month for July earlier today. Meanwhile, Colt Keith was named AL rookie of the month, so there is some star power in both lineups. Manager Matt Quatraro has finally acceded to the demands of many an internet Royals fan and has finally decided to allow Freddy Fermin to lead off and be the Designated Hitter, tonight. Maikel Garcia gets a night off and Paul DeJong gets his third start in five games since joining the Royals.