Kennedy regains footing with 2-inning start

One of Royals manager Mike Matheny’s missions this week was to get reliever Ian Kennedy fixed.

It’s too early to make any definitive pronouncements, but Kennedy’s outing on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader against the Twins was a solid step forward. Kennedy threw two scoreless innings while serving as an opener.

The Royals lost, 4-2, at Target Field.

• Box score

Kennedy, who saved 30 games for the Royals season, has struggled this season in a setup role, posting a 7.88 ERA in eight games before Saturday. More alarming, Kennedy had given up six home runs, including two in relief during the Royals’ 5-4 win at Cincinnati on Wednesday.

So, Matheny’s strategy to get Kennedy’s confidence back went outside the box. Matheny had Kennedy, a longtime starter, serve as an opener in Game 1, while expecting scheduled starter Jakob Junis to piggyback. Junis, though, was unable to pitch because of back spasms that developed during warmups.

Kennedy was sharp from the get-go. He got leadoff man Max Kepler on a called third strike on a backdoor slider. Kennedy gave up one hit, one walk and struck out three.

“I thought Ian did a nice job right out of the box and gave us a chance,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “There were some mechanical things that [pitching coach] Cal Eldred and [bullpen coach] Larry Carter were working on with him, getting him to stay closed on his delivery and stop pushing the ball, which made his ball a little flat through the zone. He came out and made some really good pitches with his breaking ball.”

Kennedy said when he was approached by Matheny to make his first start since 2018 he was all-in.

“When Mike brought it up the other day, he asked me my comfort level,” Kennedy said, “and I just said ‘Yeah, I’ve done it all my life, a thousand times.’ I was definitely familiar with it.

“There were some things I was doing mechanically that just didn’t allow me to have command previously. It was better today.”

The Royals, meanwhile, had managed just one hit through four innings against Jake Odorizzi.

“We just couldn’t get anything going against him,” Matheny said. “We closed the gap [later], but we needed to do more earlier in the game.”

The Royals finally broke through in the fifth, when Ryan McBroom doubled down the right-field line, and Maikel Franco followed with a two-run shot to left, his fifth home run of the season. That cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Twins struck first with two out in the third. Royals rookie Tyler Zuber, with a runner on second, left a fastball middle in -- the target by catcher Salvador Perez was on the outside corner -- and Nelson Cruz smashed it a projected 448 feet per Statcast.

Zuber gave up two more hits in the fourth which led to a run on a sacrifice fly by Byron Buxton.