Royals' rotation stepping things up as spring season enters final week

By foxsports
Published

If the past five days are any indication of what the Royals can expect out of their rotation this season, things are looking up for Kansas City.

Edinson Volquez capped a solid run through the rotation with eight strikeouts in five innings of two-run ball during Kansas City's 7-0 loss to the Cubs on Sunday afternoon. Including Sunday, Royals starters in the past five games have combined to allow seven earned runs in 28 2/3 innings, good for a 2.20 ERA.

On Sunday, Volquez labored through the five innings, needing 100 pitches to face 21 batters before he was lifted in the top of the sixth inning after loading the bases. It was easily Volquez's best start of the spring after giving up 10 runs in his past two starts combined. He entered Sunday's game with a 9.49 ERA in just four starts.

Volquez is the Royals' No. 3 starter in the rotation, following Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy. He came over from Pittsburgh in the offseason as a free agent after his best season as a starter.

Volquez started 31 games for the Pirates in 2014, going 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA and a .235 batting average against.

3 UP

• Rios back in the lineup. Royals right fielder Alex Rios returned to the lineup Sunday afternoon after missing three games with a thumb injury. He hit fifth and went 0 for 1 with a walk.

Last season, the thumb injury lingered for Rios as his power numbers dipped dramatically. He hit just four home runs -- a career low -- and drove in 54 runs in 131 games. Rios figures to slot into the bottom third of the Royals' lineup when the regular season starts April 6.

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• Silencing Bryant. Volquez and left-hander Joe Paterson were able to do something not many teams have done this spring -- get Cubs prospect Kris Bryant out. Bryant went 0 for 3 against the pair, striking out twice.

Bryant, a right-handed-hitting 23-year-old who leads all of baseball with nine spring training home runs, saw his average slide to .425 after Sunday's hitless performance.

• Dyson steals a base. Speedy outfielder Jarrod Dyson stole just his second base of the spring Sunday with a theft in the bottom of the third inning. He moved to third on the play after catcher Miguel Montero's throw skipped into the outfield.

The stolen base was a staple (and a weapon) for the Royals last season, when they led the majors with 153 steals. Dyson led the team with 36, while Alcides Escobar had 31 and Lorenzo Cain 28. Kansas City has 20 steals this spring, but only two projected big leaguers (Dyson and Rios) have more than one.

3 DOWN

• Davis and Holland. Wade Davis and Greg Holland each gave up runs in their outings Sunday, with Davis surrendering a solo home run to Junior Lake and Holland getting tagged for four runs. Davis didn't give up a home run throughout the entire regular season last year and Holland hadn't given up four earned runs since August 2010, his rookie season.

Sunday was the first time the duo pitched back to back in the eighth and ninth innings, which will be their roles when the regular season starts. Holland, however, didn't finish the ninth, being taken out after recording just two outs and yielding two singles, a double and a home run.

• Offense shut out again. Sunday's shutout was the second in Kansas City's past five games after scoring in their first 21 Cactus League games. The Royals managed just three hits against Cubs pitchers and had only four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Kansas City didn't trot out their normal lineup, though, with Cain, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas all getting the day off.

• Early wasted opportunities. The Royals squandered two chances to score early in the game, first in the second inning and again in the third. In the second, Rios and Salvador Perez both reached to open the inning, but Omar Infante and Paulo Orlando popped out and grounded out, respectively. Orlando's groundout moved the runners up to second and third, but Christian Colon popped out to end the inning.

In the third, Dyson led off by reaching on an error and then advanced to third via a stolen base and another Cubs error. But Dyson was chopped out at home trying to score on Alex Gordon's grounder to second with the infield in. Dyson was out easily at home and didn't attempt a slide. The Royals wouldn't get a runner to second base the rest of the game.

WHAT'S NEXT

Jason Vargas will start his final Cactus League game Monday afternoon, when the Royals take on the Rangers in a "road" game at the teams' shared spring training complex in Surprise. Lisalverto Bonilla will start for the Rangers.

You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.