Royals rookie pitcher Heath Fillmyer holds Cubs scoreless for first career victory

Rookie starting pitcher Heath Fillmyer had barely broken a sweat Wednesday night when the Cubs managed back-to-back, one-out hits against him in the seventh inning. His pitch count had only just broken into the 90s. He did not seem to want to come out of the game.

Royals manager Ned Yost sauntered out to the Kauffman Stadium mound after Fillmyer struck out Willson Contreras anyway. Left-handed specialist Tim Hill had begun to warm in the bullpen; he was ready to face the left-handed Kyle Schwarber if needed.

But Yost never signaled for a pitching change. He turned his back on Fillmyer and let the rookie work through this jam.

“He told me that he wanted to get the next guy,” Fillmyer said of the conversation on the mound. “I told him I wanted it just as bad.”

Two pitches later, Schwarber got his bat underneath a 92 mph fastball and skied it over the infield where shortstop Adalberto Mondesi could trap it for the final out.

Almost 40 minutes later, after Fillmyer had sat on the bench to catch his breath from the best start of his young career, the Royals snapped their six-game losing streak and beat the Cubs 9-0. He emerged from the dugout for the high-five line and was soon ambushed by a Salvy Splash.

“Normally a young pitcher, into the seventh inning, you don’t wanna put him in a position to lose the game,” Yost said.

“But I made my mind up when the inning started that he was gonna pitch through it. This is his first big-league win. If he’s gonna get in trouble, he’s either gonna win it or he’s gonna lose it himself in the seventh inning.”

Just two weeks ago, Yost sat in his office at Yankee Stadium and told reporters that Fillmyer didn’t have one dominant out-pitch. Fillmyer got by, he said, effectively mixing his 93 mph four-seam fastball with a slider and changeup that hovered in the mid-80s.

On Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, Fillmyer’s curveball pushed its way into the limelight. He turned to it five times to get an out, including when he caught Jason Heyward looking at one that fell in on the bottom third of the zone.

“I think in the zone, for sure,” Fillmyer said. “It usually always has plate. Lots of times it’s just easy for them to take because it’s not in the zone. So being able to get strike one and have that curveball in the zone gives me that effort to expand it and have guys chase and roll over and pop up.”

He wielded the rest of his arsenal to his advantage, too. He kept the Cubs off balance most of the night after getting drilled in the heel on a comebacker hit by Cubs leadoff hitter Anthony Rizzo in the first inning. Fillmyer didn’t give up another hit until David Bote and Tommy La Stella poked balls just outside the infield in the seventh inning. He issued two walks and threw one wild pitch.

Fillmyer had retired 12 in a row before he allowed a five-pitch walk to Schwarber with one out in the fifth inning.

“I just let them work and try to get them to get themselves out,” Fillmyer said.

The Royals faced danger in the fifth when shortstop Mondesi over-threw an inning-ending double play ball to first baseman Lucas Duda. Cubs outfielder Ian Happ reached first base and tried to advance to second base. But there was no error on the play, as Duda was able to pick up the ball in foul territory and throw it back to Mondesi at second for the final out of the inning.

As the Royals improved to 35-79, their offense came to life against the Cubs’ Jose Quintana. Drew Butera ripped a two-run double down the line to left field in the second inning to open scoring. Quintana settled down and retired 13 of 14 batters over the next 4 1/3 innings.

But after Jorge Bonifacio and Brett Phillips hit back-to-back singles to start the seventh inning, Mondesi sent them both home on his fourth homer of the season in the sixth inning, a 437-foot blast. Quintana exited one batter later.

“I’m pleased with the way that we’re swinging the bats,” Yost said. “We didn’t have anything to show for it last night (in a 5-0 loss). These young guys, they’re working hard, and they’re gonna have their ups and downs, and they’re gonna have their successes.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2018 at 10:03 PM.