Royals to open series in Cleveland where they’ll face former Blue Valley, K-State star

On the first leg of the Royals’ final road trip of the 2022 season, they faced a couple of former Kansas City high school pitchers.

In the Tigers’ 4-3 victory over the Royals in 10 innings on Monday, the winning pitcher was Alex Lange, who graduated from Lee’s Summit West High School. The starting pitcher that night was Joey Wentz, the former Shawnee Mission East star.

Lange again pitched in relief on Tuesday.

The Royals were swept in the three-game series in Detroit, then made the short trip to Cleveland, where they will start a six-game series* on Friday.

*Yes, six games!

It’s likely the Royals will get their first look at another former Kansas City area high school player at Progressive Field. Guardians outfielder Will Brennan, who played at Blue Valley High School and Kansas State, had his contract purchased from Triple-A Columbus on Sept. 21.

”All the things they told us, he’s ultra competitive,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Brennan, per the Associated Press. ”He’s helping us win games. That was one thing I tried to explain to him. I said, `Don’t worry about your batting average here. You’re here two weeks.’ I said just help us win games, and he said I can do that.”

And he has.

After Brennan’s arrival, Cleveland won five straight games and clinched the Central division title. And he’s hit, too. Brennan, 24, has a .333 average (8 for 24) with three RBIs and two stolen bases in seven games.

It’s a continuation of what Brennan has done his entire time in baseball.

Brennan batted .503 as a senior at Blue Valley and was the 2016 6A Kansas Co-Player of the Year. In his final year at Kansas State, Brennan had a .786 on-base-plus slugging percentage. He was the most difficult player for Big 12 pitchers to strikeout in his three seasons with the Wildcats.

This season at Triple-A, Brennan batted .316 with 68 RBIs and 28 doubles in 93 games.

In his major-league debut, Brennan had two hits and knocked in a run against the White Sox in Chicago.

After the game, Brennan got a special shower.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life, never been so excited,” Brennan told Bally Sports Cleveland before his teammates soaked him.