Jac Caglianone didn’t just have a big night. He put himself in some rare Royals company and dragged Kansas City to a 6-3 win over the Cubs with one of the loudest offensive performances the club has had in years.
Caglianone became the first Royal to record 12 or more total bases in a game since Lorenzo Cain’s three-homer night against the Yankees on May 10, 2016. He also became the first Kansas City player to post four extra-base hits in a game since Kendrys Morales’ three-home run, one-triple showing against the Tigers on September 20, 2015.
Every one of his four balls in play was hit at 104.9 MPH or harder, and he owned the two hardest-hit balls in the game for either team, both above 111 MPH. Only two of the four were officially barreled, but the launch-angle details hardly mattered.
He started the damage immediately. Caglianone launched a first-inning home run that gave the Royals the opening lead, and it was his longest homer of the season at 448 feet.
Kansas City kept piling on in the second. Michael Massey singled, John Rave walked, and Nick Loftin laid down a sacrifice bunt, which set up Josh Rojas to single both runners home.
The third inning brought more from the Royals’ young slugger. Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an infield single to Alex Bregman, then Caglianone smoked a sweeper into the right-field corner for an RBI double. Clay Holmes eventually found a scoreless fourth, but by then the Cubs’ debut had already been wrecked, and Colin Rea took over to finish the game.
Caglianone wasn’t done. He added another double off the top of the left-field wall in the fifth, though he was left stranded.
Then came the key blow in the seventh, with Kansas City holding a 4-3 lead after a shaky stretch from the bullpen. Carter Jensen drew a leadoff walk, and Caglianone came through again, giving the Royals more breathing room.
His four at-bats came against a sinker, sweeper, changeup and cutter. Both homers went to center field, while the doubles went down each line. The Cubs never really found a way to slow him down.
The pitching side was solid enough to finish the job. Seth Lugo allowed three runs in six innings, walked one and struck out five in what was his fourth quality start over his last five outings.
John Schreiber handled the seventh and worked around a pair of two-out walks while striking out two. Steven Cruz took the eighth, escaped a two-out double, and punched out a batter.
Nate Pearson got the save chance and shut it down despite a leadoff double, finishing the game by striking out Pete Crow-Armstrong for his second strikeout of the inning.
Bobby Witt Jr. also made his presence felt with a ridiculous defensive play, a reminder that when he and Caglianone are both rolling, the Royals can look awfully dangerous.
The Royals will try to win the series tomorrow afternoon. Randy Dobnak, with a 1.16 ERA and 5.16 SIERA, is set to face Matthew Boyd, who carries a 3.49 ERA and 4.09 SIERA.
The game will be aired on Royals.TV. It would be pretty fun if the Royals could take 2 out of 3 from the Cubs after Chicago went hard into the deadline and the Royals seemed to sleep in.
In Other News...
Bobby Witt Jr. Trade Buzz Just Gave Royals Fans A Reminder
The chatter around the 2026 MLB trade deadline served as another reminder of how scarce elite shortstops are, and Bobby Witt Jr. was right in the middle of that conversation. Boston was known to be exploring the position, with interest in several names before ultimately landing catcher Adley Rutschman from Baltimore, while other players around the league were quietly treated as untouchable long before the deadline really got moving.
For Royals fans, the larger takeaway was not that Witt was suddenly available, but the opposite. Kansas City has long operated as if its franchise centerpiece is off-limits, and the idea that a club like Boston would even circle his name only reinforced how valuable he has become. It also underscored a familiar deadline truth: teams can ask, but some players are simply too important to pry loose. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Walk Into A Rough Dodgers Test As Massey Finally Gets His Shot
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The matchup only gets more demanding from there, with Los Angeles lining up Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell for the first two games. Skubal was recently acquired from the Tigers, and Snell is working back from injury, which gives the series an added layer of intrigue even before the Royals start worrying about the usual Dodger pressure. For Massey, the trip is about finally getting on the field in a stadium he has kept missing, and for Kansas City it is another reminder that there are no soft landings in a place like this. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Pipeline Looks Stronger As Long Term Core Questions Loom
Baseball Americas latest top 100 prospects list gave the Royals another reminder that the pipeline is not thinning out. Kansas City placed three players inside the ranking, with Kendry Chourio at No. 33, Angeibel Gomez at No. 47 and Josh Hammond at No. 55, a trio that points to real organizational depth at a time when the big-league club is trying to keep building something sustainable. Chourio has been turning heads with strong work at High-A Quad Cities, while Gomez has stood out in the Dominican Summer League.
For a Royals team weighing the long-term shape of its core, that kind of prospect presence matters. The conversation around the roster will inevitably circle back to Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia, whose contract situations loom over the bigger picture, and the front office would love to have internal options arriving at the right time. Lists like this do not guarantee anything, but they do show Kansas City has more than one path to keep the roster stocked if the next wave continues to develop. [Read more 🡒]