WASHINGTON -- It was just five days ago that Luinder Avila was exiting his start against the Astros having recorded just two outs in the first inning and eventually being tagged with eight runs, a bad start in a rough loss.
The Royals’ message for the 24-year-old rookie starter?
“Don’t panic,” pitching coach Brian Sweeney said. “We had a rough one, let’s reflect on it real quick, flush it, and get back to work. Stick with the process. Even the best have challenging days.”
The focus flipped quickly to Wednesday because the Royals needed Avila back on the mound against the Nationals. In this one, he acted like a stopper. The right-hander tossed 5 2/3 innings in the Royals’ 6-2 win, salvaging the series finale after back-to-back losses the previous two nights at Nationals Park.
Avila was backed early by four solo home runs, including Carter Jensen’s leadoff shot, the first of four hits and five times on base for the catcher. John Rave hit his first homer in the big leagues this season in the second and Lane Thomas and Michael Massey went back-to-back in the third inning.
“That felt good,” Avila said through interpreter Luis Perez. “The start against Houston, they did the same: They hit, and I had runs. … This one, they did basically the same thing, and I was there for them, too.”
Avila allowed three hits Wednesday and struck out five. The Nationals didn’t make a ton of quality contact and were fooled by his slider, which registered seven whiffs on 18 swings (39%) and averaged 89 mph while topping out at 91.7 mph. The Royals let Avila go back out for the sixth inning to face the top of a dangerous Nationals order for a third time, a nod to how well he was pitching.
“The way his stuff was playing, and the swings he was getting, I felt good about it,” manager Matt Quatraro said.
Avila recorded two outs before walking Curtis Mead to bring his pitch count to 91. The Royals didn’t want him going too much over 90, so they brought Matt Strahm in to face lefty CJ Abrams, who doubled home Mead for Avila’s lone run allowed.
Two starts ago against Minnesota on June 6, the Royals had Avila move from the third-base side to more in the middle of the rubber, thinking that it would help with his misses. Jensen describes Avila’s sinker as “disgusting” with the way that it moves across the plate, but it can also move too much if Avila isn’t positioned right, allowing hitters to lay off the 96-99 mph pitch.
“My goal is to throw the two-seam in the middle and allow it to move a lot,” Avila said. “When I’m on the third-base side, it misses too much when it moves.”
When things went awry against the Astros, Avila thought it might be because of his positioning. He moved even closer to the first-base side of the rubber, which didn’t help. Add in his left arm creeping higher than it needs to be during his delivery, and he’ll start missing big. A cue he hears a lot: Control your front side. That also eliminates waste pitches.
On Wednesday, Avila was back in the middle of the rubber, and his mechanics were back on track.
“When he gets a little bit too high or tries to throw it at 200%, it may come out at 99, but it’s going off the backboard,” Sweeney said. “He’s a powerful and strong individual. Being consistent on those 17 inches of the plate and letting the movement work in the zone is key.”
The Royals will hit the midway point of the year next week, and at 30-45, their playoff chances have dwindled to 3.9%, according to FanGraphs. The focus in the clubhouse remains on winning, but there can be other objectives as the season progresses.
Evaluating pieces for the future is one of them, and Avila is in that mix as a starter with the injuries the Royals have seen lately.
“The versatility he’s shown, building up to be a starter, being a reliever, going back to being a starter, that’s huge in development, not just physically but mentally,” Sweeney said. “He knows he can do it down there in the bullpen. And he’s learning what it takes at the Major League level as a starter. It’s going to enhance his development.”
And it’s going to show what kind of role Avila could fill moving forward.
“Why wouldn’t we want to take a person like that and have him pitch as many innings as possible?” Sweeney said. “Really, it comes down to how he adapts to the role. How well he can throw strikes and be consistent with those strikes.”