Kansas City Royals’ Kris Bubic made the most of his second shot against the Mariners
Kansas City Royals left-hander Kris Bubic had seen the Seattle Mariners before, but he didn’t really feel as though they’d gotten a real look at him, so Saturday he gave them a clearer picture of the type of pitcher he believes he can be consistently.
Bubic allowed one run on two hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings in an 8-1 win at Kauffman Stadium.
“He was living on the corners with just about everything,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “[He had] a little bit of trouble right out of the game and then found it in a hurry. He just got better as he went. The breaking ball really showed up later in the outing. The changeup was very good, but he was hitting all quadrants. He was living on the edges.”
The outing served as a bit of a redo after Bubic pitched against the Mariners in Seattle on August 27. That day he didn’t make it through five innings and gave up five runs on nine hits in a no-decision. The word that came to Bubic’s mind when referring to that start was “bad.”
“I didn’t really execute very much,” Bubic said of the first meeting with the Mariners. “I was in bad counts, long innings to start the game. I kind of set myself up for a tough day.”
Bubic said he didn’t change his game plan much this time around, but he did come into the outing with a focus to pitch as deep as possible to take some of the load off of the bullpen.
As far as altering what he did that last time against the Mariners, he didn’t see the necessity because he never actually carried out the plan in the first place.
“It was more a matter of I know I could execute a lot better than I did pitching at their place, so it was just a matter of going out and doing that,” Bubic said.
Saturday, Bubic (5-6) held the Mariners to one hit and didn’t allow a run through the first six innings on his way to his fifth win of the season.
He walked four batters, but managed not to walk more than one in an inning and he also benefited from a pair of inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth innings. Catcher Salvador Perez also threw out a runner trying to steal in the third inning.
“It was interesting,” Bubic said when assessing his outing. “I thought I got in a better rhythm as I went along, especially with the curveball. It didn’t really show up until the third or fourth inning. I obviously don’t like walking guys, but I guess if I do I’d scatter the four of them and limit contact the whole night. But the defense was great picking me up when I needed it most with the double plays.”
Bubic got his first win since August 21, when he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. He hadn’t won at home since July 23 against the Detroit Tigers.
“He was in control of the strike zone today, mostly with the fastball and everything else played off of it,” Matheny said.
