Royals’ Brad Keller finishes strong with six scoreless in a victory over the Tigers
Young Royals ace Brad Keller turned in another fairly dominant performance in his final start of the pandemic-shortened season.
Keller pitched six scoreless innings without walking a batter, allowing four hits and striking out five, to lead the Royals to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in the second game of their season-ending four-game set at Kauffman Stadium Friday night.
“End on a high note,” Keller said. “It sucks that it’s coming to a close. I feel like we’re just hitting our stride as a team and it’s the end of the season, which sucks. But it’s a good way to end it.”
The Royals (25-33) have now won three in a row and four of their last five. They also improved to 14-14 at home this season. They can secure a winning record at home if they sweep the series and win the final two games on Saturday and Sunday.
In nine starts this season, Keller went 5-3 with a 2.47 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 17 walks and a 1.02 WHIP in 54 2/3 innings.
The right-hander finished the season having allowed only one run in 33 innings at home this season for a 0.27 ERA in Kauffman Stadium, the best in MLB in the live-ball era (since 1920) among pitchers with at least five starts.
“That’s crazy,” Keller said of his success at home this season. “I didn’t really notice it. I didn’t realize it. Obviously, I love pitching here. It’s your own routine. It’s something you’re used to, especially during these COVID times. You know your setup. On the road, I feel like every setup is different. Just being able to be in the same routine every home start plays a big role in it. ... I’m kind of blown away by that stat.”
All four hits Keller allowed on Friday night were singles. Two came in the fifth and gave the Tigers runners on first and second with one out, but Keller struck out Eric Haase looking and got Isaac Paredes to ground to third base to end the inning and strand both runners.
“That guy has been a pleasure to watch this year, the way he goes about his business, the way he continues to try and add pitches to his arsenal and the way he competes,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Keller. “That was just a great finish to a very good season, abbreviated nonetheless, but a great season.”
Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi went 3 for 3 with a walk and two stolen bases, and he came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Whit Merrifield had a hit, a stolen base and a run scored. Ryan O’Hearn, Maikel Franco and Mondesi each drove in runs.
O’Hearn’s bases-loaded walk in the first inning forced in the night’s first run and provided the Royals a 1-0 advantage, which they held onto until the next inning when Franchy Cordero doubled and scored on an RBI triple Mondesi swatted into the right-field corner.
“When he hits the ball, especially like he did down the right-field line, you see the entire dugout stand up to watch him run,” Matheny said. “The movement that he makes all over the field, whether it’s defensively, but especially when he starts running (is impressive).
“Getting the bunt down, putting on the pressure, we talked about that early on — doing some of those little and then he was going to find a groove. He’s in such a nice place that I don’t want to and he probably doesn’t want to stop playing either. You take the bigger picture of this and we’d just be getting started in the summer months.”
The Royals extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Mondesi doubled, stole third and scored easily on a sacrifice fly hit to deep center by Maikel Franco. Mondesi started the night having gone 3 for 3 with a single, triple and double in his first three at-bats.
Keller left with a 3-0 lead after six innings, and left-hander Danny Duffy made his first relief appearance since May 11, 2016 at Yankee Stadium. Duffy gave up two runs on two hits in 1/3 innings on Friday. The second run scored on a sacrifice fly after Duffy had exited the game and handed it over to Scott Barlow.
Barlow (2/3 innings), Jakob Junis (one inning) and Jesse Hahn, (one inning, second save) made that one-run lead stand up as the Royals closed out the win. Mondesi and Dozier combined for a highlight-reel defensive play when Mondesi ranged to get to a ball and Dozier made a backhand scoop to complete the play at first base.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Royals’ Brad Keller finishes strong with six scoreless in a victory over the Tigers."
