How Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals became a candidate for AL MVP
Jaylon Thompson, Royals sportswriter for the Kansas City Star, joins our Tigers podcast “Days of Roar” to talk about the impressive play of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
The Detroit Tigers fell behind by four runs in the third inning thanks to a grand slam by Kansas City Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr., but were able to reduce the deficit in the middle inning.
The Tigers’ never-give-up approach resulted in a run in the fourth, three runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth, with the Tigers getting key hits from Colt Keith, Wenceel Pérez and Matt Vierling, among others.
The Tigers beat the Royals 7-6 on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
With the win, the Tigers (78-73) are 1½ games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final American League wild card spot with 11 games remaining. The Twins blew a three-run lead in a 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians in the first of four games of their series.
The Tigers have a record of 23-10 in their last 33 games.
To get to the finish line, the Tigers had to keep the Royals from scoring over the final four innings after taking a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning, thanks to strong performances from relievers Brenan Hanifee, Will Vest, Beau Brieske and Jason Foley.
In the seventh inning, Vest left runners on the corners when he got flyouts against Witt and Salvador Perez. In the eighth inning, Brieske left runners on first and second base when he struck out MJ Melendez and induced an inning-ending double play against Maikel Garcia.
Foley took over for the ninth inning.
He struck out pinch hitters Robbie Grossman, Kyle Isbel and Tommy Pham, securing his 24th save in 27 chances.
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Reese Olson returns
Right-hander Reese Olson returned from the injured list after a nearly two-month absence. The 25-year-old had not pitched for the Tigers since July 20 due to a strained right shoulder.
His nasty slider took out six batters in a row before he benched Adam Frazier with a walk at the start of the third inning.
The Royals had all the bases loaded in the third inning thanks to Frazier’s walk, Yuli Gurriel’s single that beat shortstop Trey Sweeney, and Isbel’s perfect bunt single.
Witt took advantage, hitting Olson’s hanging curveball for a grand slam that put the Royals up 4-0 with one out in the third inning. Then Perez hit a single to right field that chased Olson from his starting spot.
Olson allowed four runs on four hits and one walk in 2⅓ innings, threw 50 pitches and had three strikeouts. He managed five whiffs in 18 swings, but all five whiffs were sliders.
Rally Tiger
When Keith made a groundout in the third inning, the Tigers had all bases loaded, but they didn’t miss later scoring opportunities against right-hander Seth Lugo.
Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to cut the Tigers’ deficit to 4-1. The Royals answered with a run against left-handed reliever Sean Guenther in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In the fifth inning, Vierling hit an RBI single and Keith hit a two-run home run, increasing the deficit to 5-4.
Keith took advantage of Lugo’s changeup on the first pitch and hit a two-run home run to right-center field. It was his 13th home run in 138 games, but his first home run since August 24 (and his second home run since July 27).
Lugo allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks, with four strikeouts in 4⅔ innings, throwing 96 pitches. He entered Monday’s game with a 2.94 ERA, but left with a 3.05 ERA after his 31st start.
Again, the Royals answered with another run – and took a 6-4 lead – on Isbel’s triple and Witt’s infield single against right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee in the fifth inning.
The Tigers, however, did not want to give up.
Back-to-back singles by Andy Ibáñez and Jake Rogers against left-handed reliever Sam Long put runners on the corners in the sixth inning, and Pérez brought in a two-run pinch-hit double to the left field corner. Vierling then hit an RBI single to right field, facing right-handed reliever John Schreiber.
The sixth inning with three runs gave the Tigers a 7-6 lead.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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