Royals rookie Jason Adam strolled off the mound on Saturday afternoon, his first major-league strikeout under his belt, and finally felt the knots in his stomach unclench.
The 26-year-old pitcher from Overland Park, who’s cut a winding path to debuting for his hometown team, worked a scoreless ninth inning in the Royals’ 3-2 loss to the Tigers.
He struck out Tigers third baseman Jeimer Canderlario on a 97 mph fastball. He worked around a walk and Nicholas Castellanos’ third extra-base hit of the game, receiving a boost when catcher Salvador Perez caught Leonys Martin trying to steal second base on Candelario’s punch out and when veteran Victor Martinez rolled over a low fastball for a ground-ball out.