Royals’ Brandon Finnegan starts strong, runs out of steam in first spring outing

Royals left-hander Brandon Finnegan has pitched in the College World Series. He’s pitched in the World Series.

All in 2014.

But he had never pitched in the Cactus League until Tuesday.

Finnegan, the Royals’ first-round draft pick from TCU last year, produced an inconsistent two innings in the Royals’ 6-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Surprise Stadium.

He allowed three hits, a walk and two runs in two innings, and his best effort might have been pouncing on a bunt and getting a force out at second.

“It was the first real competitive outing I’ve had all spring training,” he said. “I wanted to get in, get my stuff working. It was working good for me today. Not the outcome, but it’s still spring training.”

Finnegan entered the game in the fifth inning against the heart of the hard-hitting Chicago lineup and was impressive. He needed just 12 pitches to retire the side in order.

In the sixth, a leadoff walk and wild pitch in the sixth were his undoing. Finnegan appeared to have worked his way out of a first-and-third and none out situation by striking out Jared Mitchell on three pitches and pouncing off the mound for a bunt and getting a force at second while holding the runner at third.

But Micah Johnson hammered a 2-2 pitch to left, driving home one run, followed by another RBI single by Andy Wilkins. The inning ended mercifully when pinch runner Carlos Sanchez was thrown out trying to go from first to third on Wilkins’ hit.

“They had a couple hits,” said Finnegan, who threw 31 pitches, 19 for strikes. “One big hit that got them the runs. That’s going to happen. My job today was just to go out, get the work in, and hopefully feel good afterward.

“I thought my stuff was really good today. Not my top-notch stuff, but for my first outing, I thought it was real good.”

So did manager Ned Yost.

“He had a really good first inning,” Yost said, “but kind of ran out of gas at about the 25-pitch mark. But a good first outing for him.”

In fact, Finnegan showed just enough in his first inning of work that he’s capable of serving as the Royals’ left-hander in the bullpen, just as he did when he appeared in seven September games last year and allowed just one run in seven innings followed by seven more appearances in the postseason.

The quandary is this: Do the Royals keep Finnegan, 21, in the role of a situational left-hander or send him to Omaha and stretch him out as a starter if there’s a need for one in the rotation later on in the season? If they send him to Omaha, the Royals don’t lack for left-handed reliever candidates, even with Tim Collins appearing to be out indefinitely with ligament damage to his elbow.

“You watch what Franklin Morales has done, (Brian) Flynn has done well,” Yost said. “We’ve got some candidates to be that left-handed guy. Our starting rotation is set. If they’re going to help us, they’re going to help us in the pen.”

Yost isn’t convinced there’s a need for a lefty in the bullpen for the sake of having one.

“Our righties have weapons who can get lefties out,” Yost said of relievers Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. “It’s not like a make-or-break thing that we have to have a lefty.

“It’s not a big deal. We don’t have a left-handed specialist. They’re good at getting righties out, too. We’ll just take the best pitchers we’ve got.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Royals’ Brandon Finnegan starts strong, runs out of steam in first spring outing."