Alex Rios and teammates celebrate Monday afternoon during at 12-3 victory at Target Field (kansascity.com).
The Kansas City Royals began the postseason last year after their Wild Card matchup with the Oakland Athletics with an 8-0 record and two series sweeps against the Los Angeles Angels and the Baltimore Orioles. Fast forward six months and the Royals are doing it again. The Royals now have the second best start in club history beginning 7-0 with two series sweeps of the Chicago White Sox and, once again, the Los Angeles Angels, while also winning the first game of the series against the Minnesota Twins. Not a lot has gone wrong with how the Royals have played thus far hitting a home run in each of their first seven games while also leading the league in total runs scored with 52 already.
Pitching
The Royals pitching has been great through the first two plus series to begin the season. Starters have combined for a 6-0 record, while the bullpen is still yet to allow a run, and the pitching staff as a whole has a .202 opponent batting average. Offseason additions Edinson Volquez and Ryan Madson have come in and done their part in contributing to arguably the best pitching staff in all of baseball. Volquez through eight innings in his first appearance as a Royal allowing just four hits, one run, struck out nine, and walked just one. Madson has appeared in two games already throwing 2 and 2/3 innings of shutout baseball while allowing just two hits. Early indications show that both Volquez and Madson were good offseason signings and will need to continue to produce to validate themselves on the roster.
Kansas City Royals: Opening Day Observations
Hitting
The Royals have six players through the first seven games with at least one home run and three of them have multiple home runs including catcher Salvador Perez who leads the team with three long balls. This may be the year for the newcomer in Kansas City as just like with the pitching staff, it is the offseason acquisitions that are making a splash in the batting lineup. Alex Rios is hitting .321 with a home run and eight RBIs to his total, but news broke today he has a broken bone in his hand and will most likely miss the next week. Kendrys Morales is off to a very hot start batting .414 with two home runs, 5 RBIs, and is leading the team with five walks. Maybe most surprising, however, is outfielder Paulo Orlando. Orlando spent many years in the minor leagues before getting his shot at big league ball, but has began his career off in great fashion getting three hits in his first eight at bats with all three hits being triples. With the injury to Rios, Orlando and Dyson will most likely split playing time in the outfield, giving both players a chance to contribute to the ball club.
Perhaps the Royals are still on an emotional high from making the World Series last fall or maybe in fact this is the new identity of the ball club, whatever it is, its working and they will look to carry this early success into the grind of the entire season and look to continue to improve on their already impressive 7-0 start.
Next game: Edinson Volquez will make his second start as a Kansas City Royal on Wednesday night on Jackie Robinson Day against the Minnesota Twins in a game beginning at 7:10 PM.
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This article Kansas City Royals: Picking up where they left off appeared first on isportsweb by Anthony Pluff