Kansas City Royals give Jakob Junis the starting nod for Wednesday’s game vs. Indians
Jakob Junis’s first two appearances of the season came out of the bullpen in a relief role. The right-hander’s third will come as the Kansas City Royals’ starting pitcher on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Junis will make his first start of the season against the Cleveland Indians in the second game of a two-game series at Progressive Field. The Royals won the first game 3-0 behind a strong performance from left-hander Danny Duffy on Monday.
The Royals will begin a three-game series on the road against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Right-hander Brad Keller is expected to start the series opener in Chicago. Keller will have gotten an extra day of rest thanks to the day off Tuesday and Junis’ start Wednesday.
Keller has not pitched since the season opener last Thursday.
It’s not clear how deep Junis will be able to go into the game after having fluctuated between getting stretched out as a starter during spring training and transitioning to the bullpen.
His last Cactus League appearance was a dominant two-inning relief outing, but he also threw a longer outing on the back fields before leaving Arizona.
Junis’ two relief outings were one inning each on Saturday and Sunday. He allowed two hits, no walks and struck out three in those outings. He threw a combined 30 pitches (16 Saturday, 14 Sunday) in those appearances.
On Monday morning, Royals manager Mike Matheny said he’d been impressed by how Junis had responded to the relief role, adapted to the different rhythm of getting ready to enter the game on short notice and being able to bounce back and pitch on back-to-back days.
“He said (Sunday) he felt better than he did the day before,” Matheny said of Junis. “All those things are pointing in a really good direction. He seems to be embracing this role at this time, and he has looked very good.”
Roster moves
The Royals announced on Tuesday that right-handed pitcher Scott Blewett and catcher Meibrys Viloria cleared waivers and were assigned outright to the minors. Blewett will be assigned to the club’s alternate training site, Viloria to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Both were taken off of the 40-man roster last week in advance of the club setting its opening day roster. The Royals had to clear room for the additions of outfielder Kyle Isbel and left-handed relief pitcher Jake Brentz.
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Kansas City Royals give Jakob Junis the starting nod for Wednesday’s game vs. Indians."
