The Kansas City Royals have been one of the more entertaining teams in Major League Baseball for the past few years, and won the 2015 World Series after making it just a year before.
In 2016, the Royals haven’t gotten off to a great starting, entering Tuesday night’s game 13-12 and . But we saw some of their usual magic on Tuesday night, as the visiting Washington Nationals appeared to have the game won, up 6-4 in the bottom of the 9th.
Mike Moustakas tied the game up with a base hit, and who else but Lorenzo Cain to give the Royals the win:
#KeepTheLineMoving: Walk-Off Edition 👑https://t.co/WSGIrLQ8Li
— #VoteRoyals (@Royals) May 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/Royals/status/727704106786168832
In total, Papelbon gave up five hits, on top of the three runs that gave the Royals the win. Papelbon has now blown two saves on the year. It’s early, but there’s very few worse feelings than seeing your team’s closer blow a save, especially when your team is up more than one run.
He’s also had a noticeable decline in his velocity. Per Fangraphs, Papelbon came into tonight averaging just 90.7 mph on the fastball. Last year, Papelbon had an average of 91.4 mph. In his 2011 Red Sox glory days, it was 95.0.
There’s surely going to be concern in Washington over this loss, and tons of excitement in Kansas City, who is looking for their first real streak of the 2016 season.
