KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The future was on display as the Royals welcomed and awarded their top minor-league players in a pregame ceremony Friday.
That's also been the focus lately on the current team, which was cooled off by the Cleveland Indians in a 14-6 defeat before 15,920 Kauffman Stadium.
The outcome ended a four-game winning streak and evened the series with two games remaining in the regular season. The Royals dropped to 57-103, and Friday's contest got ugly in one inning.
The Indians sent 14 to the plate in the seventh and scored 10 times, the most in an inning against the Royals this season. Josh Donaldson got things started with a double and later provided the biggest blow with a grand slam.
The Indians, who long ago clinched the AL Central, had their most productive inning of the season.
The Royals could muster little off Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger. Among the three hits he surrendered was Whit Merrifield's two-out single in the third to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, baseball's longest active streak. Merrifield entered the game leading baseball in base hits and now has 189.
The Royals scratched across a run in the seventh when Hunter Dozier's bloop double scored Ryan O'Hearn, who had doubled.
What remained of the crowd was delighted in the ninth with five runs, four coming on Brian Goodwin's second grand slam this year.
No matter how the season finishes, Royals manager Ned Yost will take an optimistic tone into 2019 based on the performance of young players over the past few weeks.
"I don't feel like it's been a horribly bad year," Yost said. "It's weird. I've been on bad teams. This just doesn't feel like a bad team, even with (103) losses.
Even with Friday's loss, the Royals have won 14 of their last 18 home games and are 19-13 since Aug. 24.
The season spiraled with 7-21 record in March and April, and the team bottomed out at 38-90 in mid-August. A race to baseball's worst record between the Royals and Baltimore Orioles was on.
The Royals lost that that race by winning, and Yost sees this team ahead of the one he took over during the season in 2010. The Royals lost 95 games that season.
"When I got here in '10, it wasn't that great," Yost said. "You could look around that locker room and that field and see there weren't going to be many guys when we get good are going to be on this team."
This is different. Even more advanced than 2012, when the Royals with a young group that included Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain, where one year away from their first winning season in a decade and two years away from a World Series appearance.
"This group, I feel as good about this group as I did that group in '12," Yost said. "That makes me feel good going into the winter ... the feelings are there. They don't lie to you. This group is going to be the basis of a core group that's going to get us back to where we want to be."
The Royals have rolled out superb starting pitching over the last month. Brad Keller, Jorge Lopez, Jakob Junis, Heath Fillmyer and Eric Skoglund have contributed to an American League-best 3.38 ERA since Aug. 22. First- or-second year starters have started 27 of the 33 games and combined for 10-6 record with 3.47 ERA.
"The starting pitchers, it's not a mistake they're doing so well," Yost said. "They're doing their homework, studying. They can execute pitches and pitch to hitters' weaknesses."
Adalberto Mondesi has nine home runs in his last 26 games before Friday and 13 homers and 30 stolen bases for the season. He's only the second AL shortstop with at least 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases in his age-22 season or younger. Alex Rodriguez is the other.
