Coming out of the All-Star break the Kansas City Royals claim they have figured out why Luke Hochevar has late inning collapses. Luke has had a tendency to pitch great through four or five innings and then have an inning where he gives up multiple runs and has to be taken out of the game. Several people think it has been Hochevar’s mental side of the game that has held him back. Once a few things start to go against him, he struggles to get back on track.

Well the Royals have come up with a master plan to solve all of Luke’s problems and turn him into a great pitcher. Their superior plan they came up with, the reason they get paid the big bucks, was to challenge hitters and change up pitches. What a plan, change the pitches you throw so a big league hitter can’t sit on a fastball down the middle of the plate. Seems a little elementary, I thought most pitchers already challenged hitters and changed up their pitches to keep them guessing. Is that not the best way to get hitters out? However simple the solution seems, if their are positive results then the fans will be satisfied.

In Luke Hochevar’s first start since the All-Star break he went 7 innings and only allowed one run. He got into a little trouble in one inning but was able to work out of it and get back on track. He struck out four but still walked 3 batters. One start down in the new and improved Luke Hochevar era and it was a good one. The question is, was it really something so simple to get him to be a quality starter or was it just a one fluke start. Only time will tell but if the it was the start of a new Luke then Royals fans would be ecstatic and with him and other young pitchers in the organization, the club could have a good rotation in the near future.

Since Luke’s start went well, the Royals decided to try their new big league strategy on Kyle Davies. Even though Davies start didn’t go as well, it was still his best start of the year. He went 5 1/3 innings only allowing 2 earned runs and struck out a career high 9 batters. But even with Davies best start and Hochevar’s good start, neither of them were able to get a win out of it. It shows that the Royals have more issues than just starting pitching. like timely hitting. Time will tell if this new theory of pitching for the the Royals will work but it is off to a good start, hopefully it will continue with rookie Danny Duffy going tonight.

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