For all the juice and anticipation generated by an opening day victory in which the Royals rallied from five runs down in the first and went on to register club records for the occasion with 14 runs and 15 hits, let’s just say the sequel was lagging and lacking mid-game on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals trailed 4-0 and had mustered just two hits off Texas’ Kohei Arihara in his major league debut. And about the only intriguing individual performance by anyone in a Royals’ uniform to that point was Sluggerrr the mascot conking out a costumed King Kong and Godzilla atop the Royals Hall of Fame, a maneuver that evoked a “did you see that?!” from a colleague … with not much else to see here.
But then the sudden phenomenon that is Michael A. Taylor happened, again. And it not only revived those observers who were, ahem, increasingly adrift but brought us to the fronts of our seats.
And kept us there in what would become an 11-4 victory that was, in fact, something to see.
Taylor’s 458-foot launch to center field, his second home run in as many games with the Royals, triggered a three-run fifth that morphed into a seven-run sixth that featured his two-run double.
That left Taylor with six RBIs in 14 innings of at-bats with the Royals.
And perhaps in that way he encapsulates a unique new group that seeks to go beyond perceived boundaries … even as it also is tempting fate with shaky starting pitching leading to whopping deficits that will undermine everything if it continues: As of The Star’s print deadline on Sunday, the Royals trailed 6-2 in the seventh inning after Brady Singer gave up five hits, three walks, hit a batter and surrendered five earned runs before being pulled in the fourth with the Royals trailing 6-0.
But whatever the final innings held on Sunday, the takeaway of the first series of the season was the resilience and resourcefulness of the Royals and the sense of a fresh identity and energy with Taylor the most pleasant early surprise.
When the Royals acquired Taylor from Washington, Royals manager Mike Matheny said, he was most cognizant of how Taylor could superbly patrol center, be a great teammate, run the bases well, play hard and perhaps provide some of the power he’d only flashed in the past. By flashed, Taylor had hit 54 home runs since his big-league debut in 2014 but only hit 12 in the previous 225 games over three seasons before joining the Royals.
So tip of the cap, Matheny said, to the team scouts and Taylor himself for believing his best offense was in front of him. And, as it happens, here it is unfolding in what Matheny called “a great atmosphere for us to all watch it happen.”
The home run, Matheny said, was “quite a spark,” one that Taylor said made for a palpable “momentum shift” in the immediate form of Kyle Isbel following with a triple, Hanser Alberto with a double and Nicky Lopez with a bunt single to make it a game on the way to a runaway.
Along the way, just like opening day, there became a prevailing sense of something happening here in the stands and the dugout over all that was going on at once … not to mention all it could portend.
“This is the most fun clubhouse I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in Kansas City,” said Whit Merrifield, who also hit his second home run of the season on Saturday and drove in four runs himself and later added, “Just couldn’t draw up a better two games to start the season.”
By the time Carlos Santana doubled in two to make it 10-4, the crowd limited to just below 10,000 (in this case 8,889), because of pandemic protocols, reached what sounded like its decibel peak.
Right about then, one Jon D. Miller on Twitter likely spoke for most when he wrote, “Can’t explain how awesome it feels to be here today.”
And why wouldn’t it?
On a gorgeous day with fans back in the stands for just the second time since the end of the 2019 season, this fascinating mix of cornerstone veteran Royals (Merrifield, Sal Perez, Jorge Soler and the injured Hunter Dozier, for starters) and a vital influx of newcomers (Taylor, Santana, Andrew Benintendi, Alberto and Isbel, a rookie, to name a few) again shrugged off a daunting deficit in mesmerizing fashion.
Considering it’s the first time in nearly five years the Royals have scored in double-digits in back-to-back games and the second most runs they’ve ever scored in their first two games of a season (27 runs in 1974), it might reasonably be assumed this sort of offensive production isn’t sustainable.
But maybe a key element of it is: belief that begets resolve.
In a sense, this game itself was a reflection of that.
While some of us may have figured after opening day it was just as likely the pendulum would swing back the other way on Saturday, the Royals saw that 4-0 deficit and were unfazed, if not downright fortified, with the conviction of what they’d pulled off just two days before.
“The energy was still up (in the dugout) … even when we fell down early,” said Taylor, who noted he typically starts seasons slow and with a smile added that there was “no doubt” they’d come back Saturday.
Theorizing that fans were “probably thinking the exact same thing,” Matheny said the mindset informed by the other comeback remained unflinching that they were “going to make something work.”
One of the reasons it’s working goes beyond the power surge that extended with eight extra-base hits on Saturday … in a more nuanced form that might make for a more reliable asset going forward.
Led by Santana picking up his fourth walk in two games to demonstrate a dimension of the game that has gone plenty under-appreciated here in the recent past, the Royals have walked 12 times, more patiently worked counts and largely moved runners over well.
“They take the right kind of at-bats,” Matheny said.
It was two games, yes, and the trend of falling behind 5-0, 4-0 and 6-0 through three games is halting. And whatever the comebacks have said about them, it’s a long, long, long season and early signs can be fickle and misleading.
Especially when it comes to a franchise that hasn’t returned to the postseason since back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015 and is only two seasons removed from successive seasons of 100-plus losses.
Just the same, they say you only get one chance to make a first impression. And this one sure is enticing so far. Because at least the offense appears to be as much about substance as flash, and at least so far, the meshing of parts that could be more than their sum … especially when things aren’t immediately going their way.
