Kansas City Royals walk it off for win vs. Cleveland Guardians. Here’s how it happened
The Kansas City Royals haven’t always been the best at rallying this season.
Friday night, though, turned out to be a welcome exception.
Michael A. Taylor delivered a game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth, scoring pinch-runner Edward Olivares to complete a come-from-behind 4-3 home victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium.
“Just the energy in our dugout right now is very different,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “And it seems like with every win, the guys just believe more in themselves. And wins like this, yeah, you can multiply that.”
There were plenty of heroes in the late rally.
With the Royals trailing 3-1 in the eighth, Whit Merrifield helped with one powerful swing, bashing a 91 mph fastball deep to left field for a two-run shot. The 413-foot blast was belted so well that Merrifield held his follow-through and originally took a few slow steps toward first, admiring his longest hit — according to Statcast — since June of last season.
“That was a good one — one of my better ones,” Merrifield said. “Flushed it, kind of perfect trajectory, angle and even kind of got me ... I was really on balance, so I could admire it for a little bit. That was one of my better ones I’ve had.”
Scott Barlow escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth to keep it tied, then Vinnie Pasquantino led off the bottom half of the frame with a rocket off the top of the wall in right for a double. He came through after Matheny elected to stay with the left-handed hitter while going against Cleveland lefty Sam Hentges.
“I hit it and immediately thought, ‘Oh no,’ because I thought the guy was going to catch it. My next thought was, ‘Sneak out of here. That’d be awesome.’ And then my next thought was, ‘I need to get to second base.’ So kind of ran through the different emotions there,” Pasquantino said with a smile. “But at the end of the day, I’m just happy that we set the stage for Michael A. Taylor to send us home.”
Kyle Isbel struck out while attempting a bunt, but Taylor picked up him with the clean single to right as Olivares scored easily.
“Honestly, I think the last week, I felt like we’ve played good baseball and showed that we could play with good teams,” Taylor said. “We didn’t come away with the series win in Houston, but I felt like we had quality games and we’re trending in the right direction.”
The Royals (31-51) had a strange play go against them in the top of the seventh — while also not attempting to get a momentum-changing call overturned.
Royals starter Brady Singer cruised through six innings of one-run ball before Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez connected on a line drive to right. The right-fielder Isbel sprinted to his right and fully extended across his body on a dive, cushioning the ball in his glove before holding it up in an attempt to show he’d caught it.
Second base umpire Carlos Torres ruled to say Isbel had trapped it. Still, after Ramirez slid into second with a double, the Royals seemed confident the ball was caught, with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. even pumping his fist while indicating he believed it was an out. The Royals fans in attendance thought the same.
Royals instant replay coordinator Bill Duplissea disagreed, with freeze frames of replay appearing to show the ball might’ve hit the grass. KC chose not to challenge the play, which led to a smattering of boos raining across the field in the direction of the Royals’ dugout.
Singer might’ve been a bit rattled as well, as he fell behind Franmil Reyes before the designated hitter deposited a 3-0 sinker over the wall in right for an opposite-field homer to put his team up 3-1.
It remained an overall encouraging effort for Singer, who has emerged recently as the Royals’ top starter. The right-hander went seven innings, allowing three runs while striking out five with no walks.
The rookie shortstop Witt Jr. returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games as a precaution. He left Tuesday’s game against Houston after getting hit in the hand by a 96.8 mph fastball and had yet to play since.
Taylor’s heroics Friday led Pasquantino to talk about how he’d recently ordered “Michael A. Tater” shirts that he’d soon be proudly wearing around the Royals clubhouse.
“Michael is just a great person. And I like watching him play baseball, and I like watching him prepare to play baseball,” Pasquantino said. “And I’m happy that he was the one that was able to walk us off tonight.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2022 at 10:03 PM.
