With Royals’ bullpen roles in flux, Kelvin Herrera could log time in the eighth inning

Royals manager Ned Yost prefers to designate specific roles in his bullpen, and seven games into the season, a few trends began to emerge. Joakim Soria opened the season by working the eighth inning in three of his first four appearances. Kelvin Herrera pitched the seventh in three of his four outings. In Tuesday’s victory over the Astros, Yost unleashed his Big Four relief corps in this order: Luke Hochever, Herrera, Soria and closer Wade Davis.

The early evidence would suggest that Yost will tag Herrera as his seventh-inning guy and utilize Soria as the eighth-inning setup man in the bridge to Davis, but Yost re-emphasized Wednesday that the roles are not set in stone yet. For example: Yost said his staff considered using Herrera in the eighth Tuesday night against the Astros and using Soria earlier. At some point, they probably will.

“We will,” Yost said. “There will be times.”

For now, Yost is hesitant to commit to specific roles for his bullpen. For one, the usage of his pitchers will largely depend on their availability during the opening months of the season. In addition, Yost said he has confidence in using Soria, Hochevar and Herrera in the eighth inning.

“It just depends on who has been used” the day before, Yost said.

To this point, Soria has drawn most of the eighth-inning work when the Royals have held a lead. Herrera has drawn the seventh, while Hochevar has been used as a firefighter of sorts, coming into games with runners on base. Those jobs are fluid, Yost said.

Soria, a former All-Star closer, re-signed with the Royals in the offseason after three seasons away. He began the year by allowing four earned runs in his first three appearances. On Wednesday, Yost shrugged at the sample size. Soria suffered from shoddy command and bad luck on two bloopers in his first outing, allowing three runs to the Mets on opening day. He allowed a solo homer in a 4-3 victory over the Twins last Friday. He posted a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings during spring training.

“Jack saved 39 straight games for me before,” Yost said, speaking of Soria. “His stuff is every bit as good, his command is every bit as good as it was then. He had one outing, the first outing, and that’s it.”

Dyson plays nine innings

Outfielder Jarrod Dyson passed another benchmark in his rehab Tuesday, playing a full nine innings at Class AAA Omaha. He then returned to the starting lineup Wednesday. It was Dyson’s fourth game since going out on a rehab stint. On Tuesday, Dyson finished 2 for 5 with a stolen base. He is 3 for 9 with two walks since heading to Class AAA Omaha.

The timetable for Dyson’s return is still fluid, Yost said Wednesday. The Omaha Storm Chasers will conclude a four-game home series against Round Rock on Thursday before heading to New Orleans for a four-game series starting Friday. The Royals will open a three-game set in Oakland on Friday night.

Big birthday for Cain

Center fielder Lorenzo Cain strolled through the visitor’s clubhouse at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday, celebrating a milestone 30th birthday in routine fashion. The routine, in this case, included his daily harassment from catcher Salvador Perez, who sang happy birthday to Cain in Spanish before cracking that Cain had reached “the third floor.”

One night earlier, Cain stroked his second homer of the season in a 3-2 victory over the Astros. As he prepared for the third game of a four-game series, he had only one wish.

“Cake and ice cream,” he said.

More record ratings

Ten days into the season, the Royals are trending toward more record television ratings. Tuesday’s victory over the Astros posted a 14.5 household rating on Fox Sports Kansas City, according to Nielsen.

Entering Wednesday’s game, Royals games were averaging a 12.7 rating this year, which is a 22 percent increase over this time last year. Last season, the Royals averaged a 12.3 overall household rating for the season.

Nostalgia in Houston

After a season-opening series against the Mets sparked memories of the 2015 World Series, the Royals’ first road trip offered its own nostalgia. During the first three days in Houston, the club was reminded of its miracle comeback in Game 4 of an American League Division Series.

For backup catcher Drew Butera, that meant reminiscing about a lengthy at-bat during the furious eighth-inning rally. Butera eventually drew a walk, setting up Alex Gordon’s go-ahead groundout to second base. Six months later, Butera calls the at-bat the “most important of his career.”

“That was kind of the changing point for our postseason,” Butera said of the comeback. “We always believed we could come back and win. But after that, we really believed.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "With Royals’ bullpen roles in flux, Kelvin Herrera could log time in the eighth inning."