KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Uh oh.
If it's May in Kansas City, it's worry time for the Royals.
The only losing month in the last one-plus seasons came, of course, last May when the Royals posted a disastrous 8-20 mark. That month alone cost the team a playoff berth.
And already this season the Royals are 0-2 in May after Friday night's dismal 8-2 loss to division-leading Detroit. The Tigers retired the final 18 Royals hitters and held the Royals to just four hits overall.
And the immediate prospects are not pleasant.
The Royals will have to fight to avoid a home sweep at the hands of the Tigers. On Saturday, the Royals are forced to go with suddenly erratic Danny Duffy in an emergency start for the injured Bruce Chen. Duffy is on a pitch count of roughly 70-80, which will tax the bullpen even if Duffy were to survive four or five innings.
And the Royals don't match up well against left-handers, which is what they'll see in Tigers starter Drew Smyly on Saturday. The Royals as a team are hitting just .233 this season against left-handers with one home run in 247 plate appearances.
Sunday, the Royals will have to face Justin Verlander, though the Royals have had some success against him lately. He won only one start against the Royals and lost three times in six starts.
"There are no must-wins this early in the season," Billy Butler said after Friday's loss. "Sure, we'd have liked to have gotten this first one of the series. But it's one game. We can still come back and win the series."
3 UP
-- At least fans saw a Billy Bomb. A nice Friday night crowd of 28,021 saw this complete dud, but fans did get one minor treat -- Billy Butler smashed his first homer of the season, a rocket over the left-field wall about six inches to the right of the foul pole and just over the 330-foot sign. Butler had gone 108 at bats between homers dating back to Sept. 28. "It was in Chicago, second to last game I played last year," he said. Butler never saw his homer Friday night. "I wasn't sure it was high enough or long enough, so I just started running," he said.
Saturday's Royals game airs on FOX Sports 1.
-- The Omar Show. It continues to be a joy to watch newcomer Omar Infante go about his business. Infante got the Royals off on the right foot with a triple in the first inning. Infante also singled with two out in the third. He is now hitting .297 with a team-leading three triples.
-- Good situational hitting from Hoz. There just weren't many positives to come out of this stinker, so we'll throw some love at Eric Hosmer. The Royals are not a great situational hitting team by any means, but Hoz did come through with a sacrifice fly with one out and Infante on third in the first.
3 DOWN
Big Game James gets hammered. This was a time the Royals truly needed their ace James Shields to come up big. With all the uncertainty surrounding Saturday and Duffy's emergency start, the Royals needed Shields to save the bullpen almost entirely. Instead, he labored through 6 1/3 wobbly innings, giving up 12 hits, eight runs (seven earned) while walking one, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch. The Royals also needed Shields to contain the Tigers to get a significant early-season win. The Royals are now 0-3 against their division rivals, in danger of going 0-5 if they're not careful and get swept. "I didn't do my job," Shields said. "That's a good hitting team over there, but I didn't make enough good pitches -- didn't hit my spots."
Manager Ned Yost kept Shields in perhaps a bit longer than normal just to spare his bullpen. "I wanted to keep it at five (runs) but that didn't happen," Yost said. "It was just a battle all night for him. He just wasn't his normal self."
Moose's ill-advised throw. Ok, it wouldn't seem to matter in an 8-2 blowout. But at the time, third baseman Mike Moustakas' throwing error in the fourth inning led to an unearned run. When the fourth inning was completed, the Royals trailed 5-2 instead of 4-2 because of the error. For a team as offensively challenged as the Royals, a two-run deficit obviously seems much more manageable than three. As mentioned, it didn't matter as the Royals' offense went blank the rest of the way. Moose also struck out twice after drilling a leadoff double to the center-field wall. But he did make a terrific diving stop and throw to get Austin Jackson in the ninth.
Unlucky bounce. The Royals also gave up an extra run on a rather unlucky bounce in the third. With Torii Hunter on first, Miguel Cabrera smoked a liner over Alex Gordon's head in left field. The ball wound up stuck for a moment under the padding of the wall. That forced Gordon to go retrieve it instead of waiting for the ricochet, and that allowed Hunter to score. As it was, Victor Martinez drilled a double right after Cabrera's hit anyway.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter @jflanagankc or email at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
