Brad Keller’s early troubles prevent Kansas City Royals from winning Orioles series
The series looked like it was there for the taking. The Kansas City Royals won the first two games against Baltimore, tallying a combined 15 runs along the way. Even in Saturday’s loss, they collected 10 hits and had a chance to add to their score late.
On Sunday, starting pitcher Brad Keller took the mound looking to snap out of a recent six-start stretch that included five losses and one no-decision. He’d recorded a quality start in his previous outing and fared well in two previous career starts against the Orioles (1.29 ERA).
Unfortunately for the Royals, Keller was roughed up early, saddling the bullpen with a heavy burden and putting the offense in the unenviable position of having to play catch-up.
Keller gave up five runs in 1 2/3 innings as the Royals lost 10-7 to the Orioles in front of an announced 15,037 in the finale of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
“I just felt like I didn’t have much command of anything out there today,” Keller said. “It was just tough. I felt like the ball just kept flying out of my hand, not going anywhere I wanted it to go. I felt like we had a good game plan going in. I just couldn’t execute the pitches.”
The Royals (20-39) haven’t won a series since May 13-15 in Colorado after allowing the Orioles to salvage a split. With the loss, the Royals also missed a chance to finish the homestand at .500, going 4-6 instead.
“We just want to win games,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “No doubt, taking a series here — a four-game set — would’ve been really good. Especially, if you take the first two, you expect to continue.
“We talked a lot about this team seeing what they need to see of each other and themselves. We saw some glimpses of that in this last series. Hopefully, that’s something that continues to set the expectations really high.”
Royals outfielder/first baseman Hunter Dozier (4 for 5, two RBIs, two runs scored), center fielder Michael A. Taylor (2 for 4, two RBIs, run scored) and rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (3 for 5, RBI, two runs scored) each hit home runs in the loss.
All of the Royals’ scoring came in the sixth inning or later. By that time, they faced a seven-run deficit.
Despite the large hole they were in, they got the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning as well as the ninth inning with two outs, but they didn’t get closer.
“We’re disappointed that we lost the last two, but I think we are playing better baseball,” Dozier said. “We’ve just got to continue to focus on playing good baseball and the wins will take care of themselves.”
Keller (1-8) had gone at least six innings in eight of his 11 starts entering the day. He’d been the workhorse of the Royals pitching staff and typically excelled at pitching to contact while also keeping the ball on the ground. He’d recorded a 52% ground ball rate, fourth-highest in the majors since his debut in 2018.
However, the Orioles hammered Keller for more than 1,300 feet of home runs by the time he recorded his first out in the second inning. Anthony Santander hit a solo homer (455 feet) with two outs in the first. Then Ryan Mountcastle (428) and Rougned Odor (422) started the second with back-to-back homers.
The homers were followed by a walk and consecutive hits. The first five hitters reached base, and each of the first four scored. Keller said he tried to make adjustments on the fly to gain better command, but he had little to no success.
Keller struck out back-to-back batters to give a glimmer of hope that he might turn the inning around. Instead, Keller gave up a two-out RBI single to Austin Hays and his day was done.
“Leading off the inning with two back-to-back homers was crushing,” Keller said. “But once I got the two strikeouts I figured just get through this inning and we’ll go out there, a new inning in the next one. I just couldn’t make the last pitch to finally get out of that inning.”
Keller threw 58 pitches, and gave up five runs, seven hits and three homers in 1 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. He handed the game over to the bullpen with two men on and a 5-0 deficit.
“I’m really hoping he does (get through that inning),” Matheny said of Keller in the second. “Because we’ll take him to his full count at that point, let him go as deep as he can and try to save some of the guys. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anybody that could go real long for us today.
“But in general, I thought the pen did a really nice job considering what was asked of them. They did a really good job of just kind of picking each other up. It wasn’t ideal.”
The Orioles pushed an unearned run across against reliever Joel Payamps (1 2/3 innings) in the fourth, added another run in the sixth against Taylor Clarke (two innings) and three more in the seventh inning against fresh-off-the-IL Amir Garrett (2/3 of an inning).
The Royals begin a 10-day, nine-game West Coast road trip on Monday.
This story was originally published June 12, 2022 at 5:03 PM.
