The story of tonight’s game is unequivocally Kris Bubic. The long-time Royals carved up the White Sox all night. He struggled in the first inning compared to the rest of the outing again, but even then, he looked good, striking out a pair and walking one in a scoreless first. Scoreless was the name of the thing for Bubic, who ultimately pitched seven shutout innings with a career high eleven strikeouts. It was the best start the Royals have gotten among a number of pretty good starts to start the season.
That first inning saw Bubic throw over 20 pitches, but at the end of 7, he’d thrown only 88 total. Just to remind you that strikeouts don’t always mean high pitch counts. The first-inning walk was the only one he would allow, and he didn’t give up his first hit of only two allowed until Lenyn Sosa led off the top of the fifth with a double. Bubic responded by getting a soft lineout, a popout, and a strikeout to end the threat. In the sixth, he allowed a single to number nine hitter Derek Hill, but a strikeout, groundout, and strikeout ended that threat.
Matt Strahm and Lucas Erceg each pitched clean innings to finish the win off, though neither earned their own strikeout.
The Royals’ offense started in the bottom of the fourth. Maikel Garcia led off with a double and, shortly after the Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, Bobby splashed his third double in as many games off the left field wall to drive Maikel home. Bobby advanced to third on a Vinnie Pasquantino flyout but the team couldn’t get him home.
After Bubic finished off the White Sox in the seventh, it seemed like the Royals could use an insurance run. Carter Jensen delivered.
Carter now has twice as many home runs as anyone else on the team. Ever since the sleep-in incident, Carter has looked like a brand new guy. Before that, he was slashing .125/.167/.313/.480. Since then, he’s slashing .316/.371/.842/1.223 with three of his home runs in seven games. Michael Massey followed with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the Royals couldn’t get him in, either.
Still, Kris Bubic put the team on his back and carried them to a series-evening victory in under two hours. One really fun thing is that he got four strikeouts with the fastball, four with the slider, and three with the sweeper. His changeup is usually considered his best pitch, and he didn’t even need to use it to get his Ks. Just a truly phenomenal start.
The Royals have a late afternoon start tomorrow as they try to guarantee at least a split. Michael Wacha (0.69 ERA, 3.98 SIERA) will face off against Erick Fedde (4.09 ERA, 3.60 SIERA). The game will start at 3:10 Royals time and be aired on Royals.TV. See you then!
