KANSAS CITY -- It’s been an interesting season for Jakob Junis. After starting off in the Royals’ bullpen, he found success in April after a quick transition to the rotation. Unfortunately, the script quickly flipped, as a rocky May and early June resulted in him being optioned to Triple-A Omaha.

Now, nearly three months later, Junis is back in the Majors looking like the type of pitcher he was at the beginning of the year.

Junis tossed 4 2/3 solid innings in the Royals’ 7-2 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night to open a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium, allowing three runs on four hits and a walk to go with six strikeouts.

It’s a line that doesn’t exactly jump out of the box score, but it was a showing that would’ve been more impressive statistically if not for a few unlucky breaks. Junis was pleased with the outing, noting the final numbers were not indicative of the way he performed.

"I thought I threw the ball really well. The statline doesn't really reflect how I thought I threw the ball,” Junis said. “But you know, I'm happy with my command, and my slider was really sharp tonight, sharper than it's been in a while. Mixed in a couple of changeups and felt like I executed for the most part."

During the second at-bat of the game, Junis got Amed Rosario to drive a deep fly ball to right field. Edward Olivares, whose defense has been noted to be a work-in-progress, ranged over and crashed into the wall trying to make the catch. The ball rolled away from Olivares and Rosario raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run, tagging Junis with a run on a ball that was potentially catchable if not playable off the wall.

"I think the ball carried and drifted more towards the line than what [Olivares] anticipated it to do coming off a right-handed bat,” manager Mike Matheny said. “And next thing you know, he found himself getting right there at that wall."

Junis mostly handled Cleveland’s lineup with ease over the next few frames. But in the fifth, Daniel Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice, and then Junis watched a towering bloop single float high into the evening sky. Johnson, who had taken off on an apparent hit-and-run call, motored his way around the bases to score as the ball drifted down and landed just inches shy of falling in foul territory.

Junis was pulled, and Joel Payamps yielded a two-run single to Rosario in the next at-bat to tack on the last two runs on Junis’ bill.

"I thought he did [well], especially knowing that we had a limited number of pitches that we could use from him today,” Matheny said. “... The bloop that went over first base kind of ran him through his pitch count and couldn't get him out of it, and then a hustle play on their end, looked like something we would normally do, scoring from first base on the stolen-base attempt.

“But I thought he did a really nice job of keeping us in that game, giving us an opportunity to win. That's all we can ask our starters to do."

It’s been quite the path back to the bigs for Junis, who was optioned to Triple-A in June and hit the IL with a shoulder injury about a month later. He built his way back up in Arizona, and then rejoined Omaha in late August.

On Sunday, he received word that he might end up being called on to start this game. On Monday, he was told he needed to be in Kansas City by the end of the day.

“It's been a whirlwind of a year,” Junis said. “A lot of ups and downs for sure."

There is no greater example of the development Junis has been through than his use of the changeup. Six of his 78 pitches were changeups, which may not seem like a lot, but for Junis, it is part of a concerted effort to work the offering into his repertoire.

"When I was in Arizona, I really started seeing some good movement with it,” Junis said. “And just kind of built on that, in my outings in Arizona rehabbing then once I got to Omaha it was still there and it's definitely something I want to keep using moving forward. I think it's a good pitch to mix with my arsenal, and keep them off some of the other stuff."