Andrew Benintendi’s bat and glove were crucial late as Kansas City Royals beat Orioles
Nobody would accuse Kansas City Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi of being overly dramatic or an attention seeker. His natural demeanor is about as straightforward and ho-hum as it comes.
However when it comes to making catches at the outfield wall, Benintendi has developed a knack for keeping his teammates and his manager in suspense.
After Benintendi played the wind and the wall perfectly and made a home run-saving catch in the ninth inning of a one-run game Monday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, he unintentionally kept his intense and attentive to detail manager Mike Matheny on the edge of his seat by not showing the ball immediately.
Benintendi had a similar suspenseful moment after he made a leaping catch to steal a home run in Seattle two weeks ago.
“He’s got to start showing us sooner that he has it in his glove,” Matheny said through a grin. “I know that delay is great for the opposition and the fans, but not for me. I’d like to know what I thought I saw. But great play and coming through in a big situation [at the plate].”
Before Benintendi preserved the one-run lead on the ball Orioles hitter Anthony Santander smashed to the left field wall off reliever Scott Barlow, Benintendi also drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of the Royals’ 3-2 win on Monday.
Benintendi’s sharply hit grounder past the dive of Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle scored Salvador Perez with two outs in the eighth after Perez drove in the tying run.
An inning later, his catch helped make that one run stand up.
“He hit it pretty high, so that gave me a lot of time to get back there and kind of gauge it,” Benintendi said. “The wind actually started pushing it towards right-center. So I just adjusted and tried to time it up. I’m glad I came down with it.”
A former first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox who spent his first five MLB seasons as a division rival of the Orioles, Benintendi has had ample time to familiarize himself with that ballpark.
Benintendi, nearing the end of his first season with the Royals, smiled when informed of Matheny’s sentiment about keeping everyone in suspense.
“I didn’t even think about it, honestly,” Benintendi said with a chuckle. “It’s not like I’m trying to be funny or anything like that. In that situation after I caught it, Michael A. [Taylor] was like, ‘How did that ball get all the way over to left-center?’ The wind took it.”
Benintendi scuffled at the plate during the recent home stand, having gone 4 for 24 (.167). Though he has enjoyed success at Camden Yards in his career.
He entered the day slugging .473 with two doubles, five homers and 16 RBI in 23 games in Baltimore dating back to 2017.
On Monday, he went 2 for 3 with a double he rocketed off the right field wall and came within a few feet of a homer.
For the season, Benintendi has slashed .254/.300/.403 with 12 home runs, 20 doubles, 46 RBIs and 52 runs scored in 109 games. He’s had a couple of starts and stops this season due to injuries.
He missed 18 games while on the injured list with a broken rib. Later in the summer, he avoided the IL but missed several games after he strained his shoulder on a slide into second base.
He’d been hot at the plate in May (.340/.377/.443 in 27 games that month) prior to the rib injury, which he played through for a period of time before going on the IL. Benintendi described this year as “frustrating.”
“It has been an up and down year,” Benintendi said. “It seems like every time I kind of get things going with the bat, I broke a rib and messed up my shoulder. It’s a grind obviously. You go up there trying to get a hit every single time. It’s not going to happen, obviously. You could do everything right and you still are out, so.
“I feel like I’ve hit into a lot of hard outs this year, which is unfortunate but it’s part of it. All you can do, I guess, is keep your head down and keep working. Hopefully the numbers will come up a little bit, but it is what it is. The preparation and everything like that is the same. It’s a result-based game. Obviously, it would be nice to see some more, but it is what it is.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 6:20 PM.
