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Royals reliever Aroldis Chapman lit up the radar gun Saturday in KC debut

Peter Aiken/USA TODAY Sports

A two-game sample size is paltry, but the Royals bullpen has been sensational despite the team’s 0-2 start.

The Royals bullpen has thrown 7 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, three walks and no runs. They’ve piled up 11 strikeouts.

Three of those belong to left-hander Aroldis Chapman, who made his Royals debut in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. That was one of the few bright spots for Royals catcher Salvador Perez.

“Yeah, that was fun. He threw 103, 102, 101, 100, a couple 99,” Perez said of Chapman’s pitch speeds. “It was fun. He was working in the offseason. He wanted to be like the same guy when he got called up. So I think he was ready for this year.”

Of the 255 pitches thrown in the game, Chapman had the 12 fastest, per Baseball Savant. The 6-foot-4 Chapman topped out at 102.5 mph, hit 100 mph or faster three times and had three more that were at least 99.5 mph.

Chapman, 35, threw 13 pitches in all, nine for strikes.

“He’s pretty fresh. He hasn’t pitched in a game in seven or eight days probably, so he’s probably feeling pretty good, but that was pretty impressive,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro noted.

The final six Twins batters struck out on Saturday.

Royals right-hander Taylor Clarke also struck out the side. In the eighth inning, he kept the Twins off-balance with a nice mix of his slider and four-seam fastball.

Lefty Ryan Yarbrough relieved Royals starter Jordan Lyles and needed just 12 pitches to get five outs in the sixth and seventh innings.

“(Yarbrough) came in super efficient, I mean he threw four pitches that first inning, and I think the next inning maybe he threw (eight),” Quatraro said. “And then Taylor struck out the side, Chapman, yeah, I mean, it was a well-pitched game on both sides.”