SAN FRANCISCO — Pitching about 45 miles north of where he grew up, Royals left-hander Kris Bubic nearly pitched himself into the franchise record books before settling for another dazzling outing while leading Kansas City to a 3-1 win over the Giants on Monday.
The 27-year-old, who grew up in nearby Cupertino, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, shook off a questionable ruling that broke up the bid then calmed back down to put the finishing touches on his fifth victory of the season, his most since he went 6-7 in 2021.
“I just think it’s a continuation of what we’ve been doing,” Bubic said. “Just continuing to keep that attacking mindset, the good mix of pitches, I think has been key.”
As has been the case most of the season, the Royals didn’t have the offense to support Bubic until Vinnie Pasquantino crushed his team-leading eighth home run, a towering two-run shot off Giants reliever Tyler Rogers that landed in the stands above the brick wall in right-center.
From his position at first base, Pasquantino had a great view of Bubic’s night.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Pasquantino said. “He’s been a horse for us. He’s just so good at getting weak contact, mixing guys up. The way I would frame it is there’s so much conviction in what he does.
“He’s so confident in what he’s got that it almost kind of puts you on your heels as a hitter.”
Before Pasquantino’s homer, a controversial decision by the official scorer had the Oracle Park crowd buzzing.
Bubic (5-2) faced two over the minimum through five innings, both runners reaching base by walk. With two outs in the sixth, Giants slugger Wilmer Flores rolled a grounder toward second base. Royals second baseman Michael Massey appeared to slip as he was trying to make a play and the ball deflected off his glove and rolled into the outfield for an error.
Official scorekeeper Michael Duca later reversed the call to a hit, ending Bubic’s bid to throw the fifth no-hitter in franchise history. Bret Saberhagen was the most recent Royals pitcher to do it, on Aug. 26, 1991.
San Francisco’s Casey Schmitt doubled off Bubic in the seventh, making the call moot.
“I knew it was happening, but I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Bubic said. “In my head, I was just thinking, ‘Keep attacking guys, keep getting ahead of guys.’”
Two years out from having Tommy John surgery in 2023, Bubic has been the Royals’ best starting pitcher all season and showed why against the Giants.
“He pitches in, he pitches out, he pitches up, he pitches down,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve seen some good pitchers this year. That was right up there.”
Bubic allowed two hits over seven strong innings with five strikeouts and three walks. The lefty has allowed one run over his previous four starts (25 1/3 innings) while lowering his ERA to 1.47.
“That’s not the norm to give up one run every four starts, but we had a lot of confidence in him,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, who was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing a call on the basepaths. “He’s got a lot of confidence in himself. Every time he takes the ball, we have a good chance to win one.”
Bubic’s ERA is the second-lowest mark by a Royals pitcher through their first 10 starts in a season. Zack Greinke had a 0.84 ERA through 10 starts in 2009.
“To be honest, I didn’t feel that great at the start of the game,” Bubic said. “Pregame bullpen was kind of erratic. Wasn’t getting ahead of guys at first, but got a little better as we went.
“It was a duel. Robbie Ray was doing his thing on the other side.”
Jonathan India, back in the Royals’ lineup after a day off because of a sore knee Sunday, singled before Pasquantino’s home run for a 2-0 lead, but the Giants didn’t go down quietly.
Second-year sensation Jung Hoo Lee had an RBI double off John Schreiber in the bottom of the frame and got the tying run to third before Schreiber got Matt Chapman to foul out, securing the victory for the Royals and Bubic.
