Consistency and composure have accompanied Kansas City Royals rookie right-hander Ryan Bergert in each of his four starts with the team.
Bergert hopes those components finally conspire for his first win with his new club on Wednesday night when he faces the host Chicago White Sox.
Bergert (1-1, 2.79 ERA) has pitched to a 2.82 ERA in four starts covering 22 1/3 innings since joining the Royals in a trade-deadline deal with the San Diego Padres last month.
He left Friday’s start in Detroit with the Royals nursing a lead before the bullpen let it slip away in the Royals’ 7-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
As for Bergert, he remained in control — of both his emotions and the strike zone.
“Was putting it where I wanted to and was executing,” said Bergert, who scattered two runs and three hits over 5 2/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts.
Bergert has issued just 24 walks in 58 career innings with the Padres and Royals.
“You don’t see that in young guys, and he is pretty good,” Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez said. “He is showing up as one of the youngest guys we have on the staff.”
In his lone start vs. the Chicago White Sox, Bergert allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision on Aug. 17 as the Royals won 6-2.
Kansas City regrouped from Monday’s 7-0 loss in the series opener with a 5-4 victory on Tuesday. Michael Massey tied Tuesday’s game with a pinch-hit, two-run single in the ninth inning before Kyle Isbel hit a go-ahead RBI single.
The Royals trail Seattle by three games in the race for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League.
Chicago came within four outs of its third straight shutout and fourth consecutive victory on Tuesday, but the Royals dented the White Sox bullpen for five runs and eight hits in two innings.
Jonathan India contributed two hits to the attack.
Despite Tuesday’s bullpen meltdown, the White Sox have a lot to like about their rotation.
Rookie right-hander Shane Smith delivered seven shutout innings to spark a two-hitter on Monday. One night later, veteran lefty Martin Perez struck out five over seven shutout innings and allowed just one hit — a single by Bobby Witt Jr. that stretched Witt’s hitting streak to 15 games.
Unfortunately for Perez, he became the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to throw at least seven shutout innings, allow only one or no hits and leave with at least a four-run lead and not pick up the win, per OptaSTATS.
But Perez has praised the overall collaboration between the rookies and more seasoned members of the pitching staff.
“I’ve been telling them we’ve just got to compete,” Perez said. “It doesn’t matter how hard we throw. We need to throw the ball where the hitters can’t get them. That’s pitching. We’ve got guys who want to learn and get better every day … and it’s turning into a great thing for this organization.”
Right-hander Aaron Civale (3-8, 5.02 ERA), who will start for Chicago on Wednesday, is coming off Friday’s no-decision against Minnesota. He allowed four runs and five hits in five innings with four walks and five strikeouts in his team’s 9-7 loss.
Civale lost in Kansas City in his previous start on Aug. 15, scattering three runs and eight hits in six innings. He is 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 11 career starts against the Royals.
Chicago center fielder Luis Robert Jr. is undergoing further evaluation after leaving Tuesday’s game in the fourth inning with left hamstring soreness. He grounded out to shortstop in the second inning in his only at-bat.
At 23 years and 180 days old, Colson Montgomery on Tuesday became the youngest player in White Sox history to homer in four consecutive games when he hit a solo shot in the second inning.
–Field Level Media
