After yesterday, Jake Irvin’s first-inning ERA is now a cover-your-eyes-awful 10.08. He began his outing with a four-pitch walk of leadoff hitter Mike Yastrzemski, one of three four-pitch free passes on the afternoon among his four walks in four innings. When Irvin is walking guys, it is typically not because he is carefully pitching around them by nibbling but because his mechanics are out of whack and he has lost all semblance of command (of the four pitches to Yastrzemski, only the first one was remotely competitive). If you watch Irvin when he’s struggling with command, you will see his front shoulder fly open early, well before his arm has gotten into the throwing slot, and then the arm trails behind and his release point could be anywhere - resulting in pitches high and tight, spiked in the dirt, towards the left-handed batter’s box, you name it.

Getting out of sync like that usually happens when pitchers are getting tired, not when they’re throwing to their first batter of the game. That this keeps happening over and over again this early in games (he’s had two good starts in his last fourteen outings since the eight shutout innings at home against the Giants on May 24 - remember that his 2024 season also started going in the tank after the eight shutout innings against the Mets on July 4th) suggests an issue with his preparation, both of his own and of coaches Jim Hickey and Sean Doolittle.

I have come to the point where I think it might be best for all parties involved if Irvin gets optioned to AAA Rochester to fix this rather major issue. That might sound extreme to those fans who are still deluding themselves into thinking that Irvin is a third starter (or, heaven help us, a #2) on even a .500 team, but he has options and needs to try something different than what he’s been doing. Without trying to psychoanalyze Irvin too much, it’s possible that he has gotten too comfortable in his seemingly entrenched role as a mid-rotation starter for this team - recall that last spring training he was having bad starts because he was “working on things” until Davey Martinez gave him a kick in the a** by reminding him that he still had to earn his place on the big-league roster. Wherever the problem lies, it needs immediate attention and a more serious focus on detail than Irvin or his coaches have demonstrated over the past three months.

What made Irvin’s first-inning semi-meltdown so much more frustrating yesterday was that he took the mound with his teammates having spotted him a 5-0 lead courtesy of their first grand slam of the season (off the bat of Nathaniel Lowe - also the first of his career) and a Drew Millas double with the speedy Daylen Lile on first base. Both Irvin and Royals starter Seth Lugo labored through their four innings apiece, although Irvin had a chance to escape that inning with a 7-3 lead before a two-out walk (of Yastrzemski again), an HBP of Bobby Witt Jr., and a massive home run from Vinnie Pasquantino trimmed the Royals’ deficit to one.

Somewhat miraculously, both bullpens kept the score there until the Royals tied the game in the eighth thanks to a Witt sacrifice fly. Then, with one out at the top of the ninth, Luis García Jr. doubled and, following a Lowe walk, moved to third on Josh Bell’s fly ball to center in spacious Kauffman Stadium, whereupon he was driven in by a Lile single. Newly minted closer Jose A. Ferrer, who had come on to record the last out of the eighth, got the first two Royals in the ninth quickly but then gave up two bad-luck hits that put the tying run on third base before retiring defensive replacement Tyler Tolbert on a force out to shortstop for an 8-7 win.

At long last, Dylan Crews is expected to make his return from the injured list in time for today’s game against the Phillies, which will, of course, prompt a corresponding roster move. In some order, the most likely candidates are the following: Robert Hassell III, Daylen Lile, Jacob Young, José Tena, or Nathaniel Lowe. All of them except Lowe could be optioned to Rochester (as the only competent backup shortstop currently on the roster, I am assuming Paul DeJong is safe). I have been arguing in favor of a Lowe DFA since the trade deadline and would still make that move, yesterday’s grand salami notwithstanding.

The three outfielders all present different conundrums: Hassell is 8-for-22 - with four doubles and a homer - in the ten games since his recall and robbed a home run two days ago, but has also been used somewhat sparingly by interim manager Miguel Cairo; Young provides elite defense but has a putrid .173/.236/.184 slash line with just one extra-base hit since the calendar flipped to July, over 100 plate appearances ago; and Lile is the reverse, sporting a .754 OPS over the same timeframe - with that game-winning RBI yesterday - but often looking lost or close to it with a glove on.

My guess is that for now, Tena, who has all of nine PA in the past couple of weeks and whose role can easily be covered by DeJong, will get on a bus back to the International League while the five outfielders scrap for playing time with Josh Bell limiting any opportunities to rotate through the DH spot. But we might be in for a surprise.

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