KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced this morning that infielder Nicky Lopez and right-handed pitcher Brady Singer have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for July. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Lopez was the only Royal to appear in all 28 games last month (24 starts), over which he batted .297 (27-for-91), leading the team in batting average (min. 60 AB) and hits. His .297 clip was the best by a Royal in the month of July (min. 90 AB) since Alex Gordon batted .327 (32-for-98) in July 2019. He put together a season-best eight-game hitting streak, which fell just four games shy of his career high, from July 13-24, during which he hit .414 (12-for-29) with a double, a triple, 2 RBI and 4 runs scored. He hit safely in 17 of his 24 starts, including seven multi-hit efforts and a career-high 4 hits on July 3 at Detroit, in which he became just the fifth player in Royals history and the first since 2010 to record 4 hits and a sacrifice bunt in the same game. This marks Lopez’s first career monthly award in four seasons with the Royals.
Singer went 1-0 in July and ranked 4th in the American League (min. 30.0 IP) with a 2.05 ERA (7 ER in 30.2 IP) over 5 starts, while he ranked tied for 6th in the Majors with 42 strikeouts (12.3 K/9), trailing only Carlos Rodón (53), Gerrit Cole (51), Yu Darvish (45), Max Scherzer (45) and Shohei Ohtani (44). He became the fourth pitcher in Royals history to record at least 40 strikeouts and no losses in any calendar month, following Dennis Leonard in May 1976 (4-0, 45 strikeouts), Zack Greinke in April 2009 (5-0, 44) and Mark Gubicza in September 1988 (4-0, 44). Singer spun 7.0 scoreless innings on July 28 at the Yankees, allowing just 1 hit, 1 walk and a hit batter, with 10 strikeouts, becoming the fourth Royal to allow 1 hit or fewer with 10 strikeouts in a start. He was also just the eighth pitcher since 1901 to record at least 7.0 scoreless innings with 1 hit allowed and 10 strikeouts against the Yankees. Including his career-best 12 strikeouts on July 23 vs. the Rays, he became the seventh pitcher in Royals history to record back-to-back 10-strikeout appearances. This marks Singer’s third career monthly honor and second this season, following his May performance in which he ranked 5th in the American League (min. 3 starts) with a 1.37 ERA (3 ER in 19.2 IP).
