Kansas City Royals: What we learned after Brad Keller threw a complete game shutout

The Kansas City Royals are riding a 6-game win streak and their win on Sunday was an all-around team effort.

Brad Keller stole the show though, throwing a complete game shutout against the Pirates, who are having an even worse year than the Kansas City Royals are having. The Royals have rebounded after a 7-game losing streak, winning their last 6 games and doing so in impressive fashion.

Keller was the star from Sunday’s game, twirling nine scoreless innings and surrendering just 5 hits. He might have only recorded two strikeouts in the victory, but he walked just one batter and lowered his ERA to 2.06 and gave the bullpen some much needed rest.

Even if Keller had given up or a run or 2, it wouldn’t have mattered, as the Royals offense scored 11 runs on the afternoon.

• Whit Merrifield appears to be back to his old self, going 2-for-3 with 2 walks and plating 2 RBI in the win. His batting average is now .273 after it had slumped down quite a bit just a few weeks ago.
• Adalberto Mondesi cooled off after regaining his confidence at the plate, going 0-for-4 on the afternoon and his batting average sits at .208, but that’s still much better than where it was at not long ago. Mondesi struck out 3 times.
• Salvador Perez had a good game at the plate, going 3-of-5 with 2 RBI. He’s hitting .333 and looks like the same old Salvy.
• Maikel Franco had a big game, also going 3-of-5 and he’s hitting an impressive .284.
• Perez and Hunter Dozier each hit a home run.

While it’s too little too late for the Royals to really make a run at the playoffs (they’re currently last in the American League Central and are 10 games behind what looks like a very good White Sox team), they can finish this season strong and give fans hope with a strong ending.

No, they might not get a high draft pick and therefore won’t get the rights to draft Kumar Rocker out of Vanderbilt, but fans wanted to see improvement and they’re seeing it here.

Keller pitched a complete game shutout on Sunday, Brady Singer went 7.2 scoreless innings on Thursday night, and Kris Bubic got his first Major League win on Friday. All of these should excite Royals fans at what’s to come within this rotation. Not to mention the bullpen has been lights out!

There’s a lot to look forward to with the Kansas City Royals moving forward, but it appears they got things going too little, too late this season. At least we’re seeing strides toward them being a better ball club.

Forty-eight games down, 12 to go!