Even with Greinke back, Royals have work to do

KANSAS CITY -- When Zack Greinke takes the mound, the Royals' offense tends to go quiet.

Not intentionally, of course, but Kansas City's starter has garnered an average of just 2.7 runs per game behind him, including one or fewer runs in 11 of his 19 starts this year.

That includes his return from the injured list, when Greinke was handed his 10th loss of the year as the Royals finished their homestand with a 3-0 defeat to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City was shut out for the 12th time this season -- and for the third time in its past 12 games -- matching Detroit for the most shutouts in the Majors. In the past eight games since July 9 (the day before the All-Star break), Royals starters own a 3.55 ERA.

The team is 3-5 in that stretch.

“We need to do a better job offensively,” outfielder Kyle Isbel said. “Pitchers are doing their job, and we need to get better every day.”

Here are three takeaways from the Royals’ loss:

1. Greinke’s return
Greinke made his first start since a two-week stint on the injured list with a right shoulder strain, and because the 39-year-old didn’t make a rehab appearance, the Royals knew they would have to limit his workload and build him up over his next couple of starts.

“Everything felt pretty sharp,” Greinke said. “Got a little tired that last inning. But stuff was pretty good, location pretty good.”

Greinke faced the Tigers' lineup twice, allowing two runs on four hits in four innings over 62 pitches (39 strikes). He walked two -- Akil Baddoo both times -- and only faced trouble in the second when Andy Ibáñez lined a two-out RBI single to left field, where MJ Melendez saw it fall just in front of him. Eric Haase followed with an RBI single.

Having Greinke back in the rotation means the milestone watch is back on for the 20-year veteran pitcher. After one strikeout on Thursday, he’s 53 away from becoming the 20th pitcher in AL/NL history to record at least 3,000 strikeouts and the first to do so in a Royals uniform.

It’s a milestone Greinke thought about -- but one he’s unsure he’ll hit this year. He’ll have to stay healthy, go deeper into starts and get more whiffs than he’s shown lately.

“It’d be great,” Greinke said. “I’m just slowing down a little bit. It might be tougher than I was hoping it would be to get to it.”

2. Baserunning woes
When the Royals’ offense is as flat as it was against Tigers starter Michael Lorenzen in the series finale, mistakes tend to be magnified.

Kansas City mustered just three hits against the Tigers' All-Star, including Isbel’s double into the right-field corner in the sixth inning. It would have been a stand-up double, but Isbel was easily thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

“I wasn’t a fan of that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “He would take that back every day of the week. They got to the ball quickly in the outfield. Personally, any time I know [shortstop Javier] Báez is going to have a chance to handle the ball, you’ve got to be careful. He’s one of the best arms in the game.”

Isbel said he got a bad read on where the ball fell and thought he had more time.

“That’s just a bad decision on my part, and I’ve got to learn from it,” Isbel said.

3. Feast-or-famine offense
The Royals' offense has been through more ups and downs this week than a roller coaster at Worlds of Fun. In its five losses this homestand, Kansas City scored a combined seven runs. In the two wins? A combined 19 runs.

“The pitcher has a lot to do with it, for sure,” Quatraro said. “Yesterday, Eduardo Rodriguez; today, Michael Lorenzen. They are [Detroit's] two best starters. … You see flashes of us getting going at times, and then it’s the consistency of doing it every day. That’s what differentiates the consistently good offenses.”

Lorenzen only struck out three in seven innings, but he got ahead in counts, with a first-pitch strike to 18 of the 24 batters he faced. And he also generated weak contact, with an average exit velocity of 87.3 mph.

The Royals saw 10 pitches or fewer in five of nine innings Thursday.

"With the amount of strikes that I've been known to throw, I know teams are going to come out aggressive,” Lorenzen said. “[I'm] just leveraging them being aggressive and trying to turn it into weak contact."