The 29-year-old left-hander gave up three earned runs and fanned two batters during limited action on the mound.
Daniel Lynch IV got the chance he was waiting for after spending the last two years in a relief role for the Kansas City Royals. On Friday, he took the mound at Kauffman Stadium as a starter against the Chicago Cubs who have been among the best teams in MLB with a 68-49 record and second-place ranking in the NL Central.
Lynch's outing was cut short to just 1.2 innings of work as he surrendered three hits while issuing two walks. Still, he emphasized just how grateful he was to even get the starting nod after so long.
"I just tried to be thankful for the fact that I was getting this opportunity again," Lynch told The Kansas City Star. "You know, I worked really, really hard. The circumstances of it weren’t the best with some teammates being hurt and stuff like that. But I was able to pitch well enough to get this opportunity."
Isaac Collins would put Kansas City ahead 1-0 in the first inning with an RBI single that drove in Carter Jensen. However, Lynch coughed up two runs in the second as an RBI single by Pete Crow-Armstrong brought home Carson Kelly and Pedro Ramírez. This would force Royals manager Matt Quatraro to make a call to the bullpen for reliever José Cuas.
Michael Massey didn't do Lynch any favors though with a costly throwing error.
Even then, Lynch acknowledged the second baseman's efforts in attempting to nab the speedy Dansby Swanson at third base.
"He’s been incredible. That’s just a really tough play, really fast runner," Lynch said. "Jac [Caglianone], you know, they were kind of converging with each other. I’m getting over there. It’s just a really tough play."
Seiya Suzuki then blew the game wide open with an RBI single of his own to drive in Swanson and Crow-Armstrong.
The Royals scored once more in the fifth as Jensen launched a solo homer to left field to bring the matchup within two.
That would not be enough as Alex Bregman stormed back for Chicago in the seventh, bringing in Crow-Armstrong with an RBI single while Ramírez closed the door on Kansas City in the eighth with a solo blast to right field.
The Royals' offense would finish the game having struck out four times against new Cubs starter Kevin Gausman who made his organizational debut following a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Meanwhile, Kansas City's pitching staff as a whole struck out five batters while yielding nine hits, five walks and six runs including one home run.
Going forward, Lynch could be moved back to the bullpen while possibly being called upon by Quatraro to be an innings eater as the team works out a solution for right-hander Luinder Avila who underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on Tuesday to address a torn UCL.
The Royals will have a second go at earning a win over Chicago tonight at 7:10 p.m. EDT.
