Junis grinds before Royals fall to White Sox

CHICAGO -- These kind of starts appear to be becoming the norm for Jakob Junis.
The right-hander, much like in his previous two outings, wasn't terribly economical with his pitches, needing 100 to navigate 5 1/3 innings in the Royals' 9-3 loss to the White Sox on Friday night. However, Junis again limited the damage in his sixth start since being activated from the disabled list with back inflammation, as he allowed just two runs on five hits in a no-decision.
"Fastball command wasn't really there today, struggled with that, but thankfully I made some pitches when it counted and got some outs," Junis said. "Made some sliders late in the game that got me some outs in some crucial situations."
Despite Junis' efforts, Royals reliever Jason Adam labored in a seven-run seventh inning, highlighted by three-run homers from José Abreu and Nicky Delmonico in the series opener at Guaranteed Rate Field. Adam wasn't helped by an Alcides Escobar fielding error in that seventh that snapped the club's franchise-record errorless streak at 16 games.

"Definitely the wrong pitch to throw when you've got a three-hole hitter ready to ambush," Adam said of Abreu's home run. "I had very little room for error and obviously I erred, it was right down the middle and he put it out."
Junis returned to the active roster on July 21, throwing a combined 30 2/3 innings over his six starts. In that span, he has averaged a shade over five innings, but more than 90 pitches per start.
"Really had to grind through it, really had to work hard," manager Ned Yost said of Junis. "Made pitches when he needed to, but it was one of those days where he didn't have his best stuff, but you continue to grind it out."
Junis hasn't been bothered by his back at all since he returned from the DL.
"I had to take that first [start] a little slow to build me back up," Junis said, "but ever since then I've been good."
Over his past two outings especially, Junis appeared to be returning to his early season form, when he owned a 2.02 ERA after his first four starts. Additionally, Junis' slider, his main breaking pitch, has generated more swinging strikes in August than any other month this season. He threw 29 sliders on Friday night, according to MLB.com's BaseballSavant, inducing six swings and misses.
"It got better as the game went on," Junis said of his slider. "Early it wasn't very sharp, it was kind of lazy, just hanging up there, but late in the game when I had some guys on, I threw some good ones."

All three of the Royals' runs came in the third inning against White Sox starter James Shields. After Escobar tallied a one-out single, Escobar and Drew Butera executed a textbook hit-and-run, setting up Whit Merrifield's RBI double. Alex Gordon then hit a sacrifice fly and Salvador Perez drove in Merrifield with a single.
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Pleading the fifth: Junis faced a potential jam in the fifth inning after giving up a leadoff walk to Yoán Moncada and a single to Yolmer Sánchez to put runners on first and third with none out. That brought up Chicago's heart of the order: Abreu, Matt Davidson and Leury García. But Junis held firm, getting Abreu to pop out and striking out both Davidson and Garcia to end the threat.

SOUND SMART
The Royals' errorless streak spanned 153 consecutive innings dating to July 29. It was the longest error-free streak since the Red Sox tied the MLB record with 18 straight games in 2016.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Rosell Herrera, making just his fifth start at second base all season, but the fourth in his last six games, laid out in the second inning to rob Omar Narváez of a base hit. Herrera made a full extension to his backhand side, popped up and fired to first just in time for the out.

UP NEXT
Rookie right-hander Brad Keller (5-5, 3.40 ERA) will start as the Royals continue a three-game set against the White Sox at 6:10 p.m. CT on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field. Keller, who fired seven innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays on Monday, is on pace to be the first Rule 5 Draft pitcher in the current format (since 2006) to make at least 10 starts with a sub-4.00 ERA for his new team. Righty Dylan Covey (4-9, 6.06 ERA) will start for the White Sox.