CHICAGO -- Brady Singer has not only been a steady presence in the Royals’ starting rotation since the All-Star break, but his performances have put him in good company, alongside some of the best pitchers in baseball during that span.
If not for Cody Bellinger on Saturday, Singer may have been walking away with another solid outing.
“A couple of better pitches could have changed a lot of things, for sure,” Singer said after the Royals’ 6-4 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “Obviously wish I would have done that. That’s how the game goes sometimes.”
Singer allowed nine hits and six runs (four earned) on Saturday, with a chunk of the damage coming on a pair of Bellinger homers. The outing is tied for his second shortest this season; he went 2 2/3 innings on April 30 against the Twins.
The six runs allowed are his second most in a start this season -- he has allowed eight in a pair of starts -- and his most in the second half.
Singer entered Saturday with a 2.85 ERA in six second-half starts. That ranked sixth among all starting pitchers (minimum 40 innings), behind only Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer, Graham Ashcraft, Pablo Lopez and Sandy Alcantara. And in his last outing, Singer carried a no-hitter into the seventh.
“He’s been on a great run,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said before Saturday’s game. “He’s executed well. Good numbers, good results.”
Saturday was an upward climb early, as Bellinger capitalized on a Singer mistake in the first inning. Singer threw a 2-2 slider that hung over the heart of the plate, and the Cubs first baseman drove it over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, riding the wind that was blowing out that way.
In the third, Singer threw Bellinger a 1-1 sinker near but not entirely at the top of the zone, and Bellinger drove it a Statcast-projected 390 feet to left-center field for his second homer of the day.
“The first one was just a bad slider,” Singer said. “The second one, I thought I got it up enough, and it just wasn't. … I just missed a little bit more in the middle of the zone there on the second one.”
The first homer -- which came after an error by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who misplayed a ground ball -- put the Cubs ahead 2-0. The second made it 4-1, and Bellinger went on to make it 6-1 with a sac fly in the fourth. Singer faced two more batters before exiting with two outs and the bases loaded.
“It looked like he got a lot of the plate, especially when he was ahead in the count,” Quatraro said of Singer’s outing. “They made him pay for that.”
“The stuff wasn’t very sharp,” Singer said. “They jumped on a lot of mistakes there. Just couldn’t get the ball where I wanted to.”
Singer’s early exit put a heavy load on the Royals’ bullpen, but the group stepped up to keep them in the game. The Cubs didn’t tally a single baserunner over the final 4 1/3 innings, going 0-for-13 with five strikeouts against Tucker Davidson, Taylor Hearn, John McMillon and Jackson Kowar.
“They gave us a really good chance to win,” Quatraro said. “We kept scratching our way back. You can’t take that for granted; that’s really hard to do.”
It’s been a promising weekend for the Royals’ bullpen, which entered Saturday ranked 29th in baseball in ERA (5.25), ahead of only the A’s. Kansas City’s relievers shut out the Cubs for the final three innings Friday, after a strong start by Cole Ragans.
With many in the current group auditioning for roles now and in the future, days like Saturday -- against a team in the heat of a playoff race -- are encouraging.
“I think the vibe in the bullpen right now is good,” said Kowar, who’s thrown two scoreless relief outings since being recalled from Triple-A Omaha earlier this week. “I think everybody's kind of excited. There’s a lot of roles open, so I think it adds a lot of energy.
“Confidence is high because we're all getting thrown into a lot of situations.”