Royals went off script for Josh Staumont’s MLB debut
Josh Staumont’s mind didn’t start working through scenarios that might get him into his first major-league game until the sixth inning Thursday night. That thought entered the Royals rookie’s mind, as he phrased it “like six days ago.”
Staumont, a former second-round pick (2015) out of Azusa Pacific University with a fastball in the upper 90s, became the ninth player to make his major-league debut with the Royals this season.
The right-hander pitched a scoreless 11th and 12th inning during the Royals’ 4-hour, 51-minute marathon against the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night. The Indians escaped with a 5-4 win in the opening game of a four-game series.
“It’s one of those things that you just can’t imagine,” Staumont said. “There’s very few things in life that you do for the first time that you put a lot of dedication, blood, sweat and tears into. And when it comes to fruition, even if it’s standing there for the first time, it’s definitely an experience that you just can’t put into words.”
The Royals promoted Staumont from Triple-A Omaha on July 20, the corresponding roster move after Wily Peralta was designated for assignment.
This season in the minors, Staumont had 74 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings — the best strikeout per nine innings (12.97) mark in the Pacific Coast League (minimum 50 innings pitched) — but he has also walked 37 batters this season for a WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) of 1.32.
He became the third Royals pitcher to make his major-league debut in extra innings. He joined Scott Bankhead (May 25, 1986) and George Throop (September 7, 1975).
Staumont was thrown into a tie game against the hottest team in baseball. The Indians have more wins (31) and a higher winning percentage than any team in baseball since June 4.
“I think that’s the easiest way to do it,” Staumont said of having to settle in quickly. “It is just a baseball game. It doesn’t matter what name is on the back of my jersey. I’m playing for what’s on the front of it. I’m blessed to be here with the Royals. I’m thankful for the Glass family, the entire front office and everyone. No matter how much I worked for it, I had to have some things fall in place first, so it’s a huge blessing.”
With an out in the 12th inning, Staumont gave up a double, an intentional walk and a walk that loaded the bases. Then he got Jake Bauers swinging for his first strikeout, and Greg Allen’s fly ball ended the inning without a run having scored.
“Any out was big,” Staumont said. “It’s something that’s always going to be on the back of your card. Every, single out you collect. It was huge. But a deep breath doesn’t do it justice. But at the same time, there’s a long road ahead.”
Staumont hadn’t pitched since joining the club in large part because Royals manager Ned Yost wanted his first big-league appearance to come in a “low leverage” situation.
Staumont warmed up during the team’s 5-4 loss at Cleveland on July 21, but he did not enter the game. The Royals were down by three runs when he started warming, but they scored a run to pull within two and Yost kept reliever Jorge Lopez in the game instead of turning to the rookie.
On Thursday, Staumont was the sixth of seven relievers the Royals used after Mike Montgomery pitched the first five innings.
“I’m managing trying to hope that we’re going to score a run and not really trying to conserve pitching at that point,” Yost said of the late innings. “We got down to Josh and (Brian) Flynn and I knew Flynn was going to be long and go as long as he could go until we won it or lost it.
“(Staumont) did fine. He came into tough situations and got out of the bases loaded jam in the second inning. I thought he did OK.”
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 11:44 AM.
