Ryan Bergert has been simply stellar during his early tenure with the Kansas City Royals.
The rookie aims to continue his surprise success and try to help host the Royals even this series against the Los Angeles Angels, who can win their first road series in more than a month on Wednesday night.
Bergert (2-1, 2.67 ERA), who made his major league debut April 26 with San Diego, likely wasn’t expected to be a factor for the Royals (70-68) when he was part of the deadline trade that sent backup catcher Freddy Fermin to the Padres. However, due to injuries within the Royals rotation, Bergert has been a pleasant surprise, going 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP in five starts.
The right-hander recorded his first Royals victory and career quality start in his most recent appearance on Aug. 27 against the host Chicago White Sox. Bergert allowed a fourth-inning homer, five other hits and two walks over six innings of a 12-1 rout.
Kansas City totaled 16 runs while going 1-3 in his first four starts.
“He’s been pitching amazing for us,” star teammate Bobby Witt Jr. told the Royals’ official website. “Being able to put some runs on the board for him … (that) was what we needed to do.”
Bergert will be making his initial appearance against the Angels, who rode five solid innings from Mitch Farris in his major league debut and Jo Adell’s 454-foot, team-leading and career-high 32nd home run to win Tuesday’s opener 5-1.
Trying to reach wild-card position in the AL, Kansas City is 1-3 on a nine-game homestand and has lost six of 10 overall.
Bergert will try to contain Adell, was a triple shy of a cycle on Tuesday and is batting .357 with seven home runs and 14 RBIs in his last 15 games.
“We just have to keep emphasizing what we are trying to do,” interim Angels manager Ray Montgomery said. “We’re built on the home run, but that doesn’t mean you play solely that way.”
Los Angeles (65-73) was able to add on, notably with Bryce Teodosio’s sacrifice fly, Tuesday to improve to 4-4 on a 10-game trip. The Angels’ last winning road series came July 18-20 at Philadelphia.
However, Angels star Mike Trout, scratched from Tuesday’s original starting lineup due to a skin infection, may not be available on Wednesday. It is possible teammate Taylor Ward, who has set career highs with 30 home runs and 94 RBIs this season, will be back in the lineup after missing two games following that scary crash into the metal outfield scoreboard at Houston on Sunday.
According to MLB.com, the Angels will call up Caden Dana (0-0, 7.50 ERA) from Triple-A Salt Lake to fill a hole within their banged-up rotation. This will be the rookie’s first start of 2025, and third appearance this season, but first since May 24.
In five career outings — three starts — since debuting last season, the right-hander has yielded 17 runs, 21 hits — including seven homers — and 12 walks with 14 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings. He has never faced Kansas City.
Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. tripled for one of his team’s four hits on Tuesday, and also made a highlight-reel diving defensive snag at shortstop on Zach Neto’s bouncer in the third inning. Witt is batting .372 with three homers, four doubles, and 11 RBIs and 18 runs in the last 20 games.