Noah Cameron gave the Royals exactly the kind of start they’ve been waiting for, and he kept delivering it all the way into the eighth inning.
In Kansas City’s 2-1 win over the Twins on Wednesday night, Cameron worked eight innings of one-run ball, matching the career high in innings he had just set last week against Minnesota. He also tied his career best with nine strikeouts, the same mark he reached July 11 against the Orioles.
It was his second straight outing of eight innings, and he has now allowed just one earned run over his last 23 innings since July 24. By the time he finished the seventh inning, he was at 95 pitches and it looked like his night might be over. Instead, he came back out for one more frame, needed 11 more pitches, and struck out the side to finish with a crowd-pleasing walk off the mound.
The only run against Cameron came in the fourth, and it started with a walk to Josh Bell. Kody Clemens then hit what should have been a double-play ball, but Michael Massey hesitated on the play near second base and threw too late to first, leaving everyone safe. Royce Lewis followed with a bunt to load the bases, and even though the Royals turned a double play after that, Bell still crossed the plate.
That run ended a 19-inning scoreless streak for Cameron, 18 of those innings coming since he began calling his own pitches on July 24 against Detroit. That outing in Detroit marked the turning point in his season.
Before that, he had gone through a seven-start stretch with a 7.97 ERA. Since then, he’s looked like a different pitcher entirely, and these last three dominant starts have driven that point home.
In Other News...
Randy Dobnak Is Giving The Royals Stability Seattle Let Slip Away
Randy Dobnak has quietly become one of the steadier arms in Kansas Citys mix since arriving from Seattle, where he first landed on a minor-league deal and worked for Tacoma before the Royals got him. The move looks even more useful now because Kansas City brought him into a rotation picture that needed dependable innings, and Dobnak has answered with a 2-0 mark and a 1.16 ERA over 31 innings.
For the Mariners, the decision to let him slip through was tied to a crowded rotation and the choice not to keep him on the 40-man roster, which opened the door for Kansas City to step in. The Royals have already benefited from that opening, and the next question is whether Dobnak keeps turning a low-risk pickup into one of the more stabilizing additions on the staff. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Fans Just Got Two Very Different Signals About The Future
The Royals week offered a tidy snapshot of where the organization stands, from the upper levels of the farm to the big league club. Michael Masseys go-ahead homer helped Kansas City slip past Minnesota 2-1 despite an earlier defensive mistake, while Noah Cameron delivered eight innings of one-run ball and matched career highs in innings and strikeouts. In the minors, Michael Lombardi and Jhon Reyes combined for a no-hitter in a Low-A game, another reminder that the system still has arms worth watching.
At the same time, recent first-round pick Zion Rose got his first taste of pro ball with Quad Cities, a debut that came with the usual growing pains attached. The bigger-picture message for Royals fans is a little harder to pin down, though, because the front office has been signaling patience around the roster while the club keeps trying to balance now and later. There are still questions about how aggressively Kansas City will keep shaping that future, even after one deadline decision in particular helped settle at least part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]