KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Whether or not the Royals turn into second-half studs remains to be seen, but there has undoubtedly been a renewed energy in the ballpark two games into the post-All-Star-break portion of the season.
The arrival of local high school star and lifelong Royals fan Bubba Starling certainly contributed on Friday night, but the energy carried over with the help of Brad Keller's outstanding pitching performance.
It also didn't hurt one bit that Starling, a Gardner Edgerton High graduate, played a part in a rally that flipped the game in the Royals favor and eventually led to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers in front of an announced 27,551 at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night.
Starling's first hit came on an RBI single that tied the game in the fifth inning, and it also brought the crowd to its feet in celebration of a moment more than eight years in the making.
The Royals (32-61) scored the last four runs of the game as Cheslor Cuthbert (1 for 3), Nicky Lopez (1 for 3) and Starling (1 for 3) drove in runs. Whit Merrifield (2 for 3) collected two hits and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Keller (5-9) allowed just one run in eight innings. He yielded four hits, didn't walk a batter for just the third time all season and struck out seven. Eighty-two of his 104 pitches were strikes.
Keller struck out four of the first six batters he faced, and he forced some uncomfortable-looking swings in the opening innings. He also broke a bat with an inside fastball that bored in on the hands of a left-handed hitter as if Keller had taken a power drill to the bat.
It surely didn't help hitters hoping to pick up the spin on Keller's slider that a slight splash of sunlight remained just in front of the mound when the game started, with a sun-light backdrop of center field and the batter's eye. The ball came out of the shadows and caught sunlight a split second after Keller released it.
The Tigers scored the game's first run on Harold Castro's two-out triple down the right-field line and off the wall in foul territory in the corner in the second inning. Keller had given up just two hits, but they'd quickly yielded a run for the Tigers.
The score remained 1-0 as both pitchers baffled hitters into the fifth inning.
The Royals half of the fifth started with Hunter Dozier lining a double off the right-field wall, their first hit since Merrifield singled in the first at-bat of the bottom of the first inning.
After a walk by Jorge Soler and a fly ball to deep center which allowed Dozier to advance to third, Starling stepped in the box with one out and a runner in scoring position.
Starling's RBI single through the left side of the infield scored Dozier to tie the game 1-1. Lopez, the next batter, singled through the right side of the infield and gave the Royals their first lead as Soler came around to score.
After giving up the second-inning run, Keller retired 18 consecutive Tigers batters.
Royals closer Ian Kennedy retired all three batters he faced in the ninth to pick up his 13th save (on 16 chances) of the season.
