Kennedy said his changeup is the only pitch that is affected by his early-season hamstring injury, prompting him to turn more to his curveball in recent weeks, Maria Torres of The Kansas City Star reports.

Torres reports that for the first time since 2014, Kennedy is using his curveball (21 percent of pitches in July) more than his changeup (eight percent). After returning from a DL stint in May, the right-hander struggled to get comfortable with his previously-preferred offspeed pitch. "It was the only pitch I would throw where I could feel (the hamstring)," Kennedy said. "Sometimes I would go into it and I'd forget about it and I'd throw a change-up and it would send, like, a zing from my knee to my groin to remind me I wasn't fully healthy yet." The change in approach seems to be paying dividends, as the 32-year-old is 3-0 with a 3.14 ERA over his last seven starts.