SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez came off the mound after his first spring outing on Thursday to a pleasant surprise.
A modest standing ovation from the crowd at Surprise Stadium.
Volquez smiled and offered a quick bow.
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"I think I got some fans now," Volquez said. "Somebody loves me. I got a standing ovation in Spring Training. You don't see that very often. I was really glad to see that."
Volquez also was glad to see a respectable first outing -- 1 2/3 innings, two hits, one run, two walks, two strikeouts against the Rangers in a 10-0 loss. The run was a bit tainted, scoring on a ball lost in the sun.
"Not bad," Volquez said. "I thought my secondary pitches were pretty good today, better than my fastball command. I was talking with [pitching coach] Dave [Eiland] and we're working a little on mechanics. I was a little late on my fastball.
"It had a lot of movement on it, but [I] couldn't command it."
Volquez admittedly doesn't put too much stock into his spring outings.
"They're not too pretty," he said, laughing.
Last year, in fact, Volquez posted a 6.33 ERA down here. But Thursday, he fought out of a jam in the first created by a single, walk and a sun-aided double. He struck out Joey Gallo and got Ryan Rua to ground out.
"I think I have learned how to pitch a little here," he said. "I know how to pitch in those situations, but sometimes you get a little lucky, too."
All in all, Volquez was satisfied with his first outing.
"I just want to get to my pitch count," he said. "I threw two innings today and probably threw about 50 pitches (actually 34) in 1 2/3 innings, so I definitely got there. I was kind of hurrying and rushing myself. But it was OK."