The Royals keep stacking wins, and on Saturday the formula was familiar: strong pitching, timely power and just enough extra detail work to turn a good night into a clean one.
Michael Wacha set the tone again. He gave Kansas City seven innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and striking out six against a Tigers lineup that can do damage.
It was his seventh win and his 17th quality start, the most in the American League. Matt Quatraro pointed straight at the obvious afterward.
“When you are giving up one run, you are going to have a pretty good chance to win,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “And two runs yesterday.
That’s usually the name of the game. When your pitching is solid, you’ve got a better chance to win.”
That kind of outing has become standard fare for Wacha, and Salvador Perez made sure to say so.
“Wacha’s the best, man,” Perez said. “Wacha’s been doing that all season long. And every time he is going to pitch, he’s going to give everything he has for us.”
The offense did its part in pieces. Kyle Isbel got Kansas City on the board, then Perez blew the lead open with his 17th home run in the fourth inning.
Jac Caglianone added a double in the sixth, advanced to third on Perez’s groundout and came home on a wild pitch for an insurance run. Perez looked more animated about the small-ball sequence than the homer.
“As soon as they changed the pitcher, Vinnie [Pasquantino] and I talked, like, ‘I’m going to try to move him,’” Perez said. “Bring him in by moving the other way.
He threw me a curveball that backed up and jammed me a little bit, but I still hit it to second base. Sometimes things happen.
Don’t have the opportunity to bring him in, but the wild pitch scored that run. We’re doing the little things like that, and it’s good for the team.”
Sunday brought another note for Perez: his first stolen base in five years.
The bullpen then finished off the job, with Craig Kimbrel collecting his first save as a Royal and the 441th save of his career.
“You get the final out,” Kimbrel said, “I think that’s one of the things that’s so enticing and fun about closing out games. It’s when you throw the last pitch and the last out is made, you can take a breath and everybody gets to go home happy.”
Elsewhere in Royals territory, 2026 first-round pick Zion Rose picked up his first pro home run. Preston Farr noted that Rose has been a mixed bag in his early run with the River Bandits, but the speed has shown up immediately - eight steals in his first ten games.
The power had been missing until Saturday afternoon, when he finally left the yard. Rose has also drawn walks at a solid clip and kept strikeouts in check, though the overall line has been a little uneven for the sixth-overall selection.
That said, it’s still early, and Jac Caglianone’s own debut with Quad Cities in 2024 is a reminder that first impressions in the minors can be tricky.
Latif Love also wrote about the stories that helped shape Perez into the player he is today.
Around baseball, J.J. Bleday hit for the cycle for the Reds, Randy Arozarena became the third hitter in MLB history with a first-pitch home run and a walk-off homer, Tyler Glasnow is set to return for the Dodgers on Tuesday, the Phillies won their ninth straight on a Kyle Schwarber walk-off homer, the Yankees lost Ryan Weathers but got Cody Bellinger back in the lineup, Mariners infielder Brendan Donovan landed on the Injured List after a batting cage incident, Shohei Ohtani may pitch as soon as next week, and Dodgers reliever Edwin Diaz plans to tinker with his arm angle while on the Injured List. There was also a look at how the “Bat King” created custom looks for players, a note on a tight end cut by the Cleveland Browns who will attempt to play for LSU, and Wyndham Clark’s win at the BMW Championship after avoiding collapse.
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