Dominant Royals Pitching Propels Them to a Sweep of the Orioles
The Kansas City Royals are the latest team to pull off an upset in the 2024 Major League Baseball postseason. As a result of their road sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, the Royals will advance to play the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. With the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals advancing, out of four American League teams remaining, three of them have come from the American League Central. The Royals were able to take care of the Orioles handily due to their lights-out pitching.
Over two games, the Kansas City Royals pitching staff held the Baltimore Orioles to one single run in 18 innings. In Game One, it was Cole Ragans who provided the team with six scoreless innings while racking up eight strikeouts. Three scoreless innings from the bullpen were enough to take down the Orioles by a score of 1-0, as Orioles star Corbin Burnes pitched eight great innings surrendering only one run. In Game Two, it was more of the same for the Royals staff. Seth Lugo started things off with four and one-third innings of one-run ball, while the bullpen took care of the remaining four and two-thirds innings. Lucas Erceg sealed the deal again, closing out both games on back-to-back days as the Royals won by a score of 2-1.
Looking ahead to their next matchup with the New York Yankees, there is no reason the Royals cannot continue their success. The only thing that may cause concerns for the Royals is their struggling offense. The Royals run production had struggled towards the end of the regular season and they will need to do much more than scoring a combined three runs in two games in order to take down the Yankees. With that being said, both their bullpen and starting pitching look spectacular. Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo will get another chance to shine in round two, but also veterans like Michael Lorenzen and Michael Wacha are more than capable of winning postseason games. Either way, Bobby Witt Jr. and the Royals will make for a great matchup as they head to New York to take on Aaron Judge and the favored Yankees on Saturday.
