By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 on Saturday night, but making his debut in a stadium that he grew up attending games in, cheering on the team he’s now playing for, St. Joseph’s Noah Cameron dazzled on the mound again.
Cameron was called up to make a spot start in place of Seth Lugo, who was dealing with what manager Matt Quatraro said was right middle finger tightness. Originally, the Royals had hoped to avoid a stint on the injury list, but to make the move to call up Cameron, Lugo was placed on the 15 day IL, retroactive to May 14th with a right third finger sprain.
In what was already a special evening at Kauffman Stadium, as the Royals celebrated the 2015 World Series winning team, fans were just as loud it seemed when Cameron’s name was announced during the starting lineups and he was shown on Crown Vision, and again as he took the mound and threw out his first pitch of the game. There was excitement in the air for the hometown kid.
Cameron started just as he did in Tampa Bay, breezing through the Cardinals lineup with a 1-2-3 first inning. He did allow a baserunner in the second inning, due to an error by second baseman Jonathan India at second base, but erased that quickly with a double play. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that Cameron gave up his first hit, a ball that third baseman Maikel Garcia just missed getting his glove on that skipped into left field.
Cameron got out of that inning unharmed however, forcing Pedro Pagés to fly out to end the inning. But in the sixth, Jordan Walker took advantage of a mistake pitch from Cameron, hitting a leadoff home run into left field. Like a veteran though, Cameron did not let that shake him, striking out Victor Scott, getting Lars Nootbaar to ground out, and then Masyn Winn flying out to left field to end the inning.
With a lefty vs lefty matchup against Brendan Donovan, Cameron started the seventh inning by getting a flyout to left field, before being pulled to a standing ovation from the Kauffman crowd, for Steven Cruz. Cruz and Angel Zerpa combined to give up no more hits, but the Royals couldn’t push across any runs to force a no decision for Cameron.
Cameron says while his major league debut in Tampa Bay was special, this start felt even more so.
“All the family and friends and everybody here, it was amazing,” Cameron tells reporters in the locker room after the game. “Obviously wish we would have maybe got the win, but it’s baseball.”
Cameron says the biggest thing he’s going to take away from the game is just wanting to soak it all in.
“It was a dream just to make your debut, but I think pitching here is just something special, I think just even the guys kind of welcoming me back is super special, and just means a lot to me,” Cameron explains. “But yeah, everybody’s here, and all the support that I’m getting from Kansas City people and back home, you just can’t beat it, you can’t make it up.”
The Royals might need more impressive starts from Cameron, after placing Lugo and also Cole Ragans on the 15 day IL, leaving two spots open in the starting rotation. Ragans was placed on the IL after leaving Friday’s start against the Cardinals with left groin tightness. It’s the second time this season Ragans has suffered from a groin injury, being put on the IL with a left groin strain.
Catcher Salvador Perez is confident in pitchers like Cameron to help carry the load while two of the top pitchers on the staff are out
“We have to have some good pitchers in there early, like Cameron, you guys saw what he did today,” Perez says. “So I think we’ll be fine.”
Perez, a constant veteran leader, has been impressed with what he’s seen from Cameron over his two starts
“He’s got some pretty good pitches and he doesn’t leave to many things in the middle of home plate,” Perez points out. “His cutter was good, curveball was good, changeup, slider, fastball, just one pitch back to the middle, but I think he’s doing a pretty good job, he can help us to win.”
With Lugo and Ragans being placed on the IL, being out for some time, fans might see Cameron on the mound again in the future. The Royals also called up reliever Evan Sisk on Saturday, essentially trading a starter for a reliever. Kansas City does not have a plan for who will start on Wednesday against the Giants, which would have been Ragans next start.
Cameron pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up two hits, the biggest being the home run to Jordan Walker, striking out three against the Cardinals. Cameron also made some MLB history in the start. According to Ian Kraft, assistant director of media relations for the Royals, Cameron is the first player in MLB history to begin a career with consecutive starts of 6 1/3 or more innings pitched and two or fewer hits allowed.
There wasn’t much offense for either team. While the Cardinals managed just the two hits off Cameron, by Walker and Iván Herrera, the Royals had just four hits, coming from Garcia, Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, and Vinnie Pasquantino. Miles Mikolas got the win for St. Louis, pitching six innings and striking out four, giving up two of the four hits, walking two.
Kansas City and St. Louis wrap up their series tomorrow. Michael Wacha (3-4. 2.96 ERA) will take the mound for the Royals, hoping to slow down his former team and avoid a sweep, taking on Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 3.11 ERA). First pitch is at 1:10pm, with Royals pregame coverage on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM) beginning at 12:30. Cardinals coverage will be joined at 1pm on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
