Bullpen blues: How can the Royals solve their relief corps issues?

KANSAS CITY -- Representing the tying run at the plate, Nelson Velázquez’s 385-foot flyout was about five feet short of making this a completely different story as the Royals once again showed their resiliency in the ninth inning Friday night.

Instead, the ball fell into left fielder Jose Azocar’s glove at the wall, and the spotlight remained on the Royals' bullpen being exposed again in their 11-8 loss to the Padres at Kauffman Stadium.

“The fight’s real,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said after going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and making an incredible double play in the sixth inning. “I still don’t know how that ball didn’t go out. Never quit, and pass the baton to the next guy.”

The Royals know how to keep the line moving, but the Padres did it better Friday. In the top of the eighth, two of the Royals’ most trusted relievers in John Schreiber (3-1) and James McArthur allowed seven consecutive singles and seven runs combined to flip a 3-2 lead into an 11-3 deficit. In total, the Padres knocked a franchise-record 11 hits in one inning and plated nine runs after reliever Will Klein allowed two more runs before getting out of the frame.

“We know they don’t strike out a whole lot,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s a good hitting team. We know that they can do damage at times, but in that inning it was all mostly singles. Regardless, it’s contact. And they found holes.”

May brought a lot of good things to Kansas City, including 17 wins and a playoff race that’s heating up as the summer temperatures arrive. The Royals are four games behind the first-place Guardians in the American League Central, but hold a two-game lead over Minnesota for the third Wild Card spot, and a 5 1/2-game lead over Boston for the final Wild Card spot.

But the successful month also exposed a big hole in the roster: The bullpen needs reinforcements. The unit posted a 3.44 ERA in April, but that number ballooned to 5.55 ERA in May -- the third-highest in baseball behind the Rangers and Tigers.

The bullpen’s 16.9% strikeout rate in May was the lowest in baseball. On Friday, as the contact-oriented Padres batted around, whiffs and strikeouts were elusive until Klein entered.

“When you have a lot of contact, especially in close games late, you’re relying a lot on the defense to make plays,” general manager J.J. Picollo said pregame Friday. “That’s where you’d like to get a little bit more swing and miss. But that’s something we knew coming into the year, that it was more of a matchup bullpen.”

Earlier this week in Minnesota, the Royals’ defense uncharacteristically didn’t make the plays needed to back the bullpen. On Friday, the Padres found holes around the field.

After getting out of the seventh for Angel Zerpa, Schreiber threw five pitches in the eighth and gave up three base hits. One was hard-hit. One was a bunt. McArthur allowed four hits and didn’t record an out.

“Obviously, I’m frustrated,” Schreiber said. “Any time you give up the lead as a reliever, it sucks.”

The Royals knew when they revamped the bullpen this offseason that they were placing more of an emphasis on veteran strike-throwers who could pitch than fireball relievers with swing-and-miss stuff. They were and still are hoping that the power comes internally, but the candidates haven’t found their footing yet. Carlos Hernández and Jake Brentz began the year on the injured list and are in Triple-A Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas, respectively, still trying to find consistency.

No. 17 prospect John McMillion has been working to get right in Triple-A and has looked much better recently, while the Royals are giving Klein an opportunity now to show what he’s got.

“I still think there’s going to be some progress made down there with what we have,” Picollo said. “I do think we have some guys internally that could surprise us. … This year, the difference is, we’re playing meaningful games. We’ve got to be careful. We can’t play the guessing game and just have tryouts in the Major Leagues. We’re going to continue to look and scour the league and look internally. Any which way we can improve this team on the margins, we’re going to do it.”

It’s becoming pretty clear what the Royals’ main need is as trade talks begin to percolate.

But how aggressive they’ll be with relievers on the market remains to be seen. Their confidence remains in many of their relievers, including Schreiber and McArthur.

“How much are you willing to give up to get that extra bullpen arm?” Picollo said. “Or is our approach more, ‘Let’s try to win some of these deals on the margins.’ It may not be the marquee closer, but maybe two additional arms where we’re saving our farm system [and] we’re making our bullpen deeper is the way to go.”