Kris Bubic looked poised beyond his years in KC Royals' Saturday night victory

Kris Bubic has been one of the more pleasant surprises of this Kansas City Royals season, re-entering this rotation after a near two-year hiatus away from it and looking as strong as ever.

Royals fans witnessed Bubic dominate opponents through his first three outings, sporting a 0.96 ERA and 21 strikeouts through 18.2 innings of work.

Since then, Bubic - while never coming close to dipping back to his 2022 form (where he sported a mid-5.00 ERA) - didn't look as sharp, surrendering multiple runs in three of his next four outings, including a four run start against the Houston Astros that drove his ERA up by 80 points.

But in Saturday night's 4-0 Royals win, not only did we see Bubic rebound from his worst start of the season, we saw him do so in a manner where he was forced to handle plenty of adversity in the process.

Kris Bubic looked poised beyond his years on Saturday night

This game started off with Bubic getting himself into a bit of jam after recording the opening out. He surrendered a walk to Adley Rutschman and then a single to Gunnar Henderson to put two men on with two outs still required to the end the frame. He dialed in though and sat Ryan Mountcastle down on strikes before getting Ryan O'Hearn to fly out to end the inning unscathed.

Then, Bubic was really tested after the game went to rain delay following the first. Even the best of arms have seen hour-long rain delays get the best of them, but Bubic handled his business like a seasoned pro and picked up right where he left off.

After starting the second inning on a slightly rocky note, by surrendering a leadoff Ramón Laureano single, Bubic immediately induced a double play and then got Emmanuel Rivera to ground out to end the inning.

They say that after the first time through the order the task gets taller for a starting pitcher, but Bubic actually looked better for his final three frames. He tossed a perfect third and then only surrendered a lone single in both the fourth and the fifth.

On paper, a five inning start surrendering four hits and a walk with just three strikeouts isn't bad by any means - in fact it's quite good - but it's not one that necessarily turns heads like his early outings did.

However, considering the way Bubic navigated his way out of some potentially tricky jams, as well as handled a roughly hour-long rain delay - and still managed a shutout - made tonight's start seem just as meaningful as his All-Star-worthy outings in late March and early April.