Kennedy turns in strong outing as ‘opener,’ but Royals lose first game of doubleheader
After being undoubtedly off the first three weeks of the season, Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy was certainly on in his start Saturday at the Minnesota Twins.
Unfortunately, the Royals were forced to go off-script with Jakob Junis unavailable to follow Kennedy in KC’s planned pitching succession, and Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz made them pay in a 4-2, seven-inning loss to open a doubleheader at Target Field.
Royals third baseman Maikel Franco went 2 for 3 with a home run and catcher Salvador Perez extended his hitting streak to 11 games. First baseman Ryan McBroom doubled and Hunter Dozier also had a hit.
But Cruz did damage by going 2 for 3 with two RBIs, a home run and a double.
“I thought Ian did a nice job giving us a chance right out of the box,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We just had trouble really putting anything against (Jake) Odorizzi. Once we got a little something going, unfortunately they just got the distance too far. A couple mistakes that they jumped on unfortunately spread that distance.”
Kennedy made his first start since September 28, 2018. He was converted to the bullpen last year and recorded 30 saves after having made 289 of his first 291 MLB appearances as a starter.
“It’s like riding a bike,” Kennedy said. “It was getting right into your routine again. “
Kennedy looked sharp and held the Twins to one hit and one walk in two scoreless innings. He struck out three. He entered the weekend having made eight relief appearances and allowed 10 hits in eight innings, including six home runs.
In his most recent outing, he didn’t record an out and gave up three runs on two homers at the Cincinnati Reds.
“I was looking at video of my last outing,” Kennedy said. “It was absolutely terrible. “There’s some things I was doing mechanically that wasn’t allowing me to — my command was completely off. There’s some games where I felt like there was, I think, it was one mistake and it ended up being a home run.”
Matheny announced Friday morning that Kennedy would start with previously scheduled starter Junis coming on in relief after Kennedy. The Royals went into Saturday with that same plan for the first game on their doubleheader after Friday night’s game was washed out by a rainstorm.
But Junis experienced a back spasm and lower back discomfort while warming up and could not play Saturday. Instead, the Royals turned to left-handed reliever Gabe Speier after Kennedy had pitched two scoreless innings.
Speier retired the first two batters he faced before he gave up a single and Matheny brought in right-hander Tyler Zuber to face Cruz with a man on and two out. Cruz crushed a fastball over the inner half of the plate for a two-run home run to left.
Byron Buxton tacked on a run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Former Royal Odorizzi held the Royals without a hit through the first 3 2/3 innings before Perez singled. He struck out six in four innings.
In the fifth, the Royals pulled within a run, 3-2, on Franco’s two-run homer to left-center. The blast marked Franco’s fifth homer of the season and tied him with Jorge Soler for the team lead.
The Twins answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth when Cruz smacked a pitch that appeared to be headed just over the left-field wall. Royals outfielder Alex Gordon gloved it and pulled back into the park, but the ball came loose from Gordon’s glove and fell to the grass so Cruz got a double out of it.
Eddie Rosario doubled in the Twins’ final run.
Lynn Worthy: 816-234-4951, @LWorthySports
