Kansas City Royals get encouraging outing from Brad Keller and win series over Angels
After two abbreviated starts full of being “too fine” and “doing too much” and putting a lot of stress on the bullpen, Kansas City Royals young ace Brad Keller bounced back with a powerful performance against the Los Angeles Angels.
Keller showed off a fastball that touched 98 mph, allowed one run, four hits and one walk over 5 2/3 innings and staked his club to a one-run lead before exiting.
The Royals tacked on four insurance runs in the final two innings on their way to a 6-1 win over the Angels in front of an announced crowd of 6,814 at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
The win also gave the Royals (6-4) the series victory. The Royals (two ties, two splits) and the Dodgers (three wins) are the only teams that haven’t lost a series this season.
Most importantly, the Royals’ ace returned to the form they expected when he took the ball on Opening Day.
“That was the Brad Keller we were hoping to see,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “That was fun to watch. You just kind of had an idea that he was going to come out aggressive and trust his stuff.”
Entering the day, Keller had allowed 10 runs, 15 hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings in his two previous starts this season.
Following his last start against the Chicago White Sox in which he gave up a pair of first-inning home runs, Keller talked about lacking the approach that had keyed his previous success. He’d gotten away from the hard-nosed coming-after-you mentality he’d been known for in his previous seasons.
Keller brought a different mindset with him into Wednesday’s start.
“I could tell a couple of days ago, just listening to him talk about how he has been thinking about just making perfect pitches instead of — we love the word attack,” Matheny said. “Attack the strike zone with what you do really well.”
Matheny was also quick to point out that Keller also came out throwing some nasty stuff. The 98 mph fastball with movement, sink and cut, gave Keller a “great mix.”
Keller exploded out of the starting blocks in the first inning. He got David Fletcher to hit a weak grounder so soft that it got to the shortstop too late for a play at first base.
Then Keller challenged the Angels’ two biggest and arguably two of MLB’s biggest stars in Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
Keller’s first three pitches to Ohtani were fastballs, including a third pitch that came hard in on Ohtani’s hands at 97 mph and Ohtani fouled off. After drilling the inside corner, Keller went outside with a 97 mph sinking fastball. He ended the at-bat by getting Ohtani to swing and miss at an elevated 97 mph fastball above the strike zone.
“I think we did it really well to everyone,” Keller said of pounding inside part of the plate. “This is a team that we had to go inside on. If we stayed on one side of the plate, they were going to do a lot of damage to us. We had to establish the inside half of the plate. We had to go in on guys. We had to make them uncomfortable.
“Whenever you see guys like Ohtani taking good hacks all series, you had to make sure he was uncomfortable up there.”
Ohtani entered the day having gone 6 for 10 in the series with a home run and two doubles.
Keller’s confidence only grew as he worked into and out of trouble in the third inning. An error by second baseman Whit Merrifield put two men on and one out with Ohtani stepping to the plate.
“You’ve just got to bare down,” Keller said. “Obviously, you can’t pitch around them or you’re going to let a run in. So you’ve got to go after them. Get that mentality of trust your stuff, go after a guy.”
Keller walked Ohtani on a full count to load the bases, but struck out Trout and cleanup hitter Jared Walsh to strand all three runners and keep the Angels scoreless.
“It felt great to get out of that situation especially how things were going,” Keller said. “To be able to bear down right there and mentally challenge myself was definitely a step in the right direction.”
Keller (1-1) struck out five batters and gave up just one extra-base hit, which came in the sixth inning on an RBI double to Walsh. Keller considers Walsh a close friend. Both are former Georgia high school standouts.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez, the defensive hero of Tuesday night’s win, went 2 for 4 with a home run, a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. In the three-game series, Perez went 8 for 12 with three runs scored, two doubles, a homer and four RBIs
Carlos Santana hit his second home run of the season, and he also walked twice.
Left fielder Andrew Benintendi enjoyed his first multi-hit game as a Royal. He went 2 for 5 with a double and also registered his third stolen base of the season.
Third baseman Hunter Dozier broke out of his drought with a pair of singles. He’d started the season in an 0-for-16 slump. Dozier went 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Up next
The Royals continue a 10-game homestand with the opening game of a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night. Right-hander Jakob Junis will start for the Royals, while the Blue Jays have not announced a starter.
The Royals rotation for the series, following Junis, includes Mike Minor on Friday, Brady Singer on Saturday and Danny Duffy on Sunday.
