Ragans' start takes wrong turn after pivotal homer stands

KANSAS CITY -- One year ago, Cole Ragans was a member of the Texas Rangers. But he’s since become a pillar in Kansas City’s rotation and future.

Ragans made his 30th career start for the Royals in a 7-2 loss to the Guardians on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium, a day prior to the one-year anniversary of his acquisition in the Aroldis Chapman trade.

The left-hander entered with an eight-start stretch in which Ragans recorded a 1.84 ERA. In his 29 starts since making his Royals debut on July 15, 2023, Ragans has 209 strikeouts, which tops the Majors in that span.

Ragans’ 2.86 ERA in his Kansas City tenure is also the second best in the big leagues since his debut.

“[Ragans] has far exceeded any of the expectations we could have had,” manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “We thought highly of him, otherwise we wouldn’t have acquired him. … The development of the cutter and slider getting better have been huge.

“All the development has happened that we could have possibly hoped for.”

That stretch hit a snag against the first-place Guardians, but not without some controversy. Ragans endured his second shortest start of the season (4 2/3 innings), allowing five runs on six hits and one walk to go with six strikeouts.

The Royals took a 2-1 lead into the top of the fourth, but Cleveland pulled ahead for good on a ball that was ruled a home run, despite replay angles suggesting the ball hit a metal anchor that supports the net covering the stands, not the foul pole.

A crew-chief review couldn’t determine if the ball hit the foul pole or not, so the call reverted to the decision on the field -- a two-run homer.

“Well, I clearly thought it was foul,” Quatraro said. “I never lost sight of the ball, which generally you do if it’s a home run, because it goes behind the pole and you can’t see it, so I saw the ball the whole way. Before we even called replay, I was going to review it anyway, because it’s a free review. But to me, it was clearly foul.

“And then afterwards, seeing, or hearing it hit the black wire to the left of the pole, I’m pretty unclear on how they have that be [ruled as stands], so clearly, a huge point in the game. Definitely frustrated, because that’s why we have replay -- to avoid things like that -- but you know, we have to be better to make up for mistakes like that.”

But it was one of those rare days when Ragans, who had gone at least six innings in all five of his previous starts in June, struggled with his command. At one point in the second inning, he had as many balls (17) as strikes (17). The Guardians tacked on two more runs in the next frame to chase one of the Royals’ most reliable arms in just the fifth inning.

“Not great,” Ragans said. “Felt like I didn’t command stuff overall, fell behind a lot. They made me pay.

“We’ve all seen the replay, but [there is] nothing I can do about it. It was a really bad pitch. I left it right down the middle, so I can’t do anything about it.”

On those rare occasions this season when Ragans has had a rough outing, he’s always bounced back.

After 1 1/2 innings and seven runs against the Orioles on April 20, he responded with five innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays. Then, after being tagged for seven runs against the Angels on May 11, Ragans buckled up for seven scoreless frames (two hits) in his next start at Oakland.

In just 364 days, Ragans has earned the trust of the coaching staff and clubhouse -- they know their ace will flush this outing.

“I think it’s obvious on the field. I think everybody sees it,” said second baseman Michael Massey, who went 2-for-3 and smacked a solo homer in the second inning. “What you see on the field is about half of [Ragans’] character. Great dude, great teammate and we’re lucky to have him.”

And Kansas City will need him. A 4-2 start to the 10-game homestand has helped erase a tough 2-7 road trip, but taking the four-game series against the AL Central leaders on Sunday with Seth Lugo -- who leads the American League with 10 wins -- on the mound is the Royals’ next goal.

“We got another game tomorrow, and we got our guy on the mound,” Ragans said. “I’ll take our chances any day. Win three out of four and go from there.”