Maikel Garcia, healthier Royals take aim at A's again

The Kansas City Royals are looking forward to showing teams what they can do when healthy.

After trotting out its healthiest lineup in weeks against the visiting Athletics in the opener of their four-game series, Kansas City will probably send out a similar group in the second contest on Tuesday night.

Maikel Garcia returned to the Kansas City lineup on Monday for the first time since June 22 because of a muscle strain in his left hand. He contributed two hits, an RBI and a run scored while playing third base in the 9-5 victory.

Vinnie Pasquantino also returned after battling right wrist soreness the past three weeks. He contributed a base hit while playing first base in the win, which was the team's third in the past four games.

Monday marked the first time since June 13 the Royals had Garcia, Pasquantino, Carter Jensen, Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone in the same lineup.

"It's a long lineup that way," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "When you have the guys that you're expecting to have in there, and it's balanced like that -- you have some speed, you have power, you have righties and lefties. It is exciting."

Quatraro also likes what he sees lately from Witt, the three-time All Star shortstop who has homered in the past two games.

"When he starts hitting those balls to left-center, that's when you see him go on a tear," Quatraro said of Witt's second-inning homer on Monday. "He does such a good job of going the other way, but when he starts accelerating that barrel, that's really exciting."

The Royals plan to start left-hander Daniel Lynch IV on Tuesday.

It will be the third straight start for Lynch (4-4, 2.88 ERA) after 46 relief consecutive appearances to start the season.

The Royals let him go a season-high 2 1/3 innings in his most recent outing last Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He gave up three runs and three hits in the 4-2 loss.

Lynch, who started 51 games from 2021-23 with the Royals, has made five appearances (two starts) against the A's in his career. He is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA versus the A's.

The A's will try to get right-hander Jack Perkins his first win since April.

Perkins (2-9, 7.27) has lost four straight starts and nine consecutive decisions since starting the season 2-0. He most recently was tagged for seven runs (six earned) and a season-high 12 hits in five innings of an 8-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays last Wednesday.

"I'm being tested," Perkins said. "One day it's the homer. Today, it was the singles. It's just frustrating. I'm going to keep grinding and see where we go from here. ... Right now, it's tough to look at who I am out there."

Perkins, who began last season ranked among the A's top 10 prospects by MLB Pipeline, said the losing streak is causing him to be more timid with his pitches.

"You look at my stuff, sweeper, changeup and four-seam, they're all relatively moving like they always have. I have to get back to fully competing every time," he said. "Somewhere inside, I've lost that little bit of an edge that has always made me the pitcher that I am. I want to get back to being that guy."

Perkins made two relief appearances against the Royals in a span of three days in late April. He did not allow a run in two innings and picked up a save on April 30.

--Field Level Media