Kris Bubic gives up three in the sixth as Kansas City Royals lose fourth in a row
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic grew up rooting for the team he faced on Tuesday night. Sure, he’d pitched in the Bay Area before as a big leaguer, but not like this. Not in that ballpark against the San Francisco Giants club sporting that orange and black logo that symbolized baseball to him as a youth.
Bubic, who went to high school in San Jose and then attended Stanford, has had trouble reining in his level of energy and has fallen victim to being “over amped” in past starts. So pitching in front of an estimated 30 to 40 close friends and family in a ballpark that meant something to him could have been a bad recipe.
Instead, Bubic shoved for five innings and matched Giants starter Logan Webb in what shaped up to be a pitchers’ duel. Then the Giants found an opening in the sixth inning and turned that into a game-changing pivot point as the Royals lost their fourth consecutive game, 4-2, in the second game of a three-game series in front of an announced 24,386 at Oracle Park.
The Giants clinched the series victory with the win. The teams will conclude their series on Wednesday afternoon. Rookie right-hander Jonathan Heasley (1-3, 3.62 ERA) will start for the Royals (20-41).
“I think sometimes I’ve maybe come out a little too lax this year, and it’s hurt me,” Bubic said. “Sometimes you come out a little too over amped and it hurts you as well. Tonight was a good balance. The adrenaline was going pretty good early on. As you get the first couple outs and settle into the game, it just becomes any other game. I trusted my stuff and had a lot of confidence in my stuff tonight.”
Bubic allowed three runs on five hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and allowed all three of his runs in the sixth inning.
“That’s some of the best stuff we’ve seen from him, the whole mix,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s one of the best fastballs we’ve seen from him all year, not just velocity-wise, but location-wise. The curveball was sharp, getting swing-and-miss. Whenever he’s got those two, the changeup is going to be fantastic.”
The Royals’ Andrew Benintendi went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, while Salvador Perez went 1 for 4 with an RBI.
Nicky Lopez made his first career start at third base and went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Michael A. Taylor and first baseman Carlos Santana each went 2 for 3. Santana also walked.
Rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. did not have a hit, but drove in a run on his 22nd birthday.
Webb (6-2) held the Royals scoreless through seven innings, and he struck out nine.
“The thing about him is everything is kind of going in a horizontal axis,” Lopez said of Webb. “His slider is this way. Nothing is really up or down. Obviously, he’s proven he’s a tough pitcher. Going up against a guy like that, you’ve just gotta see it up. He got me on one at-bat, but I was lucky to enough to see that fastball up, my fist at-bat.”
Giants control late innings
Bubic (0-4) had allowed just two hits and two walks in five innings. He entered the sixth inning having thrown 74 pitches. He looked poised to get through six innings if not more. He’d shown swing-and-miss stuff with five of his strikeouts coming with batters flailing and missing on third strikes.
But a leadoff double into the left-field corner by the Giants No. 9 hitter Luis Gonzalez spelled trouble. Bubic struck out the second batter of the inning, but then gave up an RBI single to Wilmer Flores.
Joc Pederson’s infield single on a slow roller picked up by Lopez on the grass put two men on with one out. Then Darin Ruf looped an RBI single into right-center field to drive in the second run.
Bubic’s outing ended there. He got charged for a third run that scored on a sacrifice fly after Dylan Coleman came on in relief.
Bubic has now given up four runs in his three starts since being recalled from the minors.
“Tonight was just kind of an effort I thought was probably the best I’ve had all year,” Bubic said. “Everything kind of was working at one point with all three pitches, attacking the zone and just a couple unlucky bounces at the end, and that’s that.”
The Royals threatened against Webb in the seventh. They put two on with one out when MJ Melendez walked and Santana singled.
With two outs, Taylor swatted a single into right field. Melendez, who has turned in the second-fastest times to first base on the club this season, got waved home, but he was thrown out at the plate by Giants outfielder Luis Gonzalez as catcher Austin Wynns gloved the throw and applied the tag to end the inning.
“We’re going to be aggressive trying to get a run, trying to get something positive going,” Matheny said. “The throw was pretty good. The catch at the plate and the tag was really good. That’s a low percentage that a guy is going to be able to pick that short hop up on his backhand and still be able to get the tag. MJ runs well.
“When I looked up, it looked like he wasn’t quite as far as you’d hoped he’d be. I think a lot of that has to do with how the right fielder attacked the ball and cut down the distance.”
The Royals scratched out two runs in the top of the eighth inning on Witt’s sacrifice fly and Perez’s RBI single to pull within a run and seemingly place the pressure back on the Giants. That was until the Giants got their turn at the plate.
In the bottom half of the eighth, the Royals’ two most reliable relievers, Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow, couldn’t keep it to a one-run game.
The Giants added to their lead without getting a hit. Staumont walked two, and Barlow hit a batter to load the bases and put the insurance run on third base. Barlow then gave up a sacrifice fly that allowed that runner on third to score.
This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 12:21 AM with the headline "Kris Bubic gives up three in the sixth as Kansas City Royals lose fourth in a row."
