KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The number under the Royals' loss column is what fans will use to measure the success of the 2018 season.
But as manager Ned Yost shepherds a young batch of players into regular major-league roles in the early stages of a rebuilding project, he judges by a different scale. The wins and losses matter, of course, but Yost looks for personal growth and how players build on what they've learned.
Yost was happy with Royals rookie right-hander Heath Fillmyer, who outdueled two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in a 7-1 win over the Indians on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.
It was a bounce-back performance for Fillmyer, who couldn't hold a six-run lead against the White Sox last Sunday. In fact, he had allowed 10 runs in his previous eight innings, but limited the Indians to a single run in six innings.
"There are little lessons that I hope these guys learn from start to start, and most of it revolves around trusting your stuff and staying on the attack, because they've got pretty good stuff," Yost said before the game. "And then you have days where you can trust it but you're still just not really, really sharp.
" ... Most of the time you want to see them go out and attack with the stuff they have, eliminate the walks and try to pitch ahead in the count. If they do that, they're going to be in pretty good shape."
The Indians had just three hits and two walks. Their lone run scored when Fillmyer balked in the second inning with runners on second and third and one out. Yonder Alonso trotted home with the game's first run and former Royal Melky Cabrera took third.
A big inning seemed possible, but Fillmyer escaped further damage by striking out Jason Kipnis and inducing a ground ball from Yan Gomes.
Over the next four innings, Fillmyer didn't allow an Indians runner to reach second base. It was the ninth start for Fillmyer, who improved to 2-1 and saw his ERA inch down to 4.21.
The Royals tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning. With one out, rookie shortstop Adalberto Mondesi hit a 105.8-mph laser into the right-field corner but stopped on his way to second base despite having an easy double.
It mattered little. Mondesi swiped second base (the first stolen base off Kluber this season) and scored on a single by center fielder Whit Merrifield.
An inning later, rookie first baseman Ryan O'Hearn hit a two-run double that scored Salvador Perez and Lucas Duda for a 3-1 Royals lead. In the sixth inning, Duda lined a Kluber pitch into the Pepsi Porch with one out. Jorge Bonifacio then singled, O'Hearn walked and Hunter Dozier's hit scored Bonifacio for a 5-1 lead, and Kluber's night ended.
The victory was just the Royals' 40th of the season against 90 losses, but it secured a series win at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since a three-game sweep of the Twins on July 20-22.
