Kirby (5-4) took the loss Saturday against the Royals, allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits and no walks in six innings. He struck out three.
After giving up a season-worst six runs in his last start against the Padres, Kirby put together a solid bounce-back effort on the road Saturday. The Royals jumped on the right-hander for three runs in the first inning, but a throwing error by Cole Young kept a pair of earned runs off Kirby's ledger in what was the hurler's sixth quality start this year. Kirby will bring a steady 3.54 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 55:16 K:BB across 68.2 innings into his next scheduled outing against Arizona.