In previous years, Royals’ Brad Keller would’ve junked this pitch. Now he utilizes it
In the bullpen during warmups, Brad Keller wasn’t feeling his curveball. In past years, that would’ve meant bailing on the pitch when he took the mound during a game.
But not anymore. Keller stayed with the pitch he focused on during spring training and it has served him well this season, including in Wednesday performance against the Texas Rangers.
In the Royals’ 10-1 victory at Globe Life Park, Keller went 6 2/3 innings, struck out seven and walked one. He retired 10 in a row before being relieved after a seventh-inning walk. It was the longest outing by a Royals starter, and one of the best, this season.
Keller improved to 2-1, getting a decision in all three starts and lowering his ERA to 2.12.
“Really happy with my curve ball today and my slider,” Keller said. “I kind of rode those pitches.”
Keller, in his sixth season, has said that one of his objectives during spring training was to work on the curve and ride it in games. That’s what happened Wednesday. He wasn’t confident with the new pitch before the game but knew it had to be part of his arsenal.
“In warmups I couldn’t get any of them over,” Keller said. “In the past, if I had that kind of warmup with it, I wouldn’t have thrown it at all.”
Instead, the Rangers saw plenty of Keller’s off-speed stuff in several situations.
“That’s a big part of it,” Keller said. “Throwing it behind in the count, early in the count, just continue to throw it so I gain more confidence in it. It’s probably the best I’ve thrown it in a game.”
Royals manager Matt Quatraro had the same sense.
“The breaking ball was outstanding,” Quatraro said. “Even when he was pulling the fast ball a little bit he’d get back in the count with the breaking ball and get bad swings.”
Keller’s only mistake was a ball up in the zone that Nathaniel Lowe drove over the wall in the first inning for the Rangers’ lone run. That opened the scoring, but the Royals responded with three runs in the second and were on the way to their most decisive victory of the season.