Royals rotation just put together one of most dominant homestands in recent memory

Three hours before a game that would rest on his left arm, Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans sat alone in the home dugout at Kauffman Stadium, staring at nothing in particular.

After a handful of minutes, teammate Seth Lugo walked in from the bullpen — following a side session he’d requested to throw — stopping when he saw Ragans perched near the top railing. For the next 10 minutes or so, Lugo described in intricate detail how to get out one hitter in particular.

The gist of the message: The hitter won’t be able to handle your fastball. Use it.

Oh, and the walk-off line:

In the zone.

“Earlier in the year, I think he was maybe trying to be a little too fine with some of his fastballs,” Lugo said.

But now?

“He’s learning that his stuff plays really well in the zone.”

Ahem.

For example: Ragans took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and set a career high with 12 strikeouts in the Royals’ 8-3 win Wednesday to sweep the Tigers.

This isn’t about just one game, though. It’s at least six of them. And probably more like 51 of them.

The Royals completed a perfect homestand for the second time this year. It’s only the second time in franchise history they’ve compiled at least two unbeaten homestands of six-plus games in the same season, and you might be interested to know the other:

1985.

The six-game homestand had a Vinnie Pasquantino pinch-hit triple. It had two triples from Maikel Garcia in the same game, the first Royals player to do that in five years. It had two Bobby Witt Jr. home runs in the same game, including the longest of his career.

And we’re here to talk about none of that. Here to talk about what the Royals didn’t have a chance of doing a year ago.

Winning six straight games on the backs of their rotation.

The Royals have something special brewing, as in special enough that it’s best start 51-game start in franchise history. The record is 32-19. They are pacing, with admittedly a long way to go, for perhaps the best single-season turnaround the sport has seen.

That doesn’t derive from one homestand. It derives from back in December, when the front office targeted not just any starting pitching atop their rotation, but those with two very specific qualities: a willingness to educate based on experience, and strike throwers.

On a budget, of course. An increased budget, but a budget nonetheless.

The strike throwers: The Royals starters, as a whole, have increased their strikeout/walk ratio and lowered their walk percentage by a full point. That’s not a small amount, and that’s not an insignificant statistic considering the Royals have one of the best-five defenses in the game.

That aforementioned pregame conversation — Lugo the instructor, Ragans the student — is a microcosm of the in-house education. It is prompted, at times even spontaneously, by comfort, not by pre-scheduled meetings.

Lugo has the best earned run average in the American League (1.79), and he has baked value into the other four spots in the rotation.

Which returns me to this homestand. To the six games.

That conversation preceded the opener on Friday. Ragans did not allow a run in seven innings. Just two hits. The Royals cycled through a full rotation — Lugo, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh before returning to Ragans once more Wednesday — and did not trail in any of the six games. Even if we acknowledge pitcher wins are not the end-all, be-all statistic, it’s still at least a footnote that the starters were credited with wins in all six.

They now have 23 wins from the rotation. Last year’s total: 31.

It’s May 22.

This rotation — the three new to the organization since this time last season — cost the Royals just north of $30 million in 2024 dollars and parting with Aroldis Chapman. Yeah, it’s money well spent — the kind of investment that leads to executive of the year honors.

But to narrow the focus, take a look at their final line for the homestand: 1.91 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.

Baseball is a game of independent, individual games within the game. I get it. But it’s hard not to believe in some correlation from one start to the next, right?

“We’re definitely feeding off each other,” Singer said. “Nobody wants to be the guy to screw this thing up.”

I won’t overlook the obvious: It helps to have guys with good stuff. Ragans is rated as having one of the top-5 fastballs and changeups in the game by Stuff+. Seth Lugo rates darn near close to an ace pitcher on the same scale.

There is a lot of nastiness within the rotation, and I don’t even know how far back we’d have to track for that to be true in Kansas City.

They’re good at the top. But just as relevant for a team that lost 106 games is the depth.

That’s the prevention of a sudden collapse. It’s the reason for optimism of some staying power.

At some point, sure, the Royals will face a skid. But it’s getting harder and harder to imagine them cycling through the entire five-man group without winning at least once. Since April 30, the Royals lead the American League in both FIP (fielding independent ERA) and strikeouts per nine innings.

If you’re looking for the reason the Royals are nine weeks ahead of last year’s win pace, you can dig into a lot of directions, but at least start with there:

With the starters.