Daniel Lynch IV Explains What Must Change After Loss to Blue Jays

A month ago the Kansas City Royals moved Daniel Lynch IV out of the bullpen and back into the rotation, partly because injuries left them short on starters and partly to see if he could be a starting option in 2027.

Friday night at Kauffman Stadium showed both sides of that answer, as Lynch was hit hard early and then looked like his old reliever self late in a 9-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays that opened a three-game series.

Lynch hit Brett Bateman with his first pitch, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled with one out, Alejandro Kirk and Kazuma Okamoto followed with run-scoring singles, and Ernie Clement capped the inning with a two-run double for a 4-0 lead.

Bobby Witt Jr. answered with a solo homer in the bottom of the first, but Kirk doubled home another run in the second to make it 5-1, and the lineup that had carried Michael Wacha on Thursday did not get a runner to second base again until the eighth.

Lynch retired the final nine batters he faced and finished five innings on 70 pitches, but Nolan Hoffman gave up three more runs in the sixth on a Myles Straw sacrifice bunt and a George Springer double before Vinnie Pasquantino's ninth-inning homer closed the scoring.

Lynch told MLB.com that his stuff did not change from the first two innings to the last three, but his attitude did, and his body felt slow instead of attacking like he does out of the bullpen.

"The move forward is going to be figuring out how to fully let it rip there, from pitch one," Lynch said.

That is the whole experiment in one sentence, since Lynch had a 1.96 ERA as a reliever through Aug. 4 and now carries a 3.51 ERA with six starts after a 6.97 ERA in those starts.

Manager Matt Quatraro said the trouble is not always the first inning and that he would rather have Lynch settle in and prove to himself that he can fix it.

That is the right call for a team that is all but out of the race, because the front office still has to decide whether Lynch belongs in next year's rotation alongside younger starters like Noah Cameron, so the fix is between the ears rather than in the arm.

The loss dropped Kansas City to 63-79, nine games behind the third American League wild card spot with 20 games left, so these games mean far more to the Blue Jays, who got back to .500 at 71-71 and sit one game behind Cleveland for the final spot.

Witt's homer was his 17th of the season to go with 38 stolen bases and a .283 average.

Kansas City sends Seth Lugo against Max Scherzer on Saturday at 6:10 PM Central, Randy Dobnak starts the series finale on Sunday, and Arizona comes to Kauffman Stadium on Monday.

The Royals can still play spoiler this weekend, and after a week of slow starts on the mound, a clean first inning from Lugo would be a good place to begin.