Junis keeps fine-tuning effective cutter

After getting through the second inning on Tuesday night, Royals starter Jakob Junis felt like everything he has been working on since last year came together. His cutter was working to both sides of the plate, his slider kept hitters off-balance as he mixed it with the cutter, and he commanded his fastball enough to dominate the Pirates with nine strikeouts and just one walk.

Despite the 2-1 loss because of some bad-luck plays and not enough run support, Junis logged another impressive start. The right-hander has a 3.47 ERA in six games (four starts), with 27 strikeouts across 23 1/3 innings.

“It was very encouraging to be able to throw that [cutter] to both sides of the plate; even throwing it down and away like slider-ish to righties to get some swing and misses was nice to see,” Junis said. “Throwing it up, down, in, out, very promising, and mixing in some good sliders to get some good results.”

Junis’ cutter and slider combination was deceptive to hitters. The pitches came in at the same arm path while the cutter kept its plane and the slider veered off, and both were, at times, similar speeds on the radar gun.

“Compared to last week, the cutter was night and day,” Junis said. “Made some adjustments during the week to put me in a spot to throw some good ones tonight. Main objective is to try and make those [pitches] look as much alike as possible out of the hand and make them guess. That’s what we did tonight and got some good results. That was right where we wanted to be with it.”

The changes Junis has made to be as effective as he has been this year are well-documented, starting with the addition of the cutter to his arsenal. After struggling with injuries and command last year -- posting a 6.39 ERA in eight games (six starts) and a 5.24 ERA in 31 starts in 2019 -- Junis has remade himself into a reliable arm that the Royals were forced to consider for the rotation.

“You’re talking a wholesale change with the attack mode, with the efficiency,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s a 180 from the pitcher that we had before. It was always just pitch count running us out of the game, him kind of running out of options third time through the order. But he looks like a completely different guy right now.”

Junis has been a big part of the rotation stabilizing itself after a shaky first few weeks of the season. In the last rotation turn, starting with Mike Minor on Friday against Detroit and ending with Junis on Tuesday, Kansas City starters posted a 2.10 ERA. The Royals only have a +3 run differential, but they have stayed atop the American League Central standings with a 14-8 record entering Wednesday.

“It’s been incredible, to say it lightly,” second baseman Whit Merrifield said. “Obviously, our offense has been struggling for a couple weeks now, but we’re where we are because of our pitching. They’ve done what they’ve needed to do to keep us in games. … And that’s the result of a good team doing things like that: when part of your team is struggling, the other part steps up and picks it up. It’s promising to see. We know we’ve got great arms, and it’s just great to see them going well.”

Royals’ hot start feels ‘different’

Merrifield has been around for some time, but this is the hottest start to a season he's had with the Royals. Merrifield didn’t debut until 2016, the year after the franchise won the World Series, and he didn’t come to Kansas City until May of that year. The Royals finished 81-81 in 2016 before four straight losing seasons.

So Merrifield is relishing the feeling of winning early on -- and doesn’t want it to stop.

“It’s totally different,” Merrifield said. “We’re coming the field every day expecting to win, feeling like we’re going to win the game, as opposed to coming to the field going, ‘All right, it’s going to be a struggle, what do we have to do, they’re going to have to be off, we’re going to have to be on.’ That was years past. This year, we come to the field every day expecting to win, and it’s a great place to be.

“It’s a great change of pace, and it’s where we hope to be, in that position, with this team for many years to come. And I think we will be.”

The club’s talent helps -- from pitching to the offseason acquisitions that have fit right into the lineup -- but Merrifield is one of many who have described a clubhouse atmosphere that has helped build a winning culture.

“It’s a different feeling,” Merrifield said. “It’s great, it really is. It’s the best clubhouse that I’ve ever been a part of in Kansas City, and I haven’t been a part of really bad clubhouses here. They’ve all been good, but the guys here just really get along, really enjoy being around each other, really root for each other.

"It makes it much better to come to the field when you’re grinding, going through something, when you’re coming in and you got somebody that’s got your back and is going to go out and really genuinely be rooting for you to succeed. I really think that’s a big reflection of what’s happened these first 22 games.”