Matt Quatraro Stands By Royals Rotation Despite Recent Slide

Matt Quatraro Stands By Royals Rotation Despite Recent Slide

The Royals were finally rolling and then the rotation fell off a cliff.

Kansas City sits at 19-24 and third in the AL Central, and after a late April run that looked like it might save the season, the offense has cooled and the starters have stopped giving the team much of anything.

Matt Quatraro spent all winter telling anyone who would listen how deep this group was, and through most of April it looked like he had a point.

Lately, it has looked like nothing of the sort, and the bullpen is paying the price for it.

One number sums it up.

Royals starters have one quality start in their last eight games.

That is brutal for a group that was supposed to be the steady thing carrying this team while the bats woke up.

Quatraro Backs His Guys

After another short outing left the bullpen hanging by a thread, Quatraro got the obvious question and gave an honest answer.

"We're accustomed to quality starts regularly," Quatraro said. "We haven't gotten them in this stretch. That's unfortunate. We believe in those guys and we know they'll be better."

He has a fair case.

Seth Lugo has been everything Kansas City paid for, posting a 3.21 ERA through nine starts and one of the lowest home run rates in baseball.

Michael Wacha keeps pounding the zone like always, and Kris Bubic has been steady too.

That trio is enough of a foundation to fix this.

The problem is everything around them.