The Royals spent most of Tuesday night grinding rather than exploding, but when the game got late, Kansas City found just enough punch to steal it at Kauffman Stadium.
After the Athletics pushed ahead by two runs in the ninth, the Royals finally cracked the door open. Tyler Tolbert, working as a pinch-hitter, tied the game with a two-run single and Bobby Witt Jr. finished it off with a walk-off RBI single with two outs, lifting Kansas City to a 4-3 win.
The comeback sent an announced crowd of 12,009 home happy and gave the Royals their sixth walk-off victory of the year. It also extended their winning streak to three straight.
Kansas City’s offense never looked fully settled early, even after putting up nine runs against Oakland the day before. The Royals finished with eight hits and kept running into trouble when they had traffic on the bases, including a pair of double plays that wiped out scoring chances.
The Athletics took a de facto bullpen-game approach, leaning on Brady Basso and Jack Perkins. Basso worked through the first nine batters and gave up two hits, with the Royals also losing a potential baserunner when Carter Jensen was caught stealing in the third. Perkins then handled multiple scoreless innings, and the Royals’ bats stayed quiet for much of the night.
That left Daniel Lynch IV working with little margin in his third start back in the rotation. The left-hander was limited to 45-50 pitches before the game and stayed efficient within that range, allowing one run over four innings with two walks and a strikeout. Oakland scored first on Tommy White’s RBI single in the opening inning, but Lynch settled in and retired the final 10 batters he faced.
The game stayed tight until the sixth, when Athletics veteran Jeff McNeil delivered an RBI single off Royals reliever Mason Black and Max Muncy drew a bases-loaded walk to make it a three-run game.
Kansas City finally answered in the seventh. Vinnie Pasquantino doubled home the Royals’ first run, giving him his first RBI since July 21 against the San Francisco Giants. The rally didn’t fully cash in, though, because Salvador Perez and Michael Massey were retired in order.
The Royals had another opening in the eighth, but Maikel Garcia flew out with the bases loaded.
Tolbert’s two-run single in the ninth changed everything, and Witt’s hit moments later finished the job.
Pasquantino also drove in Jac Caglianone earlier in the comeback effort, trimming Oakland’s lead before the late surge took over.
Kansas City is now 53-74 overall and 31-30 at Kauffman Stadium.
Right-hander Seth Lugo, who is 5-7 with a 4.59 ERA, will start Wednesday’s game against the Athletics. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. Central Time.
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Witts production has stayed loud all season, with a .287 average, 15 home runs, 47 RBIs and 33 stolen bases across 108 games, and the broader team record has not dimmed his value. For a Royals club still searching for consistency, his blend of contact, power and speed has given the lineup a centerpiece and the fan base a reason to believe there is still something to build around. [Read more 🡒]