Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun blasts one deep to right field in the eighth inning to give L.A. a 3-2 lead over Kansas City.
Sunday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Angels and Kansas City Royals was great. It was also a frightening game for two teams some folks have already painted into the postseason picture. After losing three of four in Kansas City and six of their last seven games, the Angels have tumbled to just a half-game ahead of the Rangers for second in the AL West. And even while the Royals might celebrate their walk-off win thanks to Kendrys Morales‘ single in the 10th inning, they have a major question mark where they had thought themselves to be strong: Their bullpen.
The Angels might reasonably grumble over a game lost to Huston Street getting squeezed by home-plate ump Quinn Wolcott and thank Mike Trout for getting the game into extras with his game-saving catch. But the Angels are just asking for trouble with an offense that has collapsed in August, scoring just 2.6 runs per game this month. While you can credit the front office for trying to shore up their lineup, the additions of David DeJesus, Shane Victorino, Conor Gillaspie and David Murphy hasn’t add much punch. If this continues, you can reasonably wonder if they’re done dealing, because clearly they need help.
In contrast, you might think that the Royals are made of good news. They’re 19-12 since the break, after all. And they added Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist at the trade deadline, and both look great. And Yordano Ventura threw his second straight sweet start on Sunday, and his third in five games after a one-day demotion to Omaha had to be chucked due to Jason Vargas‘ season-ending injury. The switch-hitting Morales has been a godsend at DH, producing an .806 OPS with 46 extra-base hits while slugging .490 from the left side of the plate.
But it the bullpen doesn’t iron out its issues down the stretch, you could reasonably worry that the Royals’ run into October might not go the distance. Perhaps the last year and a half spoiled us fans. Maybe we started taking the Royals’ late-game threesome for granted, but it’s forgivable. Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland were crucial to last season’s pennant, and seemed the most dominant power trio this side of Motorhead (sorry, fans of Nirvana or Cream). Until the All-Star break, that is:
Kansas City’s relief trio of Greg Holland, Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera hasn’t been the same in the second half.
| Half | IP | RA/9 | BR/9 | Saves & Holds | Blown Saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | 102.2 | 1.67 | 8.8 | 53 | 5 |
| Second | 35 | 4.11 | 11.6 | 14 | 5 |
Nobody had homered against Davis since Ian Desmond on Aug. 24, 2013, a stretch of 477 batters that was busted by Jose Bautista on Aug. 1 off a 97-mph fastball. His latest homerless streak lasted just 13 batters, and that ended with Kole Calhoun jacking a hanging curve over the right-field fence in the top of the eighth inning Sunday night. Davis is working his way through back problems, and the Royals have tried to keep him out of action to help him heal up, but if he’s leaving his pitches up and in the zone, it could be the start of an ugly trend.
Holland also hasn’t looked good, blowing two of nine save opportunities while allowing 22 baserunners in 10 innings. He blew a save Aug. 13, as the Royals lost their first game they led in after eight since May 5, 2014. One key issue has been his fastball dropping from around 96.5 miles per hour to around 94.5 mph, and while that has come back up a tick in August, he’s struggling with location. As for Herrera, he’s blown three of the six leads he’s been entrusted with since the break and his strikeout rate has dropped to just six men per nine innings, which is something less than overpowering.
The performance problems of the three of them aren’t crippling across the span of a six-month season. Indeed, you can hope it’s just a rough month from a great unit. And there’s time for each of them to get turned back around. There’s certainly an element of irony to see what had been their greatest strength break down at a time when their rotation and lineup look good for the stretch run. But for the Royals’ sake, for all they have at stake, they had better hope that Herrera, Davis and Holland get turned around sooner rather than later.
Christina Kahrl writes about MLB for ESPN. You can follow her on Twitter.
