Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch encouraged by start despite ups and downs
Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch recognized there were encouraging moments and less than stellar pitches rolling off his fingers in his first spring training start of the year on Thursday.
The Royals remained unbeaten this spring thanks to Vinnie Pasquantino’s walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning to secure a 5-4 win against the Cincinnati Reds in a Cactus League game in front of an announced 3,283 at Surprise Stadium.
Lynch pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits, including a home run, as well as one walk and a hit batter. He also struck out three.
“I got a little tired at the end, but I felt good about how I finished those last two batters, brought it back and got ahead when I felt like my delivery got away from me a little bit,” Lynch said. “Honestly, I felt good. I thought my pitches were good, maybe not located great at times, but I thought I made some great pitches too.”
With one out in the first inning, Reds star and former MVP Joey Votto turned on a 0-1 slider that wasn’t particularly sharp and crushed it into the bullpen behind the right-field wall.
Lynch, who made 15 starts last season including his major-league debut, left with two outs in the first inning and the bases loaded after a throwing error, a single, a fielder’s choice that didn’t result in an out and allowed a run to score and one hit batter.
Right-handed reliever Jose Cuas came in retired the only batter he faced to end the inning, but Lynch returned to the mound for the second inning under spring training rules that allowed him to re-enter the game.
“I thought he was good, a little better than what his line will look like, especially having to pull him out of an inning,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I appreciate the league being smart about something like that where we can keep him pitching. It gave Cuas a great opportunity. He came in and did a fantastic job in a tough spot.”
Lynch pitched a scoreless second inning. The only runner he allowed came on a chopper that got by third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. Lynch struck out back-to-back batters, both swinging at third strikes, in the inning. The second of those strikeouts came against Votto, who’d taken him deep in the first.
“I thought overall it was pretty good,” Matheny said of Lynch’s outing. “The stuff looks right. It’s the execution at this point.”
In the third inning, Lynch gave up a one-out single followed by a walk. Then with two outs, Brandon Drury ripped an RBI ground-rule double into the left-field corner. Lynch got an inning-ending grounder to second base to wrap up his outing.
“I think my delivery got a little bit away from me, but I did do a good job of bringing it back in,” Lynch said of his takeaways from the outing. “So that would be a positive takeaway. And maybe next time, not lose it for two batters. Have a couple pitches. Realize it. And rein it back in.
“But that’s definitely an improvement from last year where the delivery could get away from me for an inning at a time and I wouldn’t realize it and [pitching coach] Cal [Eldred] would have to tell me. So that would be, obviously, a negative thing to walk someone, but a positive thing that I was able to come back and not let that inning get away.”
Witt homers again
Witt, MLBPipeline.com’s No. 1 prospect, hit his second home run of the spring, a three-run blast with two outs in the fourth inning to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Last year’s Minor League Baseball home run champion MJ Melendez doubled to start the inning, and Whit Merrifield singled with two outs to put runners on the corners and set the table for Witt.
In his previous two at-bats on Thursday, Witt reached on an error in the first inning and beat out an infield single in the third inning.
Witt did not play in Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, but he homered in his previous game against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.
Last season in the minors, Witt hit 33 home runs combined between Double-A and Triple-A.
“I almost think of it as I’m just trying to go gap-to-gap, put a good swing on it, barrel it, and those mishits are the home runs,” Witt said. “We kind of say as a hitting group that we’re trying to hit it through the wall. Then sometimes you get under it a little bit and then it’s a homer.”
Hernandez starts on Friday
The Royals listed Carlos Hernández, Jackson Kowar, Ronald Bolaños, Colten Brewer and Josh Staumont as probable pitchers for Friday against the Texas Rangers. Hernández is scheduled to start the game.
Hernández and Kowar each spent time in the Royals rotation last season.
Hernández tied for the third-highest win total on the Royals (six), despite having made just
11 starts. He also posted the second-best ERA (3.68) on the club behind only Danny Duffy (2.51).
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 7:52 PM.
