Royals finally beat the Athletics, 4-2

The Royals will not lose more games than they win in 2025. Whether they manage to win more than they lose will depend on the results of tomorrow afternoon’s game. In the meantime, Bobby Witt Jr., battling for the MLB lead in hits despite a “down season”, was the story of tonight’s game. But let’s save our dessert for last, shall we?

First, let’s talk about Luis Morales. I know this is a Royals-centric blog, but he was really interesting to watch. He was throwing fastballs at 98-99 early on. His changeup was sitting 93 – faster than an average Kris Bubic fastball – and he had an absolutely wicked sweeper. He also greatly struggled with his command and didn’t quite manage to finish five innings. But you can see why the Athletics are excited about him.

Next, let’s talk about Michael Wacha. Wacha needed a good start after two tremendously bad ones following a short stint on the concussion IL. He did exactly that, throwing six scoreless innings. In fact, he looked almost exactly like the guy he was for the vast majority of the season before the injury, which was encouraging to finish the year. He was dominant for the first two times through the order, allowing only one hit and two walks before struggling through the sixth. He did manage to get through it, fortunately.

John Schreiber and Angel Zerpa, the two most used relievers in the Royals’ bullpen, each struggled and allowed runs. But Carlos Estévez came through with a scoreless ninth, including two strikeouts, to earn his 42nd save. Robert Suarez leads the NL with 40 saves, so that guarantees that no matter what happens tomorrow, Estévez will end the season with more saves than any other pitcher in MLB. He’s only the second Royals reliever to achieve the feat since Dan Quisenbery did it in 1983.

OK, now let’s talk about Bobby.

Mike Yastrzemski led off the first inning with a bloop double down the left field line. Junior hit a weak groundball and beat it out for an infield single. Then, with Vinnie Pasquantino at the plate, Bobby attempted a steal of second. Shea Langeliers’ throw was offline and bounced into center, allowing Yastrzemski to score and sending Bobby scurrying to third. Unfortunately, Vinnie couldn’t drive him in, and neither could Maikel Garcia or Salvador Perez. The score stayed there until the top of the fifth.

Michael Massey led off the inning with a hard groundball single, the Royals’ first hit since the first inning and the first well-struck hit of the night for the Royals. John Rave struck out, but Yastrzemski lined his own single into center. Witt flew out to center, and Vinnie achieved the Royals’ second bloop double of the night, this time driving in both runners to give the Royals another three-run lead in the series.

In the top of the ninth, Randall Grichuk led off by pinch-hitting for John Rave against lefty Hogan Harris and smashed a single to left. Tyler Tolbert pinch ran and stole second on another atrocious throw by Langeliers. Mike Yastrzemski smashed a third hard-hit ball, but an out for the second time. Tolbert tagged up and went to third.

Bobby’s legs were almost single-handedly responsible for the first run; this time, he would use his bat. After a controversial swing that was ruled a foul tip (there was no conclusive evidence on the TV broadcast that I saw one way or the other), Bobby laced a single into right field to give the Royals some much-needed insurance. That gave us an entertaining moment where Athletics manager Mark Kotsay got himself ejected for arguing from the dugout over the foul ball. Once ejected, Kotsay came charging out of the dugout and attempted to throw out home plate umpire John Bacon to no avail. Then, because of the design of the stadium where the clubhouses are out beyond the outfield walls, we had a good minute of watching him trudge out of the park.

As described, Witt had a pair of hits tonight, which gives him a two-hit lead over Luis Arraez and the rest of MLB. He has a real chance to lead all of MLB in hits for the second straight season. The Royals aren’t going to the playoffs, but in a small way, I feel like we’ve won the World Series to see all the milestones that fell and all the Royals leaders in a variety of season stats.

Cole Ragans will take the mound tomorrow for the Royals’ season finale. The Athletics will counter with left-handed rookie Brady Basso. I assume he’s an opener, because he’s only worked as a reliever for the Athletics this season. The game, like every other game tomorrow, will start at 2 PM CDT.