Singer, Witt take center stage in Royals' perfect homestand

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals have done something that’s only been done five other times in franchise history.

With an emphatic 9-2 win and series sweep over the Mets on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals clinched their sixth consecutive win and also finished the homestand 6-0 for the first time since 2016. It was just the fifth time in franchise history that they’ve had an undefeated six-game homestand.

“Incredible,” Bobby Witt Jr. said. “Just shows you what we’re capable of. Guys are really just buying in, just trying to play the game, enjoy every moment that we can and turn things around.”

Witt was the star of this homestand, hitting three home runs -- including his team-leading 19th blast of the season on Thursday -- with 13 RBIs.

But it’s been the pitching that has stood out the most. Royals starters posted a 1.75 ERA (seven earned runs in 36 innings) with just five walks and 34 strikeouts in the past six games. Brady Singer bookended the homestand with a 10-strikeout performance last Friday before dazzling again Thursday with eight scoreless innings.

Singer didn’t walk a batter nor allow a runner to advance past first base. He retired the last 11 batters he faced. And he has a 3.68 ERA over his last 15 starts since May 11 -- allowing two runs or fewer in nine of those 15 outings.

“Getting the sinker where I want it and staying in the zone,” Singer said. “That’s why I’ve been able to go deeper into ball games, throwing in the zone and trusting my stuff in the zone has helped me out a lot.”

As frustrating as this season has been because of results, the new coaching staff, including manager Matt Quatraro, pitching coach Brian Sweeney and bench coach Paul Hoover, knew it would be a long process to overhaul systems that were in place and see internal improvements from their players.

Now, it’s starting to translate to the field.

On the whiteboard mounted in the Royals’ pitching room are several key categories that coaches are evaluating their pitchers on each night: First-pitch strikes, getting ahead in counts and walk, strikeout and home-run percentage. Each category has a goal for that night’s game.

At the end of the game, the categories either get a checkmark or “X” depending on whether pitchers hit or missed the goals.

“Earlier in the year, there were a lot of X’s,” Sweeney said pregame. “Guess what? We’re starting to see some checkmarks. Guys are starting to throw some punches out there, and it’s fun.”

The Royals’ first-pitch strike percentage has been much better over the last month, sitting at 64.5% in the month of July. And since the All-Star break, Royals starters had a 5.4% walk rate entering Thursday.

“A rising tide raises all ships,” Sweeney said. “Once you see a guy perform, the next guy kind of steps up with that. We’re seeing that now in the second half.”

Singer has led the charge. While his slider remains his best pitch, the righty has gained back the command he lacked on his sinker early in the season. And he’s incorporating the changeup more -- aiming to mix it in around 10-12% of the time in each start. He threw nine on Thursday.

A new grip has helped Singer gain comfort while Sweeney hasn’t stopped pushing the changeup conversation with his young ace.

“How is this going to help you build outs? How can we use this changeup today to help make your slider better, to help make your fastball play?” Sweeney said. “He wants to throw a good changeup, he’s just got to learn to trust it. …

“Giving him the information, telling him why it’s going to work is so important. And then he can do what he wants with it. Now, he’s really embracing it. You’re seeing speed differential, really good movement. It’s going to open up a lot of things for him.”

Singer was helped along by some dazzling plays behind him on Thursday. In the fifth, Witt paired up with second baseman Michael Massey for a double play that elicited Patrick Mahomes comparisons with the way Witt flung the ball across the infield.

Stellar starts, solid defense and exciting offense. That has all made the Royals the hottest team in baseball right now.

“One thing I’ve noticed when you’re on a winning streak is your mindset kind of gets off of you and starts going to, ‘Hey, what’s one thing I can do to help this team win?’” Massey said. “You’re just stacking them like post-it notes, and that’s the momentum we have right now.”