Cain's D, Volquez's stellar start add up to Royals' sweep-capping win
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lorenzo Cain sprinted to his left as soon as the ball rocketed off Adam LaRoche's bat. He needed only 17 smooth strides to meet the ball before immediately crashing into the right-center-field wall in the second inning of the Royals' 4-1 win over the White Sox on Thursday.
Cain lay on the warning track for 16 seconds, recovering from another brutal collision, his hat lying beside him and Alex Rios hovering above. Royals manager Ned Yost climbed to the top step of the dugout, readying to check on his center fielder's health. Cain rose, removed his sunglasses, wiped himself off and returned to his post.
"I know he's a tough kid and that fence has a lot of give," Yost said. "But I did go to the top step and I was just dreading having to run all the way out there. Thankfully, he got up and I didn't have to make that trip."
Cain had a different assessment of Kauffman Stadium's boundaries.
"If you guys go out there and touch the chain-link fence, it's really hard," Cain said. "I would ask you guys to please go out there and touch it. It's very hard. I was just trying to make a play. It has a little give to it, but not much."
An inning later, Cain found a softer landing spot. On Micah Johnson's deep fly ball to center, Cain twisted and turned before gliding into the padding to the right of the "410" sign on the wall. He stumbled as he regained his balance and unleashed a yell on his way back to the dugout.
Just another day for Lorenzo Cain.
"I run into the wall all the time," Cain said. "It's just a matter of me not injuring anything."
Cain's circus catches backed a stellar outing from new Royal Edinson Volquez and punctuated a wild series for Kansas City's 28-year-old center fielder. He was hit by a pitch Monday and again Wednesday. He launched the game-deciding home run Wednesday and scored the winning run Thursday.
Through the three-game sweep, Cain's stats look like this: .417 batting average, one home run, four RBIs, two hit by pitches, one stare-down, two magnificent catches and an ice bath.
His defense Thursday, though, provided a cushion for Volquez, who shined in his Kansas City debut, throwing eight innings of one-run ball, cruising to 95 pitches in the process. He didn't allow a baserunner to reach third until the seventh inning and surrendered only four hits.
Volquez is coming off his best season as a professional, when he went 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA with the Pirates, and an offseason in which he signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Royals. His performance as Kansas City's No. 3 starter could lift the rotation to be great or allow it to sink below average.
Volquez was a candidate for regression this season, due to his abnormally low .269 batting average against on balls in play in 2014 and because he has posted an ERA below 4.00 only one other time in his career.
But the Royals' defense did its best to quell that chatter Thursday, chasing down and scooping up nearly every ball hit in its direction. Volquez said having a defense like the Royals' gives him more confidence on the mound.
"The longer and the more he pitches with us, that'll become more apparent," Yost said. "He was pretty darn good last year. This is not a flash in the pan. But the defense obviously made some fantastic plays behind (him) today."
Just like Yost believes Volquez's consistency is here to stay, the Kansas City defense almost certainly will be. Volquez called the defense "unbelievable," while first baseman Eric Hosmer said "it's gotten to that point" where he expects plays like Cain's catches to be outs.
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From the stellar defense to the sudden power surge, the lockdown bullpen to the speedy baserunners, everything clicked for the Royals in their season-opening embarrassment of the White Sox.
"If somebody would say, 'Boy, you're really firing on all cylinders,'" Yost said, "I'd have to agree. We are.
"We're hitting for power, we're clutch hitting, we're playing great defense, we're running the bases well, our bullpen's been excellent, our starting pitching's been excellent. To get off to this type of start is exciting and it's fun, but we know that it's a long year and you ride it as long as you can."
You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.
