The drought was ultimately broken when Kansas City defeated Detroit 3–1. While Kennedy was mostly happy with his performance during the 2016 season, in which he went 11–11 with a 3.68 ERA and struck out 184 batters in innings, he was disappointed that the Royals did not reach the postseason, and his 33 home runs allowed were "a lot more" than he had been "expecting or hoping for". At the start of the 2017 MLB season, Kennedy served as the Royals' No. 2 starter, behind former reliever Danny Duffy. After going 0–3 with a 3.03 ERA in his first six starts, Kennedy suffered another hamstring injury on May 4, leaving the mound against the Chicago White Sox after innings. He returned on May 21, lasting only two innings while walking three batters and giving up a pair of home runs. Kennedy and manager Ned Yost both clarified that the pitcher felt physically fine, and that his command issues were mental. Ultimately, however, the hamstring injury continued to bother Kennedy through the remainder of the season, particularly when he tried to utilize his changeup, historically Kennedy's most effective approach. His 5.38 ERA for the year was Kennedy's worst since 2008, and after returning at the end of May, his opponents boasted a .528 slugging percentage against him. Despite struggling his way to a 5–13 record for the year, Kennedy chose not to opt out of the remainder of his Royals contract, saying that it "would be pretty stupid" to forego the final three years of the agreement. A number of injuries befell Kennedy during the 2018 season. On April 24, he was hit in the foot with a line drive off the bat of Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers. Kennedy was able to finish pitching the inning but had to be removed from the game afterwards with a contusion. It was the first time in Kennedy's 274 major league starts that he had not recorded at least one strikeout. Most of Kennedy's summer was taken up with a left oblique strain: he was originally put on the 10-day disabled list for the injury at the end of June, with a return date of July 10. During that attempted start, Kennedy lasted only three innings before a recurrence of the oblique strain forced him off the mound and back onto the disabled list. Kennedy returned to the mound in full on