6 KC Royals who helped make first month bearable

The KC Royals are benefitting from the fine efforts of two young pitchers.

One is lefthanded, the other a righty. One is 25, the other 26. One is a second-year Royal, the other a rookie. And one is a starter, the other a reliever.

The differences, however, don’t mean much. Not when Daniel Lynch and Collin Snider are pitching so well.

Southpaw Lynch, 25 and coming off one of the best starts of a short major league career—a scoreless six-inning, two-hit, seven-strikeout victory over the White Sox last Tuesday that rivals the eight scoreless frames he threw against Detroit last year—is the only Kansas City starter with two wins this season (relievers Snider and Scott Barlow also have two). His ERA is a certainly acceptable 3.38, but still skewed by the six runs he surrendered in his first start.

Lynch’s efforts vindicate Kansas City’s decision to bring him back to the majors after his horrendous big league start—he was 0-2 with an ugly 15.75 ERA in three games when the Royals sent him back to Triple-A Omaha last May. But he returned in July and went 4-4, 4.35 the rest of the way, earned a rotation spot in spring training, and is making fans forget about his miserable introduction to the majors.

Save for the White Sox scoring twice against him in less than an inning Wednesday, the game has so far spared Snider, 26, the rugged initial treatment it gave Lynch in 2021. The righthander has walked only three in 10 appearances, the lone run he allowed Seattle eight days is the only one he’s surrendered other than Chicago’s two, and no one scored against him until his seventh game. He’s 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA.

The Royals didn’t have a good April. But some of their players did.