This particular pitch helped Kansas City Royals’ Brady Singer sting the Tampa Bay Rays
Kansas City Royals pitcher Brady Singer didn’t need much confirmation against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Sunday’s starting pitcher knew his signature sinker was in rare form.
“I think that was one of the better sinkers that I’ve had all year,” Singer said. “In the first and second, it was a little iffy. Then, I was really finding it towards the end. I think the sinker needs to come along and today was a positive.”
Singer allowed four runs in eight innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He earned his sixth win as the Royals cruised to an 8-4 victory.
The final line wasn’t indicative of Singer’s outing. He was efficient and limited the Rays over seven scoreless frames.
Singer threw 46 sinkers and 37 sliders across 92 pitches. The combination registered 16 called strikes and 11 whiffs.
The Rays paid for their aggressiveness. Singer worked quick innings and found a nice rhythm with steady run support.
It was a stark difference from his recent outings. Prior to Sunday, Singer had allowed 14 earned runs in his last five starts. He also issued 12 walks and recorded 17 strikeouts.
“It’s just a matter of the small misses today that helped,” Singer said.
Singer admitted he is more effective when he can locate his sinker. His focus has been to attack the strike zone and limit his pitch locations to his arm side. This allowed the sinker to have more surface for diving in and out of the strike zone.
“When you have a sinker that is working like that and they put the ball on the ground early, it provides a lot of confidence for him ...” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Like we talk about with him all the time, it’s the command. If he can keep it arm-side to the lefties and keep it down, you saw some awkward and checked swings.”
Singer produced another stellar Royals start. In their last four games, the Royals have received solid efforts from starting pitchers Singer, Alec Marsh, Cole Ragans and Daniel Lynch.
The consistency has been a welcome sight. The starting rotation has kept the Royals in games, but their offense couldn’t provide much run support.
This wasn’t the case on Sunday. The Royals scored five runs before the third inning. The KC offense hit three home runs and gave Singer a nice cushion.
“It was huge. It set me up to be able to stay in the (strike) zone more,” Singer said. “I was able to have a lot more confidence in the zone with that lead.”
The Royals will turn to veteran Jordan Lyles on Monday night against the Detroit Tigers. He will be followed in the rotation by starters Daniel Lynch and Ryan Yarbrough.
