Before facing the Angles' most dominant hitters in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani during the Royals' wild late-night win Tuesday, Jake Brentz had only faced 11 batters in his Major League career.
The left-hander was already making an impression out of the Kansas City bullpen. While he owned a 0.67 WHIP before he entered the seventh inning against the Angels’ top hitters, opposing hitters had a .111 batting average against him.
Leading up to his fifth appearance of the season, the rookie had already made a name for himself as a potential arm in high-leverage situations. Taking on the Angels was another opportunity to see Brentz’s capability against heavy hitters.
“Put him right through the meat of it, and he continues to take any challenge we give him,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said after the win. “And we’re incrementally giving him a little bit more, little bit more, and he’s responded exceptionally well. That was part of the lineup that we earmarked. Couple tough hitters. You better be on your game. And he made really good pitches in a tough situation.”
Brentz was, in fact, on his game. He needed 11 pitches to retire David Fletcher, Ohtani and Trout in order for a perfect seventh inning. Fletcher grounded out to Brentz to start off the frame, then Ohtani smacked a 107.9-mph line drive to Whit Merrifield for the second out.
Trout put Brentz to work with a six-pitch at-bat. Ultimately, it was Brentz who won the battle, striking out the three-time AL MVP on an 86-mph slider down and in.
“When I was warming up in the ‘pen, I knew I had the top of the order and my mindset was, ‘I’m just gonna go out and attack them,’” Brentz said following the Royals' 3-2 win. “It was definitely a cool moment to face Trout and Ohtani, obviously, but my mindset was just to go out there and attack and trust my stuff.”
Brentz was selected by the Blue Jays in the 11th round of the 2013 Draft. He spent time in the Mariners' and Pirates' farm systems, respectively, after being traded twice. The 26-year-old was a non-roster invitee heading into Spring Training this year after signing with Kansas City in August '19.
Now, he is one of the Royals’ most reliable arms out of the bullpen with a four-seam fastball that has touched 99 mph, according to Statcast.
Santana brings depth to ‘pen
Ervin Santana last pitched in a Major League game nearly two years ago as a member of the Chicago White Sox starting rotation. He pitched 4 2/3 innings against Baltimore on April 24, 2019, pushing his early-season stats to 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in three starts.
After signing a Minor League deal with Kansas City in the offseason, Santana’s contract was selected on Tuesday. He’ll primarily be used as a long reliever in an already taxed bullpen.
"We need somebody that can eat up some innings,” Matheny said. “I think Santana can kind of be what we've talked about with a couple of our guys. He can come in a short stint and be good. But he could also get stretched out because we've got him prepared to be stretched out."
Santana was working out of the Northwest Arkansas alternate training site at the start of the season and was also traveling with the team as part of the taxi squad.
"He just threw five innings in his last outing at the [alternate] site,” Matheny said. “So, he's ready to go."
Roster moves
A day after being placed on the injured list, right-hander Josh Staumont was reinstated before the Royals’ series finale against the Angels. A reason was not provided regarding the IL stint.
In order to make room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Carlos Hernández was optioned to Kansas City’s alternate training site and outfielder Nick Heath was designated for assignment.
Heath hit .154 in 13 at-bats during the 2020 season for the Royals. After he recorded one hit in three at-bats during Spring Training, he was assigned to the team’s alternate site.
Starters named for Blue Jays series
Jakob Junis was named the starter for the opening game of the Royals’ four-game series against Toronto set to begin Thursday. Ahead of the series finale against the Angels, Matheny announced Mike Minor, Brady Singer and Danny Duffy will be the other three starters against the Blue Jays.