Keuchel made his Cactus League debut Thursday and allowed five runs on five hits and two walks while striking out one over 2.1 innings against the Royals.
Even though Thursday was a late debut, Keuchel was able to throw 54 pitches because the left-hander had thrown simulated games and bullpen sessions on the back fields. His first inning was rolled, and he was removed before returning for the start of the second inning. The results were not good, but they aren't as important as getting the work in. "Really, the only way to get volume in is kind of give up some base hits, ground balls, I gave up a hard hit, was consistently in the stretch. So I'm checking off all these boxes that I actually need to do to make it through six, seven innings a start in the regular season," he told Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Keuchel is set to start the second game of the regular season.