Whit Merrifield says Kansas City Royals offense is pressing for a multitude of reasons

The Kansas City Royals have shown flashes of an offense capable of capitalizing on the smallest openings.

A bunt, a misplayed ball, an errant throw, a stolen base, an aggressive baserunning move — those kinds of plays each served as sparks at some point in the first two and a half months of the season.

Ten days ago the Royals routed the Minnesota Twins 14-5 in Kansas City thanks to a nine-run first inning that started with a Whit Merrifield single and a stolen base. Late last month, the Royals swung open a game in Minnesota on a Hunter Dozier baserunning play in the fifth inning.

Once they’d exploited an opening, the Royals’ offense fed off of that.

However, they’re now experiencing the opposite phenomenon. Instead of feeding off one another or one pivotal play, they’re all going hungry.

Last week during a 1-6 West Coast trip, Royals manager Mike Matheny described a “carryover effect” with his club that seems to cut both ways.

When they make good on a chance to make something happen, they roll.

When they come up short or “leave money on the table,” Matheny said “it deflates.”

A lot of air has been squeezed out of the balloon recently.

The Royals scored just three runs and stranded a season-high 13 runners on base in Monday night’s 10-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers despite collecting 14 hits. They put 18 men on base in the game.

They’ll enter Tuesday night’s game having hit 2 for 38 with runners in scoring position since the ninth inning of last Thursday’s win in Oakland.

“It’s just a matter of guys mentally getting over that barrier, and there’s a lot of aspects to it.” Merrifield said on Tuesday night. “There’s the aspect of us losing in this stretch that we’ve been losing. There’s an aspect of us not hitting with runners in scoring position. Then there’s that aspect of guys not really getting off to a great start this year.

“So guys are pressing about that. Guys are pressing about hitting with guys on base. And guys are pressing about us losing. It’s tough. It’s tough to overcome. You’ve just mentally got to push that aside and just attack every at-bat and attack every pitch and compete within yourself and the pitcher and see what happens.”

Merrifield pointed out that he’s also guilty of pressing at times this season.

Merrifield swatted three hits, including a double, and walked on Monday night. He’d gone 5 for 31 (.161) with one walk and one RBI in the previous seven-game road trip.

Jorge Soler also went 3 for 4 with a double on Monday night. He has gone 7 for 23 with (.304) with two home runs, four RBIs and three walks in his last seven games.

Up until this point, Soler’s production certainly indicated that he may have been pressing after a slow start to the season. He’s slashing .189/.281/.343, perhaps feeling the added pressure of living up to his 48-homer season in 2019 or his pending free agency at the end of this season.

Hunter Dozier, who signed a four-year contract extension this spring, is another key piece of the lineup who has shown only fleeting flashes of his past form.

He suffered a hand injury early in the season, which he has played through. He also missed a week with concussion symptoms last month.

Dozier’s .156/.232/.347 slash line lends itself to the assumption that he may be pressing to perform to his new contract or simply to live up to the promise and potential the organization clearly sees in him.

“We’ve got guys that want to win so bad and want to be successful so bad that sometimes that can be detrimental and that can be hard to overcome,” Merrifield said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that care in there, and that’s a good place to be — even though that can be compounding the problem.

“That clubhouse in there cares. They want to win, and they want to be successful. We play hard even if things don’t go our way. Guys are working hard and playing hard every day. It’s not hard for us to come in everyday excited to be around everybody because guys care, guys love each other and guys are playing for each other. All we can do is ride it out and hopefully tides turn soon.”