Kansas City Royals' offence stifled…again

Danny Duffy took the loss in a late game for the Royals Thursday night against the Seattle Mariners, giving up 1 run in 6 innings. While Duffy did not seem to have his best stuff as far as locating pitches is concerned, he was able to keep Seattle at bay, only allowing 2 hits. He walked out 3 and struck out 4, providing a nice start once again and lowering his ERA on the season to 1.96.

It has become somewhat of an old joke to refer to the Royals offence as the Achilles heal of this team, but once again they proved to be futile in their attempts to mount any sort of offensive against Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma. Iwakuma is a good pitcher, and provided too much for the Royals, striking out 7 and scattering 4 hits (2 by Eric Hosmer) over 8 innings of work.

There really seems to be no immediate solution to the offensive woes of Kansas City. There are no prospects raking in AAA simply awaiting a chance at the major league level. If the Royals hope to contend this year, by and large that has to come from this group, and thus far they are not performing to standard.

Same story, different day.

The Royals struggled with the same problem in a May swoon last year, and are falling right back into the rut. Of the largest concern would have to be Alex Gordon who has simply not been performing as expectedfor close to a year now. With a paltry .244/.296/.366 line, he has looked more lost at the plate than he ever has.

It may be in the best interest of the team at this time to flip flop him and Lorenzo Cain, who currently sits in the 7 hole. While Cain provides very little power, he does have decent speed and a decent knack for getting on base (.386 OBP in 14 thus far). But his slap happy approach may not be the best suited with runners on base.

Starting pitching has once again proved to be a premium in KC, and is by and large being wasted by being provided with little to no run support. Only time will tell if they will be able to pull out of this funk, but so far, it doesn’t look good. Is it time for George Brett to come to the rescue yet again?

(Photo credit: Keith Allison via photopin cc)