The Pirates will face the Kansas City Royals in a two-game series that begins Tuesday at PNC Park. Here are some things to know about the AL Central squad.
Lots of new faces — Of Kansas City’s 10 lineup regulars, four are in their first seasons wearing Royal blue, and they’ve posted mixed results so far. Michael A. Taylor and Carlos Santana have been the success stories. Through Sunday, Taylor has collected 19 hits en route to a .288 batting average that leads the club, while Carlos Santana has smacked four homers while pacing the club in OPS at .818. Those two decamped from Washington and Cleveland, respectively. Andrew Benintendi, meanwhile, has disappointed since arriving from Boston. He’s hitting .225 with just one home run and a dreadful .605 OPS. And prospect Kyle Isbel has gotten off to a slow start to his big league career. He’s hitting .265 but is showing little power and has struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances so far.
Danny Duffy has been nearly perfect — The 32-year-old lefty who’s spent his entire career with the Royals hasn’t been great the past few years, posting ERAs over 4.00 in each campaign since 2018. This season, however, he appears to have found something. In four starts, he’s 3-1 and has allowed just one earned run. That’s good for a microscopic 0.39 ERA. And on top of that, he’s shown plenty of ability to wipe hitters out, averaging nearly seven strikeouts per start despite not pitching more than six innings in any of his turns. Fortunately for the Pirates, they will miss him during this series, so consider this success worth monitoring ahead of the Kansas City half of the season series May 31-June 1.
Jakob Junis is settling down — The 28-year-old will get the start against the Pirates on Tuesday and has an ERA in the 3.00s for the first time in his big-league career. He struggled mightily last year, posting a 6.39 ERA in eight appearances, six of them starts, and he wasn’t much better in the full 2019 campaign either, allowing 31 homers en route to a 9-14 record and lackluster 5.24 ERA. This season, he’s done a much better job of limiting baserunners, and he’s averaging better than a strikeout per inning for the first time in five big-league campaigns, signs his success may not be a fleeting early-season storyline.
Adalberto Mondesi is hurt — The speedster is the one notable player this lineup is missing to start the season as he deals with an elbow injury. He’s stolen at least 20 bases in each of the last three seasons and swiped an eye-popping 43 bags in 2019, the last full campaign before the pandemic. His absence should be a boon to a Pirates defense that’s struggled to control the running game in 2020 and early ‘21.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: April 27, 2021, 11:00 a.m.