Bobby Witt Jr. wasted no time putting the Royals back in gear.
Back in the lineup Tuesday night after missing 11 games with low-back tightness, the All-Star shortstop looked sharp from the start and helped Kansas City roll to an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. Witt batted second, handled his usual spot on the field and delivered the kind of lift the Royals had been missing.
His biggest swing came in the fifth inning, when he lined a two-run double off Twins starter Joe Ryan. It was Witt’s third hit of the night, and it brought home Kyle Isbel and Carter Jensen. The double was his 23rd of the season, leaving him just five behind the American League lead.
Witt had already helped set the tone in the first. He opened the game with a single and later scored on Salvador Perez’s sacrifice fly as Kansas City jumped out to a 2-0 lead right away.
Perez’s night carried its own weight, too. Before the first pitch, he was honored in a pregame ceremony for becoming the Royals’ all-time home run leader. He was joined by his family and Royals Hall of Famer George Brett for the moment.
The Royals kept piling on from there. Michael Massey added an RBI double to give Randy Dobnak more cushion, and the starter made it hold up with a steady outing. Dobnak gave up one run on three hits over five innings, leaning on contact and finishing with nine groundballs and five flyouts.
The right-hander has been rolling lately. In four starts, he’s allowed two earned runs across 21 ⅓ innings, and Tuesday’s win was his second straight. He also continued his recent hot stretch after being named Royals pitcher of the month in July.
Kansas City’s offense did enough to end a skid, and then some. The Royals snapped a four-game losing streak, improved to 47-67 and have now taken seven of 11 meetings with Minnesota this season.
The Twins dropped to 56-58 and managed just five hits in the opener. Josh Bell and Alan Roden produced Minnesota’s only RBIs, and Bell added his 14th homer when he went deep off Royals reliever Steven Cruz in the eighth.
Kansas City answered right back with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Starling Marte capped the night with a pinch-hit two-run double to put the game away.
In Other News...
Royals Bullpen Problems Just Forced A Move Fans Saw Coming
Kansas Citys bullpen had been shaky enough that a change felt inevitable, and the latest move reflected just how little margin the Royals have left in the late innings. Left-handed reliever Matt Strahm, in the middle of a rough second stint with the club, had been hit hard by home runs and struggled to hold up in high-leverage spots, which made his 7.32 ERA in 41 appearances hard to overlook for a team trying to stay afloat.
The roster shuffle opened the door for Jose Cuas, who was brought up from Triple-A Omaha as the Royals reworked the 40-man picture and bought themselves a short window to decide the next step. For Strahm, the coming week now becomes a waiting game, with Kansas City weighing whether another club sees enough to trade for him or whether he clears waivers and moves on from a frustrating stretch that never found much traction. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Left Fans With One Bigger Deadline Frustration
The Royals did make a handful of moves around the trade deadline, including the departures of Lane Thomas and Kris Bubic, and they added a cluster of arms to bolster pitching depth. Lucas Braun, Carter Holton, Nolan Hoffman, Carlos Duran and Nate Pearson all came in as part of that effort, giving Kansas City more inventory to work with as it tries to patch together a deeper staff for the stretch run.
Still, the bigger frustration for fans was what did not happen. John Schreiber and Starling Marte stayed put even though they were widely viewed as the kind of rental pieces contenders often move, leaving the Royals with fewer obvious deadline wins than expected. The result is a familiar one for a team still trying to climb back into serious contention: some useful additions, a few outgoing pieces, and the sense that the most meaningful roster work may have to wait for the offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Just Made Their Deadline Priorities Impossible To Ignore
The Royals did not exactly disguise their thinking at the deadline. By holding onto Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo despite outside interest, Kansas City made it clear that controllable starting pitching still mattered more than a quick reset, especially with both arms under team control through 2027 and carrying team options for 2028. In a season where the rotation has been one of the clubs more stable pieces, that kind of long view says plenty about how the front office is trying to balance present needs with future value.
Even so, the move that really defined the deadline was aimed elsewhere, because the bullpen has been the more pressing problem. Kansas City has been dealing with injuries and a relief group that has simply not held up well enough, so the focus now shifts to whether the additions the club did make can help steady those late innings. The deadline left the Royals with a clearer sense of what they believe in, but also an even clearer reminder of what still has to be fixed. [Read more 🡒]