KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Veteran Matt Duffy sent a group text to Kansas City Royals’ hitters before Monday’s game with a simple message: Don’t panic.
It sure seemed like his teammates were listening following KC’s 9-5 home victory over Toronto on Monday night — the Royals’ first win of the season.
Duffy said his father had shared a tweet with him earlier in the day about the Royals ranking among the top MLB teams in hard-hit percentage despite combining for four runs in their first three games.
“There’s a reason why teams now look at the expected numbers instead of the raw numbers,” Duffy said at his locker before Monday’s game. “We can certainly take a lot more positives out of the weekend than an 0-3 record would suggest.”
So he shared that with his teammates in a group text. Stay the course. Stick with the process. Good things will happen.
A few hours later, the Royals made his words seem prophetic. They smashed 10 hits in the first six innings off Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios and reliever Zach Pop, plating nine runs while punctuated by an MJ Melendez no-doubt homer to the fountains in right.
That would be more than enough cushion for Royals starter Brady Singer, who made his first regular-season start after rejoining the team late in spring training following the World Baseball Classic. The right-hander allowed one run in five innings on two hits, striking out three with three walks.
More than half the Royals’ lineup picked up their first hits of the season on Monday night. That included Witt, Melendez, Hunter Dozier, Nicky Lopez and Jackie Bradley Jr.
Dozier said seeing the underlying numbers before the game — and Duffy’s text — helped keep him and others in a good place mentally. Royals hitting coach Alec Zumwalt also reiterated those findings to the Royals hitters in the batting cage.
“It’s three games where we hit the ball hard. We got guys on base. Just a lot of hard outs,” Dozier said before the game. “When you see stuff like that, it’s like, ‘OK, maybe it’s not as bad as it seems.’”
Most important, Dozier said the data pointed toward an attitude of “no panic buttons, no pressing” despite the team’s lackluster scoring numbers early.
That steadiness was part of a big payoff Monday, as the Royals improved to 1-3 thanks to a breakout they unwaveringly believed was coming.
Key moment
Following sharp singles from Dozier and Bradley Jr., Lopez broke the game open in the fourth.
The Royals shortstop laced a liner to the right-center gap, diving headfirst for a two-run triple.
The hit extended the Royals’ lead to 5-0 on their way to the going-away victory.
Player of the game
Witt Jr. — after going hitless in his first three games — erupted offensively in his first game of the season at designated hitter.
Witt had two hits and a walk in his first three plate appearances, which included an RBI single up the middle in the first that gave the Royals their first lead of the year.
In the third, Witt also swiped second base — giving the Royals their steal No. 1 of the early season.
What’s next:The Royals and Blue Jays will continue their four-game series with a 6:40 p.m. contest Tuesday. The Royals’ Kris Bubic is scheduled to go against the Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi. The pitching matchups for the rest of the week are Alek Manoah vs. Zack Greinke (6:40 p.m. Wednesday) and Kevin Gausman vs. Jordan Lyles (1:10 p.m. Thursday).
