Royals Stat of the Day: April 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Royals this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

April 30: Twins 9, Royals 1 -- Santana carries the offense
The Royals' offense had a hard time getting anything going in the series opener at Target Field -- except for Carlos Santana. The first baseman launched his team-leading sixth home run in the fourth inning and has slashed .326/.426/.652 (15-for-46) with three doubles, four homers, eight walks and 12 RBIs in the last 13 games. He reached base in 12 of those games, and in 24 games this year, he logged 20 RBIs.

April 28: Royals 9, Pirates 6 -- Royals clinch winning road trip
With the series finale victory at PNC Park, the Royals secured their first three-city winning road trip since July 24-Aug. 2, 2017, at Detroit (3-0), Boston (2-1) and Baltimore (0-3). On this trip, Kansas City swept Detroit in a four-game set and won one of two in Pittsburgh, giving the Royals a 5-1 record as they head to Minnesota for a three-game set this weekend at Target Field. Friday's game will begin a stretch of 16 consecutive games within the American League Central.

April 27: Pirates 2, Royals 1 -- Rotation finds its rhythm
The Royals have been carried this past week by their pitching, and although much of the attention has been on a lights-out bullpen at the back end of close games, the rotation is starting to get into a rhythm, too. In their last go-round, starting with Mike Minor on Friday against Detroit and ending with Jakob Junis on Tuesday against Pittsburgh, Royals starters have a 2.10 ERA across five starts. That's just seven earned runs in 30 innings. The rotation has been a big reason why the Royals have stayed in close games as the offense works to manufacture runs any way it can.

April 26: Royals 3, Tigers 2 -- After seven, don't look back
The Royals took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning on Monday afternoon against the Tigers, and the pitching staff made sure to keep it there for the eventual victory and four-game sweep at Comerica Park. The Royals have now won 58 consecutive games when leading after the seventh inning, which is the longest active streak in the Majors, according to Elias Sports Bureau. They haven’t lost when leading after the seventh since June 21, 2019, against Minnesota. The streak matches the second-longest run in club history (May 3-Sept. 24, 1992), trailing a 111-game stretch from May 7, 2014-Aug. 11, 2015.

April 25: Royals 4, Tigers 0 -- A series to remember
The Royals clinched a series win and will go for the four-game sweep on Monday. It's the Royals' first four-game series win at Comerica Park since June 16-19, 2014. Kansas City has also now won four of its first seven series this season after needing 19 series to reach four series victories last year.

April 24: Royals 2, Tigers 1 -- Royals don't let up late
Kansas City is now 5-0 in one-run games this season after going 8-9 in games decided by a single run in 2020. Part of that has been because the bullpen has been lights out, and on Saturday, Josh Staumont became the sixth Royals reliever to record a save this season. The Royals are also 7-1 this season when scoring first.

April 23: Royals 6, Tigers 2 -- Minor a machine in Detroit
Mike Minor struck out a season-high nine batters during his second win. Prior to the game, the lefty had 12 total strikeouts on the season, but his knuckle curveball had the Tigers fooled. Minor fanned four of the last seven batters he faced.

April 21: Royals 9, Rays 8 -- Soler vs. Wacha
With Jorge Soler's fourth-inning moonshot homer against Rays starter Michael Wacha on Wednesday night, the Royals slugger now has four home runs off Wacha in 17 plate appearances. That's more than any other hitter Wacha has faced in his career -- including Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Joey Votto and the rest of the sluggers in the National League Central that Wacha faced for years with the Cardinals. Soler's homer was his first since Opening Day, snapping a 15-game drought that was his longest since June 3, 2018 to April 4, 2019 (15 games with injuries limiting his playing time).

April 20: Rays 14, Royals 7 -- Brrr, it's cold ... but not for the bats
Game-time temperature Tuesday night was 43 degrees, the fifth-coldest first-pitch temperature at Kauffman Stadium since 2010. The coldest in that stretch was March 20, 2019, against the White Sox, at 38 degrees. Also, the 21 combined runs were the second most for a game in the 49-year history of Kauffman Stadium in which the first-pitch temperature was 43 degrees or below. The only other such game with more runs came on April 13, 1983, in the Royals' 18-4 loss to the Red Sox.

April 19: Rays 4, Royals 1 -- Duffy's major milestone
Royals starter Danny Duffy notched his 1,000th career strikeout in the fourth inning of Monday night's 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay, getting Rays outfielder Manuel Margot to strike out swinging on a 94 mph fastball. Duffy is now sixth all-time in Royals history, behind Kevin Appier (1,458), Mark Gubicza (1,366), Dennis Leonard (1,323), Bret Saberhagen (1,093) and Paul Splittorff (1,057).

April 18: Royals 2, Blue Jays 0 -- Another series win
The Royals improved to 9-5 with a series win over Toronto on Sunday and are sitting in first place in the American League Central after three weeks of regular-season action. It's the Royals' second-best start in the last 10 seasons, two games behind the 2015 Royals (11-3). Kansas City is 3-0-2 through five series this season, joining the Dodgers as the only two teams in the Majors who have not yet lost a series.

April 17: Blue Jays 5, Royals 1 (Game 1) -- Santana's 1,000th walk
Carlos Santana took four pitches from Blue Jays reliever Rafael Dolis, smoothly taking his base in the seventh inning in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Kauffman Stadium. We've seen that kind of plate appearance from Santana before, but this one was historic: It was his 1,000th career walk. Santana, known for his patience at the plate, is now one of four active players to reach that milestone, joining Albert Pujols, Joey Votto and Miguel Cabrera.

April 15: Royals 7, Blue Jays 5 -- Soler's 100th career double
Jorge Soler opened the Royals' four-run fourth inning with his 100th career double, which was also his first extra-base hit since Opening Day. His first career double was against the Reds on Aug. 28, 2014, when was a member of the Cubs.

April 14: Royals 6, Angels 1 -- Perez dominates the Halos
Salvador Perez went 8-for-12 with three extra-base hits and four RBIs during the three-game series against the Angels. It was the second time in Perez's career he had at least eight hits in a three-game set, the first being at Minnesota from May 23-25, 2016, when he went 9-for-12.

April 13: Royals 3, Angels 2 -- Duffy sets personal best
With his one-run, six-inning outing against the Angels, Royals starter Danny Duffy won his first two starts of the season for the first time in his career. The home run he allowed to Shohei Ohtani snapped a 10 2/3 scoreless innings streak for the lefty to begin 2021, and with six strikeouts, Duffy is now six shy of 1,000 for his career, which would rank sixth in franchise history and second among left-handers.

April 12: Angels 10, Royals 3 -- Salvy reaches milestone
Catcher Salvador Perez has worn No. 13 his entire career with the Royals, since 2011. Against the Angels, he became the 13th player to record 1,000 hits in a Royal uniform. Coincidence? Maybe so. But it doesn't diminish Perez's accomplishment at all, which he achieved with his seventh career four-hit night.

April 11: Royals 4, White Sox 3 (10 innings) -- Skid vs. White Sox ends
Sunday's extra-innings win over the White Sox was the Royals' first win over their American League Central opponent since Aug. 29, 2020, ending a six-game losing streak to a team they need to beat if they want to contend this year and beyond. The White Sox won nine of 10 games over the Royals in 2020, a record Kansas City is eager to change this season.

April 8: White Sox 6, Royals 0 -- Taylor starts season hot
Kansas City's chances were few and far between against Chicago starter Lance Lynn, but Michael A. Taylor kept a streak going when he singled to right field in the eighth inning. Taylor is the only Royal with a hit in all six games to begin the season and is 9-for-23 (.391) thus far. "I'm just really trying to focus on swinging at strikes, not expanding the zone and then when I get a pitch in the zone, try to stay up the middle of the field," Taylor said. "In all my work, I try to stay out of the air, just try to hit low line drives. And I feel like that's helped me be more consistent on making contact on pitches I should hit, instead of fouling them off."

April 7: Indians 4, Royals 2 -- Best five-game start since '16 Despite falling to Cleveland for the series split on Wednesday, the Royals are still 3-2 this season. That marks their best start through five games since 2016 (4-1), which was their last non-losing season. That year, Kansas City finished at .500 (81-81).

April 5: Royals 3, Indians 0 -- Merrifield's hot start
Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield put the Royals on the board Monday with a two-out, two-run home run in the second inning, his third homer through four games this season. He's the first player in franchise history to homer three times within the team's first four games and is the second Royal to record an extra-base hit in each of the team's first four games, joining Amos Otis in 1982. Merrifield is also the eighth player since 1901 to do this as a second baseman -- and the first since Houston's Bill Doran in 1989.

April 4: Rangers 7, Royals 3 -- Bullpen off to solid start
A strength in 2020 has carried into '21, with the Royals' bullpen posting a 2.20 ERA across the opening series. Kansas City relievers allowed four earned runs over 16 1/3 innings in the three-game set, while holding Texas hitters to a .193 average and 24 strikeouts (13.2 K/9). And it wasn't just the high-leverage relievers like Greg Holland, Josh Staumont and Jesse Hahn. Jake Brentz didn't yield a run in his 1 2/3 innings, Kyle Zimmer threw three scoreless innings on Sunday, and Jakob Junis pitched two scoreless innings.

April 3: Royals 11, Rangers 4 -- KC scores 25 runs in first two games
The 25 runs scored through the first two games of the 2021 season is the second-highest total in club history, trailing only the 1974 Royals, who scored 27 runs in their first two games (four and 23). This falls just five runs shy of the Modern Era record (since 1900) of 30 runs through two games, set by the White Sox in 1951 (17 and 13). But the Royals are the first team to score at least 10 runs in each of their first two games since the Padres in 2005 (10 and 14).

April 1: Royals 14, Rangers 10 -- Club-record season opener
The Royals clobbered there way to an Opening Day record, scoring 14 runs against the Rangers. It eclipsed the 11 runs Kansas City scored in 1979 against Toronto. And the Royals' 15 hits were also a record for Opening Day, surpassing their 14 hits against Minnesota in 1969. The 4-hour, 26-minute game was also the longest nine-inning game in Royals history.