'A beautiful display of pitching' by Bubic

KANSAS CITY -- Kris Bubic found out on Sunday evening that he was going to be making his first start of the season on Tuesday, in place of injured Danny Duffy.

The mindset didn’t change at all for Bubic going from long relief to back in the rotation: Put zeros on the scoreboard as long as he can.

He did that against the Brewers, outdueling Brandon Woodruff for six scoreless innings and holding Milwaukee to just one hit in the Royals’ 2-0 win at Kauffman Stadium.

“Really, the job didn’t change,” Bubic said. “My job is to get zeros whether that comes in the first inning or the fifth or sixth or late in the game.”

That’s all Bubic has been doing of late. He’s been stellar in long relief this month and provided the boost the Royals’ rotation needed -- extending his scoreless innings streak to 17 2/3 and matching Rich Hill for the second-longest active run in the Majors. It’s also the longest by a Kansas City pitcher within one season since Brad Keller (17 2/3 scoreless from Aug. 6-19, 2020). Reliever Wade Davis’ 22 scoreless frames from April 6-May 31, 2015, is the club’s next longest stretch.

“That’s really what we’ve seen almost every time out so far,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He’s doing such a great job of using everything. … He’s just in a real good rhythm. I think you can see the big differences. He’s trusting his stuff, not trying to reach back for any extra, but it’s got plenty of life, especially when he starts mixing in his offspeed.

“It was just a beautiful display of pitching.”

It was on both sides. The two starters combined for 13 pitches in the first inning and then looked as though they didn’t miss a beat after a 21-minute rain delay. Woodruff got through 7 2/3 innings, but the Royals were able to take advantage in the eighth with Whit Merrifield’s two-out walk, Carlos Santana’s hit-by-pitch and Andrew Benintendi’s RBI single.

“That’s a very good pitcher on the other side, and just watch us go toe-to-toe and see when he can jump on some sort of opportunity,” Matheny said. “Those are great games for us to build that momentum on…. It was kind of all the little pieces that we needed to have.”

Bubic’s two walks came in the sixth inning, when he started to see his pitches elevate a little as his count neared 80, a season high. But he got out of the inning with a double-play ball and a flyout to center field to end his outing at 85 pitches (56 strikes). Bubic’s signature changeup carved up Brewers hitters, including former National League MVP Christian Yelich, who returned from the injured list and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

In the fourth, Bubic threw a left-on-left changeup that Yelich could do nothing with except swing through for the second out of the inning.

Bubic did the same to Travis Shaw with two outs in the fifth, working back from a 3-0 count to get Shaw swinging through that changeup for the final out.

This is the kind of pitcher the Royals know they have in Bubic, who was selected 40th overall in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Stanford. The 23-year-old debuted in the Royals’ rotation last year and posted a 4.32 ERA over 10 starts. Then, he was optioned to Triple-A during Spring Training to work on his delivery and his aggressiveness on the mound.

When he was recalled at the beginning of May, he showed he passed all the tests needed for another shot in the rotation when there was an opening.

And he pitched well enough to likely earn another start.

“I think it’s more of a difference mentally than it is physically,” Bubic said. “The stuff’s the same. But I think mentally, just much more comfortable, much more relaxed. Not trying to do too much. Not trying to beat myself up even if something bad happens. Knowing myself as a pitcher has really gone a long way so far. And combining that with the execution here early on, I think that’s really helped me settle down and relax and find myself in a good spot.”