Kris Bubic bails Kansas City Royals out of trouble after Daniel Lynch’s short outing

Kansas City Royals left-hander Kris Bubic didn’t realize when he pitched an inning in relief on Thursday night that he was basically throwing a bullpen session in preparation for a starter-length outing two days later.

Thanks to a painfully short outing by Daniel Lynch, Bubic’s close friend, former roommate and fellow member of the 2018 draft class, the Royals had to lean heavily on Bubic on Saturday night.

Bubic tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 9-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. The loss marked the seventh in a row for the Royals (16-16).

Lynch gave up eight runs in the first inning, and it looked like the Royals might have to exhaust their bullpen options.

“What an incredible job by Kris Bubic,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He saved our pen and threw incredibly well. That’s probably the best we’ve seen him. He had a great rhythm, the best breaking ball we’ve seen from him. The changeup has always been there. We needed that worse than he even knew.”

Bubic allowed just one hit, walked three and struck out two.

After making 10 starts in the majors last season, he began this season at the alternate training site. He rejoined the MLB club last week and has been pitching out of the bullpen since his return to the majors.

Bubic, 23, became the first Royals pitcher to record at least 17 outs out in relief since Onelki García on August 27, 2017. Bubic is also the first Royals pitcher with at least 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a relief appearance since Jimmy Gobble on April 23, 2004.

“He was fantastic,” Matheny said. “We’ve talked to him before about trying to pick too much. We talked about that with a lot of young pitchers, giving the opposition too much credit, not trusting your stuff, working from behind because you’re trying to make perfect pitches. He trusted it today and came right at guys. That was by far the most efficient, but he was still getting the swing-and-miss.”

Bubic threw more than 5 2/3 innings in just one of his 10 starts last season. He pitched six innings, allowed four hits, two walks and two runs in his second career start against the Chicago Cubs on August 5, 2020.

Last season, he’d fallen into a pattern of running up high pitch counts and regularly pitching with men on base in his first taste of the big leagues.

“I think the difference was just kind of putting the team first there,” Bubic said of his outing on Saturday. “I was in a spot where I didn’t really want to think too much about what I was doing. I just wanted to give us as much length as possible because, obviously, as a bullpen we’ve been somewhat taxed the last week or so coming off the long road trip and then this homestand.”

Bubic has made three starts against the White Sox, so he had familiarity with the lineup he faced on Saturday night.

Bubic pointed to being able to use three pitches — his fastball, changeup and curveball — effectively as a big factor in his success.

Matheny described Bubic having the changeup and curveball working at a high level as a “difference maker.”

“The experience was invaluable last year,” Bubic said. “I know it was a very short season and kind of a weird season in a lot of aspects. That kind of allowed me to get my feet wet a little bit, kind of understand how to pitch guys, how guys react to stuff. … I think just the ability to have confidence in the zone and just be on the attack, putting myself in good counts gives me the best chance to succeed.”