Royals Stat of the Day: May 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.

Royals Stat of the Day: April 2021

May 31: Royals 7, Pirates 3 -- Minor racks ’em up
With his seven strikeouts in six innings, Mike Minor has recorded at least seven strikeouts in a career-high five straight games. That matches the longest such streak by a left-handed pitcher in Royals history. Danny Duffy had at least seven strikeouts in five consecutive starts from June 22-July 16, 2016, and from Aug. 6-Sept. 17, 2017.

May 30: Royals 6, Twins 3 -- A long-awaited victory
The victory over the Twins on Sunday secured Kansas City's first series win in Minnesota since Sept. 1-3, 2017, as the Royals have lost eight consecutive series to the Twins in that timespan.

May 29: Twins 6, Royals 5 -- Another HR for Salvy
With his two-run homer in the third off J.A. Happ, Salvador Perez recorded his 19th career long ball at Target Field. He leads all visiting players with the most home runs there.

May 28: Royals 8, Twins 3 -- KC sluggers right on Target
Carlos Santana and Salvador Perez hit the ball hard at pretty much every ballpark they play in, but there's something different about Target Field. Santana's RBI single in the fifth inning and sacrifice fly in the seventh gave him 58 career RBIs here, passing Miguel Cabrera (57) for the most RBIs in this ballpark by a player who never played for the Twins. Perez's RBI single in the seventh was his 51st RBI at Target Field, passing José Abreu and Victor Martinez for third most by an opposing hitter.

May 27: Rays 7, Royals 2 -- Stung by the Rays
The Royals have played better against the Rays this year than they have in past years, but after Thursday's 7-2 loss at Tropicana Field, Kansas City remains winless in its last seven series against Tampa Bay. The Royals' last series win was from May 8-11, 2017, and in that stretch, they've lost six series and split one. Since August 2017, the Rays are 17-6 against the Royals. With the home-and-home series completed this year, Kansas City will have to wait for the next regular season to snap this streak against the leading American League East team.

May 26: Rays 2, Royals 1 (10 innings) -- Mondesi extends hit streak
Adalberto Mondesi might have missed the first month and a half with a right oblique strain, but now that he's back, he's picking up right where he left off in 2020. The Royals' shortstop singled in the fifth inning to extend his hit streak to nine games dating to Sept. 21, 2020. During that stretch, he's batting .576 (19-for-33), matching a career long streak set from Sept. 4-12, 2020. Mondesi is 3-for-7 in two games since slotting back into the lineup in this series.

May 25: Royals 2, Rays 1 -- Santana's milestone homer
Carlos Santana is known for his patience at the plate and on-base percentage, but there's a reason he's sometimes called "Slamtana." The Royals' slugger put his team on the board in the series opener with his solo homer in the fourth inning off Rich Hill -- Santana's second home run in three at-bats, following a walk-off shot on Sunday, and his team-leading 10th of the season. It was also a big milestone: His 250th career homer moved him one shy of Tony Clark for 13th all time among switch-hitters.

May 23: Royals 3, Tigers 2 -- Bubic holding firm
Kris Bubic's two earned runs in the first inning of Sunday afternoon's game against the Tigers were the only runs the lefty allowed in his five-inning outing, as he grinded through a start that lacked his typical fastball command. Bubic has held opponents to two earned runs or fewer in nine of his 12 career starts, including 10 of his past 11 appearances since Aug. 30, 2020. In that stretch, the 23-year-old owns a 2.29 ERA (13 runs in 51 innings).

May 22: Royals 7, Tigers 5 -- Singer's Detroit success
Brady Singer has six wins in his young career as a Royals starter. Four of those have come against the Tigers. In six career starts against Detroit, Singer has a 2.86 ERA (11 earned runs in 34 2/3 innings). After the latest outing of 6 1/3 innings, when he allowed three runs, Singer has four quality starts this season -- one more than he had in 12 appearances during his rookie season in 2020.

May 21: Tigers 7, Royals 5 -- Taylor's sneaky pop
Any time Michael A. Taylor hits a home run, manager Mike Matheny mentions how amazed he is by Taylor's power potential -- the ball seems to just fly off the center fielder's bat when he connects. It happened again in the series opener at Kauffman Stadium. On the 10th pitch of his at-bat in the sixth inning, Taylor launched what was the go-ahead two-run shot for his second homer in as many games, marking the eighth time he's done that in his career and second this season. After not homering in 31 games, Taylor now has three home runs in his last six games. And three of his five home runs this season have given the Royals a lead.

May 19: Royals 6, Brewers 4 -- Dyson's run of steals
Jarrod Dyson is once again showing everyone what speed does. The Royals outfielder entered as a pinch-runner for Kelvin Gutierrez in the eighth inning of the series finale and stole second base -- Dyson's 179th career stolen base with Kansas City to pass Frank White for fourth place on the franchise's all-time list. Dyson now has 40 career stolen bases as a pinch-runner, which ranks fifth in the Majors since 1974. And the 36-year-old also scored the go-ahead run against the Brewers, his 38th career run as a pinch-runner, tied for eighth most since 1974.

May 18: Royals 2, Brewers 0 -- Bubic's scoreless streak
Bubic extended his scoreless streak to 17 2/3 innings with six strong frames, the longest by a Royals pitcher within one season since Brad Keller (17 2/3 scoreless from Aug. 6-19, 2020). The next longest stretch is Wade Davis’ 22 scoreless innings from April 6-May 31, 2015. Bubic is also tied with the Rays' Rich Hill for the second-longest active streak in the Majors, trailing only Mariners reliever Kendall Graveman (22 innings).

May 16: White Sox 4, Royals 3 -- Singer quickest to 100 K's
Brady Singer's seven-strikeout outing on Sunday against the White Sox gave the right-hander 101 through 20 games to begin his career. He's the fastest pitcher in Royals history (by games) to record 100 strikeouts. Singer, 24, now has more strikeouts than Yordano Ventura (96 through 20 games to begin his career), Danny Duffy (87) and Steve Busby (87).

May 15: Royals 5, White Sox 1 -- Royals solve Rodón's slider
Want to know how good the Royals were against White Sox starter Carlos Rodón on Saturday? Not even his deadly slider could stop them. Heading into the game, Major League hitters were hitting .000 (0-for-28) in at-bats that ended with a slider from Rodón, which was the best mark for any pitcher this season with a minimum of 30 plate appearances ending in a single pitch type, per Statcast. Rodón added four more to that total until Kansas City second baseman Hanser Alberto finally secured a single on a 1-2 slider to lead off the sixth.

May 14: Royals 6, White Sox 2 (Game 1) -- Salvy gets bump in record books
Salvador Perez connected for a three-run homer in the opening game of Friday's doubleheader for his eighth home run of the season -- and 160th of his career. The veteran catcher is now tied with Frank White for sixth most in Royals history. Next up on the list is Hal McRae, with 169.

May 13: Tigers 4, Royals 3 -- Bubic puts team on back
Royals reliever Kris Bubic covered five innings in relief, extending his scoreless innings streak to 11 2/3 dating back to May 6. Bubic is the first reliever in Royals history to throw consecutive scoreless appearances of at least five innings; he also pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings last Saturday. Not only did Bubic save Kansas City’s bullpen ahead of four games in three days this weekend, but he picked up the club as a whole, allowing the Royals to rally in the ninth and come within one run of snapping their 11-game losing streak.

May 12: Tigers 4, Royals 2 -- Duffy's no-HR policy to Miggy
Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera has 489 home runs and counting in his Hall of Fame career, but none of them have been off Danny Duffy. Despite giving up two singles to him Wednesday, Duffy still extended that streak to 64 plate appearances. That's the longest homerless streak of any pitcher to face Cabrera. Those 64 meetings between them rank fifth all-time, but the first four pitchers on that list (James Shields, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale and Jeremy Guthrie) have all given up at least four homers to Cabrera.

May 11: Tigers 8, Royals 7 -- Soler packs punch at plate
Jorge Soler broke up Detroit's shutout bid with a three-run homer in the eighth, his first since April 21, snapping a 16-game, 62 at-bat homer drought -- his second-longest as a Royal, trailing a 22-game drought from July 2, 2017-April 17, 2018. His three-run double with two outs in the ninth to tie the game would have been a home run in 27 of 30 ballparks, and Soler's six RBIs marked a career high and the most by a Royal since Whit Merrifield's two-homer, six-RBI game on June 18, 2019, in Seattle.

May 9: White Sox 9, Royals 3 -- Merrifield's leadoff double
The Royals got an early lead in Sunday's series finale against the White Sox thanks to Whit Merrifield's leadoff double on the first pitch Lucas Giolito threw in the bottom of the first inning. It was Merrifield's 34th leadoff double of his career, extending his franchise record, which is six more than Willie Wilson's 28. Merrifield's 34 leadoff doubles rank first in the Majors since 2016, five ahead of Mookie Betts (29). Merrifield also had his 10th multi-hit game this season -- and his first since April 28 against the Pirates.

May 8: White Sox 9, Royals 1 -- Unfortunate company for Lynch
Left-hander Daniel Lynch became the first member of the Royals to allow eight runs in a single outing since Danny Duffy on Aug. 3, 2019, at Minnesota (nine runs in 4 2/3 innings), and he’s the first member of the Royals to allow at least eight runs and not get out of the first inning since Mark Redman on Sept. 23, 2006, vs. Detroit (nine runs in 1/3 of an inning).

May 7: White Sox 3, Royals 0 -- Salvy logs four more
All-Star catcher Salvador Perez logged four of Kansas City's eight total hits in the series opener to mark his eighth career game with at least four hits and his second this season (April 12 against the Angels).

May 6: Indians 4, Royals 0 -- Benintendi's double-digit streak
Andrew Benintendi's single in the sixth inning on Thursday afternoon -- one of the Royals' two hits off Triston McKenzie -- extended the Kansas City left fielder's hitting streak to 10 games. In that stretch, he's batting .421 (16-for-38). It's the third double-digit hit streak of his career, matching a 10-game run from July 21-Aug. 11, 2018. His career best 11-game hit streak came from Aug. 5-18, 2017.

May 5: Indians 5, Royals 4 -- Royals tag Bieber
The Royals know they have their work cut out for them when they face 2020 American League Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber. They're always up for the challenge, and on Wednesday, they came through. Before Cleveland mounted its comeback victory, Kansas City grabbed a 4-0 lead against the Indians' ace. It was the first time Bieber allowed four runs (three were earned in this one) since Sept. 25, 2019, against the White Sox, when he yielded five runs (three earned) -- a run of 18 starts. Bieber, who took a no-decision, entered Wednesday 4-0 all-time against the Royals with a 3.59 ERA across eight starts.

May 4: Indians 7, Royals 3 -- Running Royals
The Royals have shown so far this season that they're not afraid to be aggressive on the basepaths, and no one embodies that more than leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield. The 32-year-old stole a pair of bases against Cleveland, taking the MLB lead with 10 this season. It was Merrifield's fourth multi-steal game this season and the 17th of his career. After executing a double steal with Merrifield and Andrew Benintendi, Kansas City is second in the Majors in stolen bases this season with 25, behind only the Padres' 36.

May 3: Indians 8, Royals 6 -- Fortunes turning for Dozier?
Hunter Dozier has been one of the unluckiest hitters in the Royals' lineup, constantly scorching the ball with nothing to show for results. That might be finally changing, though. Dozier launched his second home run in as many days in Monday night's loss to Cleveland, clocking an exit velocity of 109.4 mph and a distance of 410 feet over the left-field wall. Dozier is 4-for-9 with four extra-base hits in his last two games, following a 5-for-47 skid. The Royals need Dozier to be a force in their lineup if the offense is going to click. The Royals are optimistic that the first two games of May might be the turning point Dozier needs.

May 2: Twins 13, Royals 4 -- Benintendi extends hit streak
A few weeks ago, Andrew Benintendi described how he felt "so close" to being on the verge of a breakout. It appears that breakout has arrived. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the series finale, extending his hitting streak to six games. Across those six games, he batted .476 (10-for-21) with five runs, one double, two home runs (both in Saturday's win) and four RBIs. Benintendi closed his batting stance just a tiny bit recently, and the results have been encouraging. At the end of play on April 20, he was slashing .193/.270/.246 with 17 strikeouts in 15 games (57 at-bats). Since then, he had slashed .419/.486/.742 with three home runs, six RBIs and four walks in 31 at-bats.

May 1: Royals 11, Twins 3 -- Perez keeps mashing at Target Field
Salvador Perez's 434-foot home run, with an exit velocity of 108.9 mph, in the third inning against the Twins put him in the record books at Target Field. He now has the most home runs (18) among visiting players at Target Field, breaking away from a three-way tie with Edwin Encarnación and Carlos Santana at 17.