Benintendi, Bubic named Royals Player, Pitcher of the Month for September/October

KANSAS CITY, MO. (October 6, 2021) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that outfielder Andrew Benintendi and left-handed pitcher Kris Bubic have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for the month of September/October. The awards are determined by a local media vote.

Benintendi, 27, led the Royals in September/October in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.398) and OPS (.969) and had 29 RBI in 31 games, one behind the Major League leaders. Benintendi had one three-hit game, two four-hit games and a career-high-tying five-hit game for a total of 39 hits in 31 games, which ranked third in the American League behind Bo Bichette (43) and teammate Nicky Lopez (40). He earned American League Player of the Week honors for the period of Sept. 6-12, a stretch in which he hit .536 (15-for-28) with six extra-base hits and a Majors-leading 14 RBI in seven games, matching the club record for RBI on a road trip of seven games or fewer. That stretch included two different games with four hits and five RBI on Sept. 8 at Baltimore and Sept. 10 at Minnesota, the last of which marked his fifth career multi-home run game. This is Benintendi’s second Royals Player of the Month Award, after winning the honors in May of this season.

Bubic, 24, pitched to a 2.20 ERA (8 ER in 32.2 IP) and .193 opponents’ average (22-for-114) in six appearances (5 starts) from Sept. 1 through season’s end, which ranked third and sixth, respectively in the American League. He pitched into the sixth inning in all five of his starts and allowed no more than two earned runs in any of them, including a career-best 7.0 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed in a 2-1 win in Detroit on Sept. 26. Prior to that start, he held Seattle to one run on two hits over 6.1 innings in an 8-1 victory on Sept. 18 to mark a win in consecutive starts for the first time in his career. This is Bubic’s first Royals Pitcher of the Month Award.