Brandon Williamson earned his first major league win Tuesday night as he went five innings in the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The Martin County West graduate made his sixth start since being brought up from Triple-A Louisville on May 16. While it was his first decision, the Reds are now 5-1 when Williamson starts.
"It's awesome. It feels great," Williamson said to Mark Sheldon of mlb.com.
The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the first, with the Reds responding with a five-run second.
Given the four-run lead, Williamson allowed Bobby Witt Jr. to hit a 2-1 cutter to left-center field for a two-run homer that made it 4-3. Pitching coach Derek Johnson made a mound visit after MJ Melendez followed with a single.
"I was getting to two strikes at a decent clip, (but) I was just leaving pitches for them to be able to hit with two strikes," Williamson said. "(Johnson's) message was to keep getting ahead of guys, but you've got to be able to finish. You have to go out of the zone, throw 'em in the dirt. Just execute your two-strike pitch better."
Williamson got Maikel Garcia to ground to shortstop for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. He retired six of the final seven batters he faced, inducing a 4-6-3 double play before getting Salvador Perez to ground out to end his night with a seven-pitch fifth inning.
From there, Cincinnati used four pitchers to earn its fourth straight win. It’s the Reds’ National League-leading 22nd comeback win of the season.
Williamson allowed four (three earned) on seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out one. He threw 78 pitches, 51 for strikes.
Cincinnati is in third place in the National League Central Division with a 33-35 record, 2.5 games behind first-place Pittsburgh and one behind second-place Milwaukee.
The Reds close out the series with the Royals tonight (Wednesday). After an off-day Thursday Cincinnati starts a six-game homestand Friday, playing three vs. Colorado and three vs. Atlanta.