KANSAS CITY – The Royals held onto a two-run lead entering the eighth inning Thursday night, and the top of the Twins order was due up. It was about as good of a spot as any for high-leverage lefty reliever Daniel Lynch IV.
But Lynch spent all of the Royals’ 4-3 loss to the Twins at Kauffman Stadium in the dugout and was unavailable out of the ‘pen. It wasn’t because of an injury, but because the Royals have a role shift in mind for the 29-year-old.
Lynch will start Friday night’s game against the Cubs and get an opportunity in the Royals’ rotation moving forward.
“We’re going to probably take a shot at putting him there [and] see how it goes,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s thrown a couple of innings before. We’ll see how far he can get tomorrow. But we’ll do it responsibly. With the injuries we’ve had, we have a spot in the rotation.”
In the short term, this leaves the Royals’ bullpen in a tougher spot than it already is in, although Lynch could be available in between starts based on his workload. As Kansas City’s go-to high-leverage lefty, Lynch has a 1.96 ERA across 46 games. The rest of the ‘pen has struggled with a 5.37 ERA that ranks second-worst in MLB behind the A’s. Lynch, though, has been steady, and without him in the ‘pen, the Royals will need others to step up in his spot.
It might lead to nights like Thursday, when Aaron Bummer allowed two singles and walked pinch-hitter Ryan Jeffers, and reliever Nate Pearson allowed the go-ahead two-run single to Brooks Lee. The implosion gave Michael Wacha a no-decision on a night in which he had to grind through 5 2/3 innings but only allowed one run.
The Royals had no answer to the Twins’ late offense; after tacking three runs on starter Bailey Ober, including Jac Caglianone’s two-run single in the third, the Royals were shut down in the back-end of the game. Tyler Tolbert was picked off at first base in the ninth followed by two strikeouts to end it.
“We’re trying to stay really aggressive, and he just made it,” Tolbert said. “He executed a quick pickoff move, and it was bang-bang.”
In the long term, Lynch's return to the rotation is an intriguing experiment, and one the Royals want to explore as they begin to figure out the foundations of their 2027 roster. The No. 34 overall MLB Draft pick in 2020, Lynch came up and debuted as a starter. Of his 170 career games, 56 have been starts. He struggled in the rotation from 2021-23, posting a 5.18 ERA in 51 starts. The Royals moved him to the bullpen in ‘24, and it all clicked this year thanks to more velocity and a few more strikeouts.
“He’s obviously been really good out of the ‘pen, and hopefully he can keep that same mentality and same execution when he starts, and we’ll see how it goes,” Quatraro said. “But for right now, that’s our plan.”
Moving Lynch back into the rotation has been a conversation throughout this year, but that’s typically more of an offseason process. But the Royals are in desperate need of starters right now. They just lost two more arms to Tommy John surgery in Stephen Kolek and Luinder Avila, the latter of whom should be starting Friday but now won’t be back until late ‘27. That’s already on top of Cole Ragans’ ulnar collateral ligament repair in July and Ryan Bergert’s full UCL reconstruction in May.
The depth has evaporated, and Lynch has pitched his way back into that conversation.
The Royals have a few new names on their Triple-A staff after the Trade Deadline, headlined by No. 11 prospect Lucas Braun, who came over in the Lane Thomas and Bailey Falter trade with Atlanta. Braun was supposed to start Thursday’s game in Triple-A before it was postponed because of rain. We might still see Braun in Kansas City this year, but the Royals want to get to know him first before rushing him to the big leagues.
Lynch has been a reliever all season and has only thrown 157 innings in the big leagues the past three seasons combined, so don’t expect him to jump right back into a starter’s workload. The Royals will build him up slowly – likely two or three innings Friday – and there’s always a chance he’s needed in the ‘pen in between starts if the unit is overtaxed.
But this is the state of their pitching staff right now, and now they’ll see what Lynch can do with the opportunity.