Royster getting tired of counting pitches

Monday, April 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Brad Kaufman struck out 11 Edmonton batters in six innings in his triple-A debut and the Las Vegas Stars' pitching staff ran its season total to 45 strikeouts in four games. But manager Jerry Royster would rather see a few more ground-ball outs.

"I'm not a big strikeout guy," Royster said after the Stars struck out 13 Sunday in a 7-6 loss to the Trappers at Cashman Field. "If you strike out two and give up a home run, then strike out the next guy, I don't know if that's good pitching or not.

"You've got to minimize your pitches -- we threw too many pitches today."

Kaufman rebounded from a shaky first inning in which he allowed three runs on four hits and retired the Trappers in order in the second. He got a quick out -- on a strikeout -- in the third inning before walking Brian Lesher. A potential double-play ball by Patrick Lennon was mishandled by second baseman Homer Bush and, after another strikeout, Webster Garrison gave Edmonton a 6-0 lead with three-run home run.

Kaufman settled into a rhythm from that point, retiring the next 10 hitters he faced -- seven via strikeout and five in a row at one point. But the 24-year-old right-hander threw 109 pitches and had to leave after six innings.

"I know that (amount of pitches) comes with strikeouts but I think he has good enough stuff to get guys out earlier than what he did," Royster said. "If he had a no-hitter right there, we would have had to take him out of the game because he was over his pitch count."

Kaufman attributed his struggles early in the game to a mechanical breakdown and said he wasn't going after strikeouts.

"I was kind of rushing out of my delivery a little bit and got a few balls up and they hit the holes with them," Kaufman said. "After the first couple of innings, I had to take a deep breath -- it kind of shellshocked me a little bit.

"I just tried to stay back and throw the ball down the middle and get the ball on the ground. Fortunately, I was able to hit the corners and get my slider over for strikes. But more or less, I try to get the ball in play as soon as I can."

Although Kaufman said he didn't feel overly nervous about making his first start at the triple-A level, Stars pitching coach Sid Monge said he sensed otherwise.

"You could tell when he started out, you could tell when I went to the mound, that he was uneasy a little bit," Monge said. "Once he got a couple guys out with more authority and got the ball down (in the strike zone), then he had a totally different outlook.

"He went and tested some new waters and the waters were murky at first, but then they settled down and he was like, 'Hey, man, I like this.' But it was a good sign that he finished up strong, so it was a positive outing for him."

Like Royster, Monge said he would like to see fewer strikeouts out of Kaufman, who struck out 163 batters in 178 innings at double-A Memphis last season.

"I'd like to see him go eight innings and get a quality start, minimize the strikeouts and get the ground balls and things of that nature," Monge said. "I'd rather see three pitches, four pitches and get the heck out of there.

"The strikeout is like a home run -- it's an accident. What I want is a fresh arm in the seventh inning to finish strong. He threw 65 pitches in three innings -- and I was tired."

Despite trailing 6-0 after three innings and 7-1 after 6 1/2 innings, the Stars rallied for three runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Stoney Briggs, a sacrifice fly by Terry Shumpert and a two-out single by Jorge Velandia. Las Vegas added two runs in the eighth to close to within a run of the Trappers.

The Stars threatened to tie it in the bottom of the ninth when Shumpert attempted to score from second on a two-out single to left field by Bush. Left fielder Lennon, however, made a perfect throw to catcher Willie Morales, who blocked the plate and tagged out Shumpert for the final out of the game.