Lopez feeling strong in battle for rotation spot
Right-hander strikes out pair in two scoreless frames
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- This early in Spring Training, Royals rotation hopeful Jorge Lopez tends to judge his outings by his misses.
From that standpoint, Lopez was encouraged by his scoreless two-inning stint in the Royals’ 3-2 win over the Padres on Thursday at Surprise Stadium. Outfielder Bubba Starling continued his impressive spring (.667) with a pair of walks, the latter of which was a walk-off walk in the ninth. Lopez gave up one hit, one walk and struck out two.
“Oh, yeah, I felt really good today,” Lopez said. “I just tried to get my line to home plate and throw every pitch the way I want to. I was able to miss where I wanted to miss.
“I felt really good with every one of my pitches, and the changeup was really good, inside to the lefties and inside to the righties. My fastball was a little bit off the plate, but it was good misses. Sometimes late in games you get those calls. When you come back to the computer, you see the hitters take them and they just missed. That’s good right now.”
Lopez is battling right-handers Heath Fillmyer and Homer Bailey for the No. 5 spot in the rotation.
“I’m right where I should be,” Lopez said, “and now it’s just a matter of getting more consistent. And now, I will get ready to go three, four and five innings.”
Diekman works on changeup
Left-hander Jake Diekman, a free-agent bullpen signee who will pitch in the late innings this season, got his first Cactus League action this spring. He gave up two runs on two hits and struck out one in his one inning.
Diekman mostly used his sinker and slider, though his slider never really showed up, he said.
“I threw about five changeups [instead],” he said. “ I got a ground out with one and a strikeout with another. ... Overall, it felt pretty good. The slider I didn’t have in the bullpen, but I thought it might flip once I got in the game. But it didn’t.”
Diekman gave up a two-run homer to Luis Urias in the third.
“Two-seamer,” Diekman said. “I tried to get really cute and get it in and it stayed over the middle.”
Up next
The Royals will travel to Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday to face the Angels at 2:10 p.m. CT. Right-hander Arnaldo Hernandez will start for the Royals, followed by right-handers Kevin McCarthy, Wily Peralta and Josh Staumont and left-handers Brian Flynn and Tim Hill.