After Deadline whirlwind, Bergert impresses in Royals debut

BOSTON -- In the four days since Ryan Bergert joined the Royals, the rookie right-hander had to introduce himself to a brand new clubhouse -- on the road, no less -- learn a new pitching department and settle into a new team while dealing with the logistics that come along with all of that in the middle of the season.

And then make Tuesday’s start against the red-hot Red Sox at Fenway Park.

“It’s been a crazy few days, honestly,” Bergert said.

Bergert handled all of it well and left a strong first impression after departing the mound Tuesday, despite the Royals’ 6-2 loss to the Red Sox as Kansas City’s streak of four consecutive series wins ended. Bergert was handed the loss but tossed a career-high 5 2/3 innings while allowing two runs, striking out two and walking two.

It was Bergert’s final walk to Alex Bregman in the sixth inning that began the Royals’ spiral.

Bergert exited in a tie game, with manager Matt Quatraro wanting the left-on-left matchup between reliever Angel Zerpa and outfielder Wilyer Abreu. Bergert was at 85 pitches, just five off his career-high 90 he threw with the Padres on June 14. It had also been six weeks since Bergert had completed five innings and seven since he had pitched into the sixth; the number of times a pitcher goes to the mound throughout a start -- ‘ups’ in industry terms -- is as integral to workload as pitch count.

“Can’t walk a guy with two outs, especially in that situation, tight ballgame,” Bergert said.

Abreu entered Tuesday with a .644 OPS against lefties this year compared to a .830 OPS against righties. Left-handed batters are OPS-ing .555 against Zerpa, whom the Royals view as their high-leverage lefty, compared to right-handed batters’ .866 OPS.

Quatraro handed the ball to Zerpa to face Abreu knowing the right-handed Trevor Story was in the on deck circle. The goal was to not let Story come to the plate that inning.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Zerpa said through interpreter Luis Perez. “Every time I get it, I have to go take advantage of it and go compete and give it my all.”

Instead, Zerpa hung a slider to Abreu, who hit it 325 feet but off the Green Monster for a double that put runners on second and third. Story followed with a bloop, go-ahead, two-run single.

“Zerpa against Abreu is a really good matchup for us,” Quatraro said. “And he got a pop up. This ballpark is probably the only place that’s a hit. Tough result, and Zerpa jammed Story, too. It was just really unfortunate timing for some of those hits to fall in.”

The Red Sox added three more runs in the seventh off righty John Schreiber, while the Royals scored just two runs against Garrett Crochet, an American League Cy Young favorite who went seven innings with eight strikeouts Tuesday night.

No matter what happens in Wednesday’s finale, the Red Sox have taken the season series from the Royals with four wins, an important note with both teams in the AL Wild Card mix. Boston, with a 3 1/2-game lead in the first Wild Card spot, has further buried the Royals, who sit four games back of the third spot.

What the Royals can take from Tuesday is the emergence of Bergert, who had made just 11 career appearances (seven starts) before Tuesday night with a 2.78 ERA for the Padres.

The Royals acquired him in a three-player trade last Thursday as they looked for reinforcements for their injured rotation. With Cole Ragans (left rotator cuff strain) out until September, Kris Bubic (left rotator cuff strain) out for the rest of the season and Michael Lorenzen (left oblique strain) only just making his first rehab start on Tuesday night in Double-A, the Royals needed pitching depth.

Lorenzen threw 66 pitches across three innings Tuesday night, allowing four runs, but how he felt and how he feels on Wednesday will determine his next steps.

But the Royals also acquired the 25-year-old Bergert thinking about their future rotation. He showed why on Tuesday, with a 90-95 mph fastball that averaged 19 inches of induced vertical break. His sweeper showed a ton of movement despite Bergert not having the best command of his breaking pitches, and he flashed his new kick-changeup.

That’s a lot of good stuff to work with moving forward.

“I think I showed my ability to go after guys and collect outs,” Bergert said. “That’s the name of the game. That’s what I was just trying to do tonight, go deep in the game and get some outs.”