Royals bullpen wastes rookie Heath Fillmyer's stellar start in loss to Tigers
A pair of veteran pitchers let a rookie’s first chance at a major-league win slip out of the Royals’ grasp on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.
With the Royals leading by two runs in the ninth inning, embattled reliever Brandon Maurer allowed three straight hits without recording an out and blew a save as the Tigers tied the game. Jason Hammel, making his fourth appearance out of the bullpen since shuffling out of the rotation in disgrace at the beginning of July, allowed a double to James McCann that put the Tigers ahead in the Royals’ 5-4 defeat.
Newly-minted Royals closer Wily Peralta was shelved after appearing in three straight games. Maurer, who’s only recorded three saves since joining the Royals in a trade 364 days ago, was trusted to keep Heath Fillmyer in line for the win.
He couldn’t. He took the loss instead. Jeimer Candelario led off the ninth with a single, Victor Martinez followed with a double and both scored on Jim Adduci’s double to left field.
Hammel finished the inning without allowing further damage. But the Royals’ post-All-Star break winning streak ended at three games.
“He had 20-something saves last year. He’s had experience doing it,” manager Ned Yost said after watching Maurer blow his fourth save of the season. “It’s just been a struggle. His stuff’s really good. His first fastball tonight was 98 mph. It’s just been kind of a rough go for him.”
Maurer’s latest stumble put a damper on an otherwise exciting night that featured Salvador Perez’s dexterous handling of first base, Lucas Duda’s three-RBI performance and Fillmyer’s dazzling of the Tigers through 6 2/3 scoreless innings before two runs scored.
For all the tinkering the Royals have done this season, perhaps their most unexpected experiment has starred the right-handed Fillmyer.
Acquired alongside pitcher Jesse Hahn in a trade of Brandon Moss to Oakland, Fillmyer was the the Athletics’ 18th-ranked prospect, according to MLB.com’s Pipeline. He hadn’t pitched above Class AA until the Royals assigned him to Class AAA Omaha out of spring training.
Although he amassed a 5.75 ERA in 13 Pacific Coast League starts, the Royals called him up after trading Kelvin Herrera last month. Fillmyer’s first appearance was delayed until Hammel allowed nine runs in four innings against the Astros on June 24. Fillmyer handled his major-league debut well, allowing the best team in baseball to score two runs on three hits over four innings.
Fillmyer remained in the bullpen after the Houston outing, logging two scoreless appearances in long relief. But when Jakob Junis’ back stiffened, Junis went to the disabled list and Fillmyer moved into the rotation.
He’s taken some lumps since. He gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings against the Red Sox in his first start. In his next outing, a bullpen appearance in Chicago, he allowed one run on three hits in 2 1/3 innings.
On Monday, against a Tigers team that entered with 42 wins, the experiment bore fruit in the form of a quality start.
“Today, Drew (Butera) was phenomenal back there, the pitch-calling,” said Fillmyer, who struck out six. “And the defense, let alone, all the plays that the guys were making for me today. It was awesome. It was a good team effort behind me and that’s all I can ask for.”
Fillmyer retired 15 straight batters before issuing a two-out, nine-pitch walk to Martinez in the seventh, elevating his pitch count to 87. With Kevin McCarthy warming for a second straight inning in the bullpen, manager Ned Yost left the dugout to check on the 24-year-old from New Jersey. Yost had only planned for Fillmyer to throw some 75 pitches, not come this far.
But Fillmyer, who threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 24 batters he faced, convinced Yost he was fine. He was allowed to pitch to left-hander Adduci, who’d only reached base once on a fielder’s choice in the second. Fillmyer might have gotten him out, too, if Adduci hadn’t jumped on a first-pitch curveball and flared it to the left-field line. With Hunter Dozier and Jorge Bonifacio converging to make a play on it, Dozier slid and came up empty. Adduci was awarded a base hit and Fillmyer was given the hook.
“He was throwing the ball good,” Yost said. “He hadn’t had any stressful innings. I wanted to try to get him an opportunity to get through that, get through that inning. He said he felt good, and I told him I’m gonna give him one more hitter. What a game he pitched.”
McCarthy couldn’t stop the damage. McCann lined a single into right field under a diving Whit Merrifield and drove home Martinez. Aducci scored two pitches later and cut the Royals’ advantage to 3-2 when Jose Iglesias beat out a throw from Dozier that pulled Perez off the bag.
The two runs would haunt the Royals, who fell to 30-69, as they wandered back into the depths of Kauffman Stadium. They were only able to tack on once on a seventh-inning RBI double from Mike Moustakas, who didn’t start against Tigers left-hander Francisco Liriano.
The Royals were 5 for 16 with runners in scoring position. Of the 13 men left on base, at least one should have scored in the eighth inning. With Butera on second base following Merrifield’s sacrifice bunt, Rosell Herrera lined an easy double to left field. But Butera held up at third base, did not score and was left stranded alongside Herrera.
The run might have made the difference.
“We had opportunities to score more, we just couldn’t really capitalize on them,” Yost said.
This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 10:44 PM.