Kansas City

Royals

Falter’s stuff just isn’t where it needs to be after he missed time with elbow inflammation, and he ended tonight with zero strikeouts and 13 hard-hit balls surrendered. The Royals won’t want to bail on him just yet, but they probably can’t start him again while he’s throwing like this. If he does take another turn, it’d likely be in Cincinnati on Monday.

Isbel was unusually productive over the first month of the season, but he’s settled back in at .203/.246/.271 during May. It seems unlikely that the Royals will upgrade in center field this year, but he’s going to need to pick it up if he expects to return in 2027.

Díaz figures to elect free agency following his removal from Kansas City’s roster, but there’s always a chance he opts to stick around as emergency catching depth. The well-traveled 35-year-old veteran garnered zero interest on waivers after going 5-for-22 with two homers during a 10-game stint with the Royals.

Thomas returns to Kansas City’s lineup for the first time since May 19 after being limited by a relatively minor hamstring issue. The 30-year-old is in left field and hitting sixth on Tuesday night at Kauffmann Stadium.

Wacha allowed five hits, walked two and struck out five in his fifth straight quality starts and ninth overall in 11 outings this season. In spite of his success, the Royals dropped to 4-7 in his starts, though Wacha at least has a 4-2 record anyway. He’ll be a fine play in Texas against the Rangers on Sunday.

We assumed Erceg would be down today after throwing 32 pitches and giving up three runs with a five-run lead in Sunday’s game. The Royals had other ideas. To be fair, Erceg didn’t give up one hard-hit ball today, Two of the singles actually left the bat at less than 40 mph, and the lone extra-base hit, a double from Jazz Chisholm Jr., might have been handled by a better first baseman than Salvador Perez (he’d just replaced Vinnie Pasquantino after Pasquantino was removed for a pinch-runner). With any luck, this probably would have been a clean inning for Erceg. Still, Erceg just isn’t a very good reliever at the moment, what with his 18/13 K/BB in 21 1/3 innings. Daniel Lynch IV, who worked a scoreless eighth today, might be asked to take over in the ninth for now.

Witt delivered the big hit today before the Royals went on to blow the game in the ninth. He now has eight homers at the season’s one-third point, putting him on pace for 24. However, it should be noted that all eight of those have come in his last 27 games after he went without one in his first 27.

Quatraro said that Ragans is feeling the same elbow symptoms that caused him to be placed on the injured list earlier in May. The left-hander pitched well in that outing for Omaha while allowing just a run over 4 1/3 innings, but obviously the elbow trouble means more than those results. He’s going to be shut down from throwing for up to three days, and then the Royals will reevaluate the situation.

Perez singled in the Royals’ first two runs in the fifth after Vinnie Pasquntino was intentionally walked to load the bases in front of him. Bryan Woo was down 2-0 in the count at the time, though if the Mariners had challenged ball two, it appears that it would have been overturned. It’s Perez’s first three-RBI game of the year. Still looking for some consistency at the plate, Perez has two three-hit games and four 0-fors in his last six games.

It’s Lugo’s first win in 10 starts since he beat the Braves on March 29. Lugo succeeded despite getting only three whiffs on 39 swings. He gave up 10 hard-hit balls, including four barrels. However, while Julio Rodríguez homered off him in the first, the remaining three barrels all turned into outs. Lugo will pitch in Texas against the Rangers next weekend, which makes him a streaming option. The Rangers are hitting just .217 and averaging 3.0 runs per game at home this year.