On April 8, Cole Ragans took the mound in a rubber match against the Cleveland Guardians. Steven Kwan led off and struck out looking on five pitches, including three dotted on the outer edge by Ragans. Angel Martinez struck out looking on four pitches. You could feel it. Cole had everything working for him, and it was going to be nearly impossible for the Guardians to touch him.
Cole got ahead of Jose Ramírez 0-2 before he left a fastball a little too over the plate, and J-Ram lined it off of Cole’s throwing hand. From that moment until tonight, Cole Ragans recorded only 31 outs while giving up 10 runs on 6 hits and 13 walks with only 7 strikeouts.
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Tonight was going to be different, and you could tell it from the start.
Ragans started off his night firing fastballs down the middle to Zach Neto and challenging him to catch up; the shortstop couldn’t do it. Cole got ahead of Mike Trout with a low heater, then dotted the outside corner with a knuckle curve, fired a fastball up and away, and then nailed the inner edge for strike three looking. Jo Adell battled a bit harder but ultimately struck out swinging on a 99-MPH fastball above the zone.
If I hadn’t known what happened in between those first two batters in Cleveland and what we saw tonight, I’d have assumed Cole never stopped making guys look foolish. I do know, but it doesn’t make what he did tonight any less impressive.
A comparison image of how Ragans pitched with the three bad starts on the left and tonight’s start on the right
As you can see in the comparison above, Ragans toyed with the Angels all night long, basically only throwing two pitches. He upped his fastbball velocity 2 MPH over where it had been and added nearly 100 RPMs, but his changeup velo didn’t change much at all. The increased velocity difference meant that the Angels entirely missed literally half of the changeups they swung at.
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The most interesting difference might be the fact that he ditched his slider entirely. I’ll be watching that closely in his next start to see if he just didn’t think he needed it tonight or if he stopped liking it for some reason. Remember, adding the slider back into his arsenal was considered one of the keys that turned him from a guy who could be traded for a middling reliever at the 2023 trade deadline into a frontline ace who was too valuable to trade for the proven outfield bat the Royals have coveted for years. But he sure didn’t need it tonight.
Ultimately, he tied his career high with 27 total whiffs and came up one short of his career high in strikeouts, but he still struck out almost two per inning. And – perhaps most importantly – he didn’t walk a soul after setting a new career worst with eight against the Yankees in his last outing.
We are 500 words into this recap, and we haven’t said one word about an offense that scored 12 runs. That’s how mind-numbingly fantastic Cole Ragans was tonight.
But hey, the offense was pretty good, too. As it so often has over the last decade-plus, it started with the captain.
That was the first and only home run hit by a Royal on the night. How do you score 12 runs with only a single solo home run? Every single Royal in the starting lineup reached at least twice, with most of them reaching three times. The team combined for a season-high 10 walks (with only 6 strikeouts!!!) and added 14 hits. The Angels also committed three errors. The line just kept moving.
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Vinnie Pasquantino walked 3 times; that raised his walk rate 2 percentage points and added 15 points to his OBP. Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins each walked twice and added a hit, scoring five times between them. Nick Loftin set a new career-high with 4 RBIs. But beyond Sal’s homer, only Witt and Cags managed extra-base hits, each coming up with a double. The Royals were 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position on the night, including two bases-loaded walks. They scored multiple runs in the second, third, seventh, and eighth innings. Plus a single run in the sixth.
The Royals are now 3-2 on this homestand with a chance to earn their first sweep of the season tomorrow on Sunday night baseball. They’ve averaged seven runs a game after tonight’s escapade. Their run differential went from -32 to -21 tonight (I was going to give you the difference over the home-stand, but they were even in the four games prior to this one, so it’s the same number.)
As I just said, tomorrow’s game will be their first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball of the season. It will be broadcast on NBCSN and Peacock. Seth Lugo and his shiny 1.15 ERA will face off against lefty Reid Detmers and his less-stellar 4.08 ERA. Detmers has pitched better than those numbers, but doesn’t have huge splits, so the Royals’ lefties might be able to get in on the action again. If not, the right-handers did just fine against Kikuchi last night, so we can hope lightning can strike again. The game will air at 6:20 PM Central, and I’m excited to watch a Royals team that has been a lot more fun on this homestand than they were on that devastating road trip last week.
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