Oracle Park hosted its first MLB game of 2023 on Friday afternoon, with the Kansas City Royals (2-6) beating the San Francisco Giants (3-4) 3-1. While the 2014 World Series between these teams may be a distant memory, the Giants took two of three from the Royals in 2022, and Kansas City won Friday's game. The series this season is still up for grabs, although the Royals could seize it with a win in this one. At 4:05 p.m. EST, these teams will get another crack at each other, once again in San Francisco's Oracle Park.
Salvy to the bleachers!#WelcomeToTheCity pic.twitter.com/TrQ9RDLdBU
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 7, 2023
Friday's win was huge for the Royals, who went 1-6 at home to open up their season. They have just as many three-game losing streaks as wins through six games, now that they're 2-6. This season wasn't supposed to see a postseason berth, but their start wasn't promising.
Maybe leaving Kansas City is what they needed though. The pitching staff combined to allow one run on five hits, while the lineup collected nine hits. All-Star catcher Salvador Perez and young DH Vinnie Pasquantino both hit solo homers to power the Royals to victory. They also turned two double plays to limit the damage.
Kansas City's offense still hasn't shown much through eight games. They've only scored 20 runs, having been shut ou t thrice already and held to one run in another game. They're last in batting average, and only 29th in OBP and slugging percentage. Of the 11 Royals that have played in at least five games, only two are hitting above .225.
Their pitching staff has been impressive so far, ranking 10th in runs allowed and eighth in strikeouts after Friday night's performance. They've coughed up a lot of hits though, with an H/9 of 9.38 right now. Their bullpen is also still bottom-10 in ERA despite 3.1 scoreless innings in the first game of this series.
Brady Singer gets the start in this one after holding Toronto to one run across 5.2 innings in his first start. 2022 was by far the best season of Singer's young career, and he seems to be building off of that in 2023. He faced the Giants last year, allowing two runs and two hits in 5.0 innings.