NEW YORK -- While the often sold-out crowds in the Bronx have the potential to rattle some of the game’s stingiest pitchers, it seems as though Brady Singer has been unaffected by the Bleacher Creatures’ jeers. On July 28, 2022, Singer tossed seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball against New York, striking out 10 batters.

On Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, Singer continued to show no fear in the face of nearly 44,000 Yankees fans. In fact, Singer relished it.

“Yeah, I like the atmosphere,” Singer said after the Royals’ 5-2 loss to the Yankees. “I like the stadium and kind of how it feels. I enjoy pitching here and look forward to coming back here.”

Singer was outstanding over six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out nine batters while only walking one. His line was nearly identical to that of his counterpart Gerrit Cole, as the two battled for the better part of the afternoon. Singer gave Kansas City a chance to snap its three-game losing streak before DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton homers in the seventh and eighth innings off the bullpen sank the Royals.

But each moment that Singer gripped the seams, it felt like Kansas City had a chance to win. And for a young Royals squad trying to find its footing, that sort of confidence is liquid gold.

“He pitched well,” said manager Matt Quatraro. “First inning, ground ball hit gets through, scores their first run. You have to give them credit for stealing third, setting up their second run. But other than that, he bowed his neck. He did a great job. He got out of that sixth inning and gave us everything he had.”

As Quatraro alluded to, Singer could have easily let the start get away from him in that first and third inning. Billy McKinney’s leadoff walk to open the game led to Stanton’s RBI single, and Anthony Volpe’s double and subsequent stolen base resulted in Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly in the third.

But in each of the following innings, Singer produced 1-2-3 frames to shut down the Yankees and halt their momentum. That ability to bounce back to ensure that things don’t spiral out of control is paramount to success in the Majors, and Quatraro has seen that quality appear during Singer’s outings time and time again. 

“Brady’s going to continue to come at you,” said Quatraro. “He knows his strengths, he’s going to keep competing with you and he made a lot of quality pitches today.” 

Once again, Singer practically operated on a two-pitch mix, throwing his sinker for 47% of his 98 pitches and his slider for 44%, respectively. He produced 14 whiffs, working the two pitches off each other extremely well. Singer’s season-high nine strikeouts came against a lefty-heavy Yankees lineup; left-handers had an .848 OPS against him this season entering Saturday.

The most impressive stretch of Singer’s outing came in the fourth and fifth innings, over which he struck out five consecutive Yankees, scorching his way through the latter half of the lineup with his sinker. That stretch tied a career high for consecutive strikeouts. 

“The stuff kind of came later in the game,” said Singer. “The fourth and fifth were probably the two innings I felt the best. The slider had a lot of bite to it, I was able to command the sinker when I needed to and threw some pretty good changeups throughout the day.”

The Royals’ lineup couldn’t find the big blow to break through against Cole, but it drove his pitch count up over the Yankees ace’s 6 1/3 innings of work. The opening blast for Kansas City came off Nick Pratto’s solo homer in the third, when he jumped on a two-strike curveball and deposited it three rows back near the right-field foul pole.

For Pratto, who also started an important double play in the first and drew an eight-pitch walk to bring up the tying run in the ninth, the opportunity to contribute was big for him after a tough game in the previous night’s loss. Pratto failed to score on Friday from first on a ground ball from Maikel Garcia with the infield back, and he was hungry to rectify his miscues Saturday with his starter giving it all on the mound.

“It felt good to step up today, especially after I feel like I let my team down yesterday,” said Pratto. “Just mental mistakes. I don’t like when that happens. It doesn’t feel great. Just got to go compete from here.”