CHICAGO
For Royals manager Ned Yost, an off day on Thursday in Chicago included a dinner of deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s and some soul-searching regarding struggling reliever Joakim Soria.
After studying his usage of Soria in recent weeks — and the season as a whole — Yost developed a working theory of Soria’s issues, which include six blown saves, eight losses and a painful appearance on Wednesday night in Minnesota.
“Probably,” Yost said, “I’m overusing him.”
In specific, Yost believes a portion of Soria’s ineffectiveness can be blamed on the times he’s been asked to pitch on back-to-back days.