The Royals tied an unusual MLB record in shutout win. Here’s why it matters
Twenty-four hours shy of the Major League Baseball trade deadline — OK, 28 hours, to be exact — a Royals team not yet fully committed to a buyers or sellers lane lined up a bullpen game.
Which looked something like this: Angel Zerpa for the first inning, Jonathan Bowlan for the second and third, John Schreiber in the fourth, Taylor Clarke in the fifth, Hunter Harvey in the sixth, Steven Cruz in the seventh, Lucas Erceg in the eighth, Carlos Estevez in the ninth, and, wouldn’t you know it, an extra inning that belonged to Sam Long.
I’ll save you the count — that’s nine Royals pitchers, whose commonalty Wednesday produced a much more important number:
Zero.
The nine combined for 10 shutout innings in a 1-0 victory against the Atlanta Braves at Kauffman Stadium. That ties a major-league record, by the way, for the most pitchers used in a shutout.
Suddenly, the Royals have won seven of 10 games to move within one game under .500 for the first time in six weeks. As of the extra-inning conclusion, completed with a Salvador Perez walkoff single, the Royals sat 3 1/2 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League in their final chance to make an impression for the front office before the trade deadline. That arrives at 5 p.m. Thursday.
But the real takeaway from a unique day at Kauffman Stadium isn’t about the impact on this deadline.
It’s about the impact of the last one.
It was one year ago — exactly — that the Royals were much more squarely in contention, holding a three-game lead in the AL Wild Card race. But the best one-year turnaround in franchise history still saw a leak in a pennant chase and postseason advancement formula.
The bullpen. You know, the group that just tied an MLB record.
So on the eve of that trade deadline a year ago, they parted with three prospects (though not their top-of-line prospects) to acquire right-hander Lucas Erceg from the A’s. A couple of weeks earlier, they had added another reliever, Hunter Harvey, in a deal with the Nationals in exchange for another prospect and a draft pick.
It would have been a lot to relinquish, particularly in the Erceg deal, if not for one thing:
He wasn’t a three-month rental. Neither of them were.
The Erceg trade supplied an immediate impact, sure, but not strictly an immediate impact. Erceg has a 2.2 WAR since his acquisition 365 days ago, per Fangraphs data, which ranks fifth among all relievers. He’s third in that value among those who aren’t primarily in a closers’ role.
And in a season in which the Royals had hoped to be in a better position by the close of July, guess what nobody is complaining about? The bullpen.
Royals relievers have combined for a 3.72 ERA this season, seventh best in baseball. One year ago today, they ranked 24th.
The trade worked.
And as another deadline approaches, it’s important to remember why it worked.
Even while trading away prospects, the Royals considered and preserved the future.
I mentioned this earlier this week, in the aftermath of KC signing Seth Lugo to a two-year extension, but the Royals are locked into a blueprint to compete for the long haul — to avoid the dips that have spanned decades in the organization’s past.
There can be an urge to find a quick fix — say, a corner outfielder on the market — but this year, and every year, they have to ensure it doesn’t subtract significant pieces from future years. It’s a fine line, one that the Royals walked quite well a year ago.
Their recent play could offer the same sort of urge, though the injuries littered throughout their starting rotation ought to squash it.
But if they do feel compelled to see if this 7-of-10 streak can kickstart them back into contention, they ought to follow the same guideposts. I’d expect they would, by the way. They can work to get better on the margins. Or, if a trade involves real prospects, it must provide more than a rental in return. It must provide a real future, and that’s beyond 2025.
They can follow their own bread crumbs for the rationale.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 7:13 PM with the headline "The Royals tied an unusual MLB record in shutout win. Here’s why it matters."