Royals pitching depth being exposed by Yankees

Contenders or pretenders? That is a relevant question when talking about the Kansas City Royals. If the answer were based on the last three games against the Yankees, that answer would be a resounding "pretenders."

The Yankees have pretty much dismantled the Royals so far in this series, outscoring them 25-8 over the last three games. In game one, the Yankees didn't even bother to start outfielder Aaron Judge, first baseman Anthony Rizzo or DH Giancarlo Stanton, and they still won 4-2 against early Cy Young candidate Seth Lugo.

During the following two games, the Yankees have smoked the Royals like a nice brisket, scoring 21 runs. In the process, New York may have exposed the Royals rotation and it's lack of depth. 

The Yankees scored four runs on eight singles against Lugo over seven innings. On the surface, it wasn't that bad of a performance by Lugo, but again, some of the big guns for New York weren't in the line-up. In game two, the Yanks pounded starter Brady Singer, scoring seven runs, six earned, in 5.2 innings. 

With Michael Wacha on the injured list, Kansas City has been using Daniel Lynch IV. The Royals didn't trust him to start against New York, instead turning to Dan Altavilla, who until Monday, hadn't pitched in the majors since early 2021.

The Yankees teed off on Altavilla for five runs in a third of an inning. The Royals brought in Lynch, who held the Bronx Bombers at bay for a few innings before eventually giving up six runs over 6.2 innings. 

Lugo and Singer have both pitched well over the entirety of the season, and both are entitled to a bad game, but the timing is suspect. K.C. obviously didn't trust Lynch enough to start this game, but he had to come in in the first inning anyway, already in a massive hole. 

You can't dismiss the fact the Royals are still nine games over .500 and in second place in the AL Central. They're still going to be a factor in the Central moving forward, but you can also see them crumbling as the season progresses. 

The Royals have one more game against the Yankees, then three in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. If Kansas City can't find ways to play better in these four games than it did in the last three, it will be hard to continue to take the team seriously. 

Kansas City's rotation might be starting to regress to a more-expected performance level, and if it only has five pitchers who can start, that is going to be an issue with more than half the season left to go. 

It might just be a little team slump for the rotation, or the last three games could be harbingers for things to come.