Matt Quatraro Gives Red Sox Too Much Credit For Silencing Royals' Feeble Bats

The Kansas City Royals fattened up on the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox over the past two weeks, but their bats couldn't live up to the challenge of facing a quality pitching staff.

In a three-game weekend series against the Boston Red Sox, the Royals scored all of four runs. They were fortunate to even snake one win from Boston, as they scored two ghost runners in extra innings on Friday night to deliver a 2-1 walk-off win.

It's no secret that the Royals' offense has been subpar this year. Yes. Kansas City is 24-18 and recently won 16 of 18 games, but they've mostly taken care of business against the cupcakes on their schedule. To get to the next level, they'll have to find the offensive firepower to beat good, not great teams like Boston.

After Sunday's 3-1 loss, manager Matt Quatraro gave Boston credit--frankly, too much credit--for sticking it to Kansas City all weekend.

“Those guys pitched their butts off,” Quatraro said, per MLB.com's Anne Rogers. “There are two teams out there trying to execute. Their pitchers did a heck of a job... You look at all three days, it was a different look. They have a really well-balanced bullpen, righties and lefties. Guys that have done this for a long time. They know how to pitch.”

We can excuse the Royals scoring just one run against Boston ace Garrett Crochet (a run that wouldn't have scored if second baseman Kristian Campbell had made a play on Mark Canha's blooper that ticked off his glove).

But scoring one run against Lucas Giolito, who was making his third start since the end of 2023 and got tagged for six earned runs and 10 hits on Tuesday? That's poor form, especially because that run came on a throwing error by Giolito himself on a sacrifice bunt from Kyle Isbel.

Kansas City can be a fringe playoff team as currently constructed. But they can't make excuses for the offense any longer. Something meaningful needs to change, and it may be as simple as the Jac Caglianone call-up that every fan desperately wants.

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