KC Royals’ Brad Keller comes through in the ninth for his first save in the majors
The Kansas City Royals’ Brad Keller bullpen experiment seemingly got kicked-up a couple notches when he got called upon in a save situation in the ninth inning on Thursday afternoon.
Keller certainly felt the difference as he stood on the mound in the closer’s role, however temporary it may be, and pitched for the first time in that setting.
“Especially after the second out, I could feel it,” Keller said. “The crowd got louder. They got on their feet. I felt like I started getting butterflies pretty quick. It was really cool though, no doubt.”
Keller retired the side in order in the ninth, including a pair of strikeouts, and put the finishing touches on a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium.
Afterwards in the clubhouse, Keller received the customary celebratory condiment shower from his teammates for achieving a career first, surrounded and doused in relish, barbecue sauce and an assortment of whatever else was readily available.
The win completed a series sweep for the Royals, the first three-game sweep since they took three from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field from August 20-22, 2021. It also marked their first series sweep at home since they beat the Detroit Tigers in three games from July 23-25, 2021.
For Keller it provided a new experience, one unlike any he’d faced at any point during his professional career.
“I haven’t been able to process it yet,” Keller said. “I was out there pretty nervous, honestly. I haven’t been in a situation like that, game on the line. I know it’s a three-run lead, but still a save opportunities is pretty cool. So it was really special.”
Up until last month, Keller, 27, had led the Royals pitching staff in starts and innings pitched as a key figure in their rotation. But the Royals decided to shift him to the bullpen with plans to audition him as a potential late-inning reliever.
Keller made nine relief appearances since the move, but hadn’t been tossed into a save situation.
Even during his rookie year in 2018 when he began the season in the bullpen, Keller officially had two blown saves. Both those instances came in the seventh inning as opposed to closing out the game in the ninth.
Circumstances lined up for him on Thursday.
“We had four guys down today,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of the bullpen. “That’s the cost of chasing wins the past two days.”
With the Royals short-handed in the bullpen, Collin Snider pitched the seventh after Jonathan Heasley had tossed six innings and allowed just one run. Snider didn’t allow a hit in the seventh, then Carlos Hernández stepped into the set-up role and handcuffed the Twins in the eighth.
Until the phone call to the bullpen, Keller said he was looking around and doing his own assessment of who Matheny might choose to close in the ninth. Keller admitted he didn’t land on himself as the most likely option.
“I was like maybe they throw (Hernández) back out there, I don’t know,” Keller said. “It was kind of iffy. Looking around, (Jose) Cuas had pitched in that situation before. Maybe it’s Cuas. I was keeping an open mind about who it could be, just kind of staying ready.”
Keller struck out Nick Gordon on a 3-2 fastball at 96 mph for a called strike at the bottom of the strike zone. Next, he induced a ground ball to second baseman Nicky Lopez to pull within one out of a win, a series sweep and a career first.
Keller needed just three pitches to get Gio Urshela. Back-to-back sliders for called strikes put Urshela in a hole, then he foul-tipped a 96-mph fastball into the mitt of catcher MJ Melendez for the game’s final out.
“Watching a little bit more movement on his fastball, which he got the first strikeout with,” Matheny said. “We know he’s going to get ground balls. We hope we have guys in the right positions and then they make plays behind him. But I think there’s more swing-and-miss for Brad there, regardless of what his role is.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 7:09 PM.
