CLEVELAND -- The Royals began a 10-day road trip Friday with bad news at the beginning of the day and an offensive shutout by the end of it, dropping their series opener to the Guardians, 7-0, at Progressive Field.
In a blow to the bullpen, Royals reliever Hunter Harvey was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday afternoon with a right teres major strain.
Harvey, no stranger to injuries in his pro career, felt discomfort in his right shoulder/armpit area while warming up in the bullpen on Thursday afternoon, manager Matt Quatraro said Friday. The Royals ended up not needing Harvey to pitch, and he informed the training staff after the game what he had felt.
An MRI on Thursday showed a Grade 1 strain, which is the mildest type of a strain, but Harvey will stay in Kansas City for a rehab program while the Royals finish this tough road trip through Cleveland, New York and Detroit.
The move was retroactive to Tuesday, and the Royals will re-evaluate Harvey¡¯s status in a week to see how he¡¯s recovering and responding to treatment.
¡°It¡¯s hopefully mild enough to be a very short stint on the IL,¡± Quatraro said of Harvey¡¯s injury. ¡°But nonetheless, he is on the IL.¡±
In a corresponding move, the Royals called up Steven Cruz from Triple-A Omaha, and the hard-throwing righty made his season debut by pitching a scoreless seventh inning Friday after starter Kris Bubic allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings. All three runs came on Gabriel Arias¡¯ homer in the fourth following a walk and one of two errors from third baseman Jonathan India.
There¡¯s always a premium on pitching, but even more so now as the Royals work their way through an offensive slump. Kansas City has won four out of its last six games precisely because its pitching has been so good; the club has only scored 13 runs in that span.
Any mistake -- like Bubic¡¯s fastball to Arias in the fourth or the defensive errors seen Friday -- is amplified when the bats are cold.
¡°We just didn¡¯t play solid overall,¡± India said. ¡°It¡¯s part of baseball though.¡±
And losing one of their best relievers doesn¡¯t help. Hopefully the strain is as mild as initially believed, because the 30-year-old Harvey had started the season looking exactly like the high-leverage reliever the Royals thought they were getting last July, when they acquired him in a Trade Deadline deal with the Nationals.
In 2024, Harvey only threw 5 2/3 innings for the Royals before missing the final two months and the postseason with a back injury.
But in the first two weeks of 2025, Harvey had tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings with only one hit and seven strikeouts.
He¡¯s transformed the back end of the bullpen, typically as the first high-leverage reliever out the gate, with Lucas Erceg and Carlos Est¨¦vez following Harvey when the Royals are tied or have the lead.
That trio has only allowed one earned run in 17 2/3 innings with 17 strikeouts this year.
¡°Especially with the way [Harvey's] tenure with us started, a few games [in 2024] and then the back thing that we really couldn¡¯t pinpoint, he was frustrated,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°To be back and throwing the ball well this spring and the early part of the season -- I commented several times on how free and easy it looked. And then just as he was warming up, to feel something, is very unfortunate. Definitely feel for him.¡±
How this alters the Royals¡¯ bullpen remains to be seen. Erceg and Est¨¦vez will still be the their main high-leverage arms, with Est¨¦vez earning the bulk of save opportunities and Erceg appearing in more of a fireman role.
Righty John Schreiber will likely earn more leverage spots, as well as lefties Angel Zerpa and Daniel Lynch IV, who hasn¡¯t allowed a run in seven innings this year and has a 27 2/3-inning scoreless streak dating back to last Aug. 26. That¡¯s the longest active streak in the Majors and the third-longest streak by a Royals reliever, trailing only Wade Davis (31 2/3 innings in 2014) and Kelvin Herrera (31 innings in ¡®14).
¡°There¡¯s going to be a lot of determination based on where we are in the batting order, who¡¯s rested, what they have on their bench,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°We¡¯re going to mix and match for the sixth and seventh. But we still have Erceg and Est¨¦vez there in the back end. They can be versatile and go one-plus if needed. We have confidence in the depth.¡±
Cruz, too, can earn more opportunities if he pitches like he did Friday night, with a fastball that hit 98 mph and a tight slider.
¡°He¡¯s got big stuff, he¡¯s not scared,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°He¡¯s able to pitch in a lot of different roles, [and] go multiple innings if needed. It¡¯s a good opportunity for him.¡±