Inside the Royals’ bullpen’s role in keeping Giants at bay in SF series finale
.jpg "Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Jonathan Bowlan (62) pitches the ball against the San Francisco Giants during the second inning at Oracle Park on May 21, 2025 in San Francisco, California, USA.")
The Royals waited until the last moment to divulge their pitching plans for Wednesday’s series finale against the Giants at Oracle Park.
They had plenty of options available to them. They brought Triple-A prospect Luinder Avila along on the taxi squad in case of an emergency — he was stretched out and could’ve started, if needed.
Instead, the Royals opted for a bullpen game. Manager Matt Quatraro turned to left-hander Daniel Lynch IV as his starter in the club’s 8-4 victory.
Lynch issued three walks in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. The silver lining is that he didn’t allow a run and thus navigated the Giants’ lineup unscathed.
“I feel like those walks at the end, I just ran out of gas,” Lynch said. “I think you don’t want to make excuses. But also, part of being confident is being realistic.
“I pitched four out of six games and got up to 40 pitches. I haven’t done that in a while. I don’t look at it as I was being inefficient. You body has limitations, but I felt the first 30 pitches I executed extremely well.”
After Lynch’s day was done, the Royals turned to a procession of Jonathan Bowlan, Steven Cruz, Taylor Clarke, Angel Zerpa and Lucas Erceg.
The bullpen crew didn’t face much pressure. Their teammates at the plate generated enough run support that members of the relief crew were able to settle comfortably into their roles.
Bowlan picked up the first win of his career.
“It’s very special,” Bowlan said. “Everybody wants that first win. It didn’t quite go as I expected it but, hey, it is what it is. And, I mean, I’m beyond blessed. All the glory to God for being in this opportunity and this point in my life.”
The Giants eked out four runs on eight hits Wednesday afternoon. Each of those runs came via the long ball — homers by Matt Chapman, Patrick Bailey and Heliot Ramos.
“They worked hard and there was nothing easy about that,” Quatraro said of his pitchers’ combined effort. “These guys, you know, they all pitched yesterday and they all had to go back-to-back.
“We extended them where they had normally been pitch-wise and innings-wise. They worked their tails off to get through that.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Inside the Royals’ bullpen’s role in keeping Giants at bay in SF series finale."
