This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- When Brady Singer saw the Twins lineup on Friday afternoon and realized he would be facing seven left-handed batters with five lefties and two switch-hitters in the starting lineup, the game plan became clear.

And the changeup needed to be part of it.

True to the plan, Singer threw 11 changeups against the Twins and allowed just two runs in five innings in the Royals’ wild walk-off win on Friday. There are things Singer can improve; he needed 104 pitches to labor through five innings on a hot and humid night. But the Royals’ right-hander generated 16 whiffs on 28 swings (57%) on his slider and utilized his changeup to keep Twins hitters off balance. That is all a step in the right direction for Singer, who scuffled through the first part of the season before finding some consistency now in the second half.

“It should be a huge growth moment for him to understand [he needs it],” manager Matt Quatraro said. “... I know he’s constantly working on the changeup. [Pitching coach] Brian [Sweeney] and those guys are constantly talking about it, fiddling with grips and different keys that will help him mechanically.”

Singer changed his grip on the changeup earlier this season, now throwing the pitch more like his sinker. It’s helped him get more comfortable with it, but he hasn’t thrown it nearly enough recently.

That changed Friday. His 11 changeups were tied for the second-most he’s thrown all year and seventh-most in his career. He’d like to throw 10-15, based on the lineup and how his other pitches are working -- just enough to keep it in the back of hitters’ minds.

“I wanted to establish it early in the game,” Singer said. “Because I’ve done it where I’ve only thrown it later, and it’s not really effective. If I can establish it early, it helps the other two. Especially against Minnesota, I’ve faced them a lot. I’ve got the sinker-slider, and they know the sequences. To use the changeup last night, I think that’s where I found success.”

In one of the key moments of the game, Singer relied on his changeup. With one out and Carlos Correa on second base, Singer threw a first-pitch-down-and-away changeup to lefty Alex Kirilloff, who fouled it off. Singer went right back to the changeup, throwing it down and away.

Kirilloff swung through it.

Then, Kirilloff whiffed on a slider down and in and headed back to the dugout after three quick pitches.

“That separation there, if I can go changeup down and away off the corner, then slider down and away off the corner, then that opens up a whole new ballgame there,” Singer said. “That was probably one of the few in my career that I threw off the plate and got a swing-and-miss on. I feel like it’s got to be so perfect in the zone for, one, hitters to even swing at it, let alone swing and miss. 

“To see one go off the plate and still get the swing and miss -- that was probably the best pitch of the night.”

Singer, who has a 5.46 ERA in 21 starts this year, had a difficult start to the season. But he has a 3.94 ERA in June and July, and a second half that gets him back on track can help the Royals moving forward.

And his changeup has to be part of the game plan.

“I threw it in some crucial situations, some situations that I probably wouldn’t have thrown it whether it was a couple weeks ago or a couple years ago,” Singer said. “I was really able to commit to it and command it last night. Definitely happy about it.”