In his attempt to spread the blame after Tuesday’s loss, Royals manager Ned Yost pointed toward a slumping offense. More specifically, he identified a lineup that has wasted its opportunities to drive in runs.
Translation: The line ain’t moving.
The Royals’ lackluster offensive outputs can be largely — and quite nearly exclusively — attributed to their ineffectiveness with runners in scoring position. They are last in baseball in the category, batting just .149 with a runner on second, third or both. That’s 28 points worse than the 29th-place team, the San Diego Padres, entering play Wednesday.
Asked if players were pressing in such situations, Yost responded, “I’m sure they are a little bit because we’ve been so bad at it.