KANSAS CITY -- After Noah Cameron's last start, it was clear that something had to change. He allowed seven runs against the Padres, marking his fourth start in his previous five that he had allowed five-plus runs.
The Royals, as has been documented, need him to keep making starts, and they see Cameron as a big part of their future.
So on Friday, they switched it up. The Royals had right-hander Beck Way open in front of Cameron against the Tigers at Comerica Park, marking Cameron’s first relief appearance as a Royal.
Way allowed the two runs that ended up being all the Tigers needed in the Royals’ 2-1 loss, a game dominated by Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, who struck out 12 batters and allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings.
But Cameron? He turned in his best appearance this season with seven scoreless innings on two hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.
“Obviously, we like that matchup with the righties [Way] was going to face,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “It just got away from us there. But for what we saw from Noah, absolutely, that was better than we could have hoped for.”
Cameron entered Friday’s start with a 5.27 ERA this year, a far cry from his 2.99 ERA in his rookie season. Some regression might have been expected in his sophomore year, but he’s really struggled lately, mainly lacking command. The Royals approached him about an opener a few days ago.
“I haven’t been pitching very well this year, so I was in no … spot to argue,” Cameron said. “Whatever the team needs. … Obviously, I want to start. We all, as starters, have routines, and it definitely throws that off a little bit. Kind of makes it a little uncomfortable. I’ll never say I don’t want to start.”
The opener is one thing, but Cameron had to make adjustments when he was on the mound, too. His big change was that he called his own pitches Friday from the PitchCom device attached to his hip instead of having the catcher do so.
“It has nothing to do with the catchers because they’ve been amazing all year,” Cameron said. “Just a little bit of, I guess, my idea. A little stubbornness from me.”
Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo call their own pitches at times, but Cameron is a second-year big leaguer. Plus, Salvador Perez caught on Friday for the first time since June 27 after dealing with elbow soreness. After Cameron ran his idea by the pitching coaches, he knew he needed to have a conversation with the likely future Hall of Fame catcher who made his big league debut when Cameron was a 12-year-old Royals fan.
“I’m a younger guy, and I’ve looked up to him my whole life,” Cameron said. “Definitely, going into that conversation, it was like, ‘Hey, you’re doing nothing wrong. You are amazing. This is just something that I kind of want to try and just see how I feel with it.’”
Perez, Cameron said, was on board, especially if it meant that Cameron would be more convicted in what he was throwing. Why not try?
“I can’t pitch worse than what I have been,” Cameron said. “I mean, I guess I could. But, like, on a consistent level. We needed to change it up.”
It worked. Cameron’s velocity was up across the board. The Tigers whiffed 17 times on 42 swings (40%) and chased 31% of the time. Cameron shut down the entire lineup, but three at-bats against Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler stood out, all strikeouts: The first on a fastball, the second time on a slider and the third time on a curveball. Dingler is the Tigers No. 3 hitter and, as a right-hander, one of the main bats the Royals would not have wanted Cameron to face a third time. But Cameron was still in control in the eighth inning when that third time through the order arrived.
“I think we’ve kind of gotten away from [the slider] a little bit, not throwing it as much to righties, so we definitely wanted to incorporate it today,” Cameron said. “I had a good slider to Dingler, obviously a great hitter, and got it down and in just where we wanted it. That was a pitch that stands out. He hits it in zone, but it was a chase pitch all the way, and we got it there.”
There’s no doubt the Royals need this version of Cameron in the final stretch of the season.
“That’s a lot like what we saw last year,” Quatraro said. “... By far the best his curveball and slider have been, and the conviction behind the fastball was outstanding.”