Johnny Cueto bests Ian Kennedy as Royals fall to Giants 8-5

These days, you can find Johnny Cueto here, standing on a mound inside Scottsdale Stadium, plying his craft for a new team, honing the shimmy in new surroundings. He has traded Royal blue for the orange and black of the San Francisco Giants. His trademark braids hang from a black skull cap. He has ditched the reigning world champions for the franchise that has won three of the last six.

He has, in other words, moved on from the shotgun marriage that offered so much drama last fall. The dreadful finish to the regular season. The road disasters in the playoffs. The glorious complete game in Game 2 of the World Series. For Cueto, it is all prologue.

In December, Cueto signed a six-year, $130 million contract with San Francisco. On Friday, he toed the rubber against the Royals. He allowed three earned runs over six innings in the Giants’ 8-5 victory. He removed his cap and waved to the crowd as he exited to a standing ovation.

Cueto’s day was not perfect. He served up a two-run homer to Travis Snider in the top of the second. He allowed eight hits. He still bested Royals starter Ian Kennedy, an offseason acquisition who will served as a de facto replacement for Cueto in the Kansas City rotation.

Kennedy lasted only four innings, surrendering five runs on six hits and two walks. San Francisco’s Conor Gillaspie cranked a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Brandon Belt battered him with a three-run shot to right in the bottom of the third. He even allowed a single to Cueto, who chose to take two at-bats in a game being played under American League rules.

The Cueto at-bats provided some levity. They did little to soothe Kennedy.

“It was one of the those spring training outings where you’re trying to grind through it,” Kennedy said. “I was trying to go a little longer. But I threw so many pitches.”

In his first spring with the Royals, Kennedy has spent much of his energy working through command struggles. He allowed three runs over four innings in his last start while issuing two walks. He entered Friday having allowed seven runs in 13 innings. As he took the mound at Scottsdale Stadium, he sought to work down in the zone.

“I was just barely missing,” Kennedy said. “I was down. I felt like some of those pitchers were pretty good. I was just missing off, maybe a little down. I’d rather miss down than down the middle or up.”

Kennedy will now have one more spring start before making his regular season debut during the season’s first week. In the moments after his outing, Kennedy wore an ice wrap on his right shoulder and pondered his spring in the visitors clubhouse. The results have not been smooth, of course, but spring training statistics do not count. After a rickety ride on Friday, Kennedy was ready to press on.

“You kind of got to view it as you’re getting ready for the regular season,” Kennedy said. “The results are the results, whatever. It’s just more of, you got to go out there and grind through.”

The regulars

Second baseman Omar Infante maintained a late surge, finishing 3 for 4 with his fourth double of the spring. Infante, who is poised to begin the season as the Royals’ starting second baseman, raised his spring average to .344.

The arms

Reliever Wade Davis breezed through an inning with two strikeouts. Joakim Soria gave up two runs in his only inning of work. Luke Hochevar pitched a scoreless inning in the seventh.

Position battles

Outfielder Reymond Fuentes is all but certain to break camp with the Royals and start the season on the 25-man roster. As camp winds down, he is still pushing for more. Fuentes roped a triple off Johnny Cueto before scoring on Travis Snider’s homer. He is batting .425 this spring. Manager Ned Yost said he is still competing with Paulo Orlando for the starting job in right field.

Up next

The Royals return home to face the Oakland A’s at 3:05 p.m. Saturday at Surprise Stadium.

Giants 8, Royals 5

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E: Panik (1). DP: San Francisco 1. LOB: Kansas City 9, San Francisco 7. 2B: Infante 2 (4), T.Brown (2), G.Hernandez (3). 3B: Fuentes (1). HR: C.Decker (3), Snider (2), Belt (5), Gillaspie (2). SB: Adrianza (1).

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HBP: by Cueto (Barmes). WP: Kennedy 2. Umpires: Home, Jim Reynolds; First, Stu Scheurwater; Second, Mike Winters; Third, Chris Gonzalez. Time: 2:51. Att: 11,217

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Johnny Cueto bests Ian Kennedy as Royals fall to Giants 8-5."