The Athletics struck first, a Jeff McNeil homer on the first pitch of the game, to go ahead against Michael Wacha right at the start. But the Royals roared back, scoring in five separate innings, to win the game 9-5 in Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia’s return from the injured list.
The two returning players combined to go 3-9, but that was mostly Garcia. In the first inning, Bobby Witt Jr and Jac Caglianone got on base with a walk and a single then advanced on a wild pitch. In his first plate appearance back, Garcia singled to right field to score Witt. On the throw home, Garcia went to second. Vinnie then popped a weak flyout in his first plate appearance back, but Salvador Perez picked him up. With two outs and runners going on contact, Salvador Perez knocked in both runners with a trademark “reach a down-and-outside breaking pitch that was obviously a ball but get a hit anyway” to make it 3-1.
For once, that was a lead the Royals would NOT give away, as the Royals kept piling on more runs.
In the second inning, after a Kyle Isbel walk, Carter Jensen took a pitch well above the strike nearly to the right field bullpen. Unfortunately, Lawrence Butler caught it standing just in front of the fence. But then Bobby Witt Jr got Athletics starter, and former Royal, Mason Barnett – Witt lasered a line drive homer to left-center field to score two more runs to make it 5-1 (Isbel had reached earlier on a walk).
In a long third inning with some pitchcom delays, the bottom of the lineup strung together a single, a walk, and another single to score a run, which knocked out Barnett with the score 6-1 Royals.
After that first pitch home run, Wacha was cruising until the fifth inning, when the Athletics finally broke through. Tommy White led off the fifth with a home run off a pitch up high. Donovan Walton nearly hit another homer, but it bounced off the fence in left-center field. Alika Williams hit yet a third deep fly ball, but Cags caught it at the warning track. Brian Serven golfed a homer into the left field bullpen to bring the Athletics to a 6-4 deficit. Suddenly Wacha wasn’t cruising anymore. He managed to settle down and finish the inning, but that was it for Wacha. Too much loud contact; they were sitting on his pitches. Wacha made it through only five innings with four runs given up.
Another former Royal pitcher, Scott Blewett, gave up a run in the sixth inning. The stars – Witt and Cags – clawed back a run from all the homers. Witt singled and stole second for his 33rd of the season. He got a huge, sort of hopping lead as he waited for Blewett to deliver. I think he would have been out otherwise, as the pitch was roughly a pitchout designed to try to get Witt. But he’s too fast. With two outs, Witt ran on contact and scored on a flare from Cags into right field to make it 7-4.
The Royals plated another two runs in the bottom of the eighth with back-to-back doubles from Carter Jensen and Witt, and then another single from Cags. Witt put some charges into the ball tonight. Always nice to see him pummel the ball.
Connor Thomas, John Schreiber, and Nate Pearson combined for three scoreless relief innings. With the score 9-4, Quatraro gave Lucas Erceg a shot in the ninth, which was definitely a choice. Erceg loaded the bases with a single, walk, and a walk and got precisely zero outs. Q had enough and put in Steven Cruz, who allowed a run while ending the game with a double play and a groundout.
This game was a representation of what the offense, and what this season, could have been. The pitching was not amazing, but it hung in there while the offense plastered the ball all over the field. Witt, Cags, and Garcia were the engine that made the offense go, and it always seemed like they were dangerous tonight. Other guys filled in contributions for an all-around excellent offensive effort tonight. The Royals had 13 hits and went 7-13 with runners in scoring position – Isaac Collins was the only one without a hit, but he did reach on a walk. Honestly, despite the near-ninth-inning-meltdown, the game overall was pretty nice to watch.
The Royals are now 52-74. The Athletics are 49-76. They will play again tomorrow at 6:40pm US Central time.