‘Unbelievable’ debut for Bobby Witt Jr., who knocks in Kansas City Royals’ winning run
The crowd absolutely ate up the moment before it fully unfolded.
The chants of “BOB-BY! BOB-BY!” started echoing around the ballpark. The volume picked up. The future face of the Kansas City Royals franchise came to the plate with a chance to change the game in the eighth inning.
Bobby Witt Jr., the youngest position player in club history to make his debut on Opening Day, delivered.
Witt swatted a two-out go-ahead RBI double down the left field line and propelled the Royals to a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday in front of an announced 28,459 at Kauffman Stadium. He also scored the insurance run on Andrew Benintendi’s RBI single.
“I don’t know if anyone could predict anything (like) that,” Witt said. “But I just wanted to help the team in any way I could. That’s what I always kind of preach, and that’s what I wanted to do. I got a situation where I was able to.”
Temperature at first pitch was 47 degrees, and the wind swirled all day to make it feel even colder. Rain and light snowflakes even intermittently made an appearance during the contest.
Even with all the elements, the word that rolled off Witt’s tongue when describing the entire day was “unbelievable.”
“The weather was kind of tough, but the fans were still out there cheering,” Witt said. “So it was a dream come true. Truly. This is the day I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Now it’s here. I just want to keep doing it.”
Starting pitcher Zack Greinke allowed just one run in his first game back in a Royals uniform since 2010. He pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowed five hits and one walk. He also struck out one.
He turned it over to the bullpen with the score tied and runners on the corners in the sixth. He received an ovation as he walked off the field. Left-hander Jake Brentz walked a batter to load the bases, but got an inning-ending strikeout.
With the score still tied in the bottom of the eighth, Michael A. Taylor drew a leadoff walk. Nicky Lopez, who drove in the Royals’ first run with an RBI double, executed a sacrifice bunt to move Taylor into scoring position with one out for the top of the order: Whit Merrifield followed by Witt.
Merrifield struck out swinging, and that brought Witt to the plate with two outs.
“I wasn’t concerned at all,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Witt stepping into that moment. “Excited to be honest. It was one of those that you could kind of foresee me sitting here having this conversation. Like this is how this is supposed to go. He’s going to do what he can do, nothing more and nothing less.
“He’s a talented player that takes good at-bats. We’ve seen him in different situations. Not consistently at the major-league level yet, but you’ve seen enough of it to know. I think he stays within himself.”
Witt came to the plate hoping to get “something up.” Guardians reliever Triston McKenzie obliged with a slider that flattened out and stayed above the strike zone.
Witt smacked the first hit of what many have already forecast to be an exceptional major-league career and drove in Taylor to give the Royals a 2-1 lead. Following a wild pitch that put Witt on third, Benintendi’s single made it 3-1.
Scott Barlow pitched the final two innings and struck out three to earn the win. Three of the bullpen’s mainstays from a season ago — Brent, Barlow and Josh Staumont (1/3 inning) tossed scoreless outings to help secure the victory.
“They couldn’t have scripted that better,” Matheny said. “Right? Really the mix with everybody obviously being excited about Zack and just how special he was. What a display of pitching for him to give us a chance to band it over to the bullpen to do a phenomenal job. Three guys carrying a whole lot of weight there to finish it off.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 6:09 PM.
