Young finds success again in Royals' bullpen
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DETROIT -- Moments after Royals right-hander Chris Young recorded his first career save on Sunday, Young joked to manager Ned Yost, "Well, I needed that to add to my resume."
Actually, Young kidded that he has one more baseball accomplishment to add to his resume: "A stolen base."
All joking aside, Young has turned his season around of late. Sunday's three-inning scoreless appearance represented his fifth straight scoreless outing. Since moving to bullpen on July 10 after months of struggling as a starter, Young has found himself again, posting a 2.87 ERA entering Monday's series opener against the Tigers.
Young said the explanation is simple: "Just making good pitches. That's the bottom line. Fastball is having late life again. And I'm just executing."
The transformation is just in time for Yost and pitching coach Dave Eiland, who both said on Monday that Young would be used in more high-leverage situations going forward.
"It's a tough game and everyone struggles at some point," Young said. "It's how you handle it and how you fight your way out of it. The ending for this season is not yet written."
Vargas set for Double-A
Left-hander Jason Vargas, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, will continue his rehab assignment at Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday by throwing three innings there, Yost said.
Vargas had been throwing for the Royals' rookie league team in Arizona.
The Royals believe that Vargas, barring any setbacks, could get a look with the big-league club in mid-September. He has one year left on his contract after this season.
Emmy nominations
FOX Sports Kansas City has been nominated for three Mid-America Emmys for its Royals coverage.
Ryan Lefebvre was nominated for on-camera talent; FSKC was nominated for sporting event/game -- live/unedited for the wild four-run rally to beat the Red Sox in August 2015 (Bryan Schapiro/producer); and for sports/interview discussion for a piece called "Royals Take the Crown 2015," (Colleen Lotz, producer, and Chris Felt, editor).