Royals’ bats bail out rookie pitcher Kris Bubic as they defeat the Tigers in series opener
For whatever reason, the Kansas City Royals’ offense simply hadn’t provided much offense when rookie left-hander Kris Bubic took the mound this season. Thursday night, the offense finally bailed him out.
In his previous start last weekend in Milwaukee, Bubic gave up one unearned run and took the loss. The Royals entered the night having scored one run or fewer in five of his nine starts, and the 2.78 average run support for Bubic tied with Alex Cobb for the second-lowest in the major leagues (minimum nine starts).
Bubic allowed four runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs, and three walks in 4 2/3 innings in in what will be his last start of the season. The Royals’ offense, however, answered the call and the bullpen held on by a thread in the 8-7 win over the Detroit Tigers. It was the opening game of the season-ending four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
“Not my best, but I’m glad the offense could pick me up,” Bubic said. “Defense made some nice plays tonight. Just overall, the command of everything was just so-so compared to the couple starts I had had before this. That was really it. I’m not going to over-analyze it too much.”
Bubic’s 8.82 strikeout per nine innings ranks tops among rookies in club history with a minimum of 10 starts.
In his previous two starts (10 1/3 innings) Bubic had given up just one earned run on seven hits and six walks.
“Outside of the (Miguel Cabrera) the whole night, they took away my changeup pretty well,” Bubic said. “Credit to them. I didn’t command it great, but the ones I felt like I threw pretty well they either spit on or took some pretty good swings on it. They essentially turned me into a two-pitch guy, and it was the two pitches with fastball-curveball instead of the usual fastball-changeup.”
The Royals’ Adalberto Mondesi went 4 for 4 with two stolen bases and two RBIs, while Maikel Franco went 2 for 3 and hit the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning. Salvador Perez went 2 for 4 and hit his third home run in the last four games. Jorge Soler entered the game as a pinch hitter and ripped an RBI double as part of a pivotal sixth inning for the Royals (24-33).
Perez continued the torrid offensive run he’s been on for the past two weeks. Since coming off the injured list (blurred vision) on September 11, he has gone 23 for 51 (.451) with seven home runs and 20 RBIs in 12 games.
The first three batters of the night got hits for the Royals, capped by Perez’s three-run home run on a 1-1 pitch he dropped into the left-field bullpen. That homer gave him 11 for the season and five at Kauffman Stadium.
Willi Castro’s third-inning two-run moonshot pulled the Tigers within a run, 3-2. Castro jumped all over a 1-0 changeup and sent it high over the left-field wall for the seventh homer allowed by Bubic in 10 starts.
After the Royals added a run on a Franco sacrifice fly in the third, the Tigers got to Bubic for two more runs in fifth on a towering two-run blast to center field by Cabrera. Cabrera unloaded on a 3-2 fastball and tagged it an estimated 450 feet for his 10th homer of the season.
Despite walking the next batter, former Royal Jorge Bonifacio, Bubic nearly got out of the inning thanks to a double play turned by shortstop Mondesi and second baseman Nicky Lopez. Mondesi ranged all the way behind the second base bag to glove the grounder and flipped over the second-base umpire to Lopez.
However, Bubic walked the next batter and right-hander Scott Barlow came on in relief.
“I thought it looked pretty good in the first. That’s one of the most efficient innings that he has had, challenging guys, getting some ground balls, using his defense,” Matheny said of Bubic. “Then he just got into a little trouble, and he kind of had a little bit of a tough time getting out of the second and third. He had lots of pressure and giving up the home runs. Overall, he’s continuing in my mind to make better pitches with the fastball.”
The Royals scored four in the sixth on Franco’s homer, Soler’s double, and a Mondesi two-run single to go up 8-4. But the Tigers rallied in the eighth with three runs against fireballer Josh Staumont.
Greg Holland experienced discomfort in his right oblique while warming up, and that set the table for right-hander Jake Newberry to step in and pitch the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his first major-league save.
“I got the out in the eighth, came in, sat down and (pitching coach) Cal (Eldred) came up to me and was like, ‘We’re going to stick with you. It’s your game,’” Newberry said. “I said all right. I’m ready. I just went from there, just tried to go out and compete and do the best job I could.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 10:43 PM.
