GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The final numbers for Royals right-hander Kris Medlen look a bit grisly -- 3 1/3 innings, seven hits, five runs, one walk, six strikeouts and four homers allowed.
But after the Royals fell, 7-6, to the Indians on Wednesday, Medlen was anything but down. In fact, he felt he rediscovered his curveball.
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"I talked to a couple of different people about it," Medlen said. "[Joakim] Soria said he lost his curveball a little bit, and he gave me a tip on it. I had felt a little out front on it, but today it was good. It felt good."
Medlen also was pleased with his changeup. His fastball command was another story.
"I just think overaggressive at times," he said. "But overall, you're obviously going to give up homers to a team like this when you're not executing pitches. But on the other hand, you want to come right back at them.
"They put a couple of good swings on some changeups. Everything got better as the game went on. That was the most encouraged I've been about the offspeed stuff. I mean, you never want to sit out there and get tatered like that, but I felt like any mistake I made with the heater was absolutely smashed."
Two of the homers came off the bat of Tyler Naquin, the Indians' young center-field prospect and their No. 9 prospect overall, according to MLBPipeline.com.
"That center fielder has such a good swing, the younger dude [Naquin]," Medlen said. "I felt like I made some pretty good pitches. I felt so good, even after it was over I felt like I had more in the tank. I felt my stuff was there. But any mistake I made got hit."