Melendez’s homer gets KC Royals off to fast start in series-clinching win over Twins
The Kansas City Royals collective resilience wasn’t tested by events on the field. Off-the-field upheaval hit the clubhouse early in the afternoon with the news that a major shakeup was afoot in the baseball operations department.
Royals CEO and chairman John Sherman announced the dismissal of longtime top baseball executive Dayton Moore Wednesday afternoon, replacing the franchise’s president of baseball operations with general manager J.J. Picollo. Picollo will hold the title of executive vice president and GM.
The Royals managed to put aside the emotions of and focus on the task at hand. Rookie leadoff hitter MJ Melendez helped set the tone with his 17th home run of the season, his third leadoff homer, and the Royals led from start to finish in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins Wednesday night.
The victory came in the second game of a three-game series in front of an announced 13,952 fans — plus 506 dogs in attendance for Bark at the Park at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals clinched the three-game series victory with the win, and they’ll try to secure a sweep in Thursday afternoon’s series finale. The Royals had won just 4 of 16 games with the Twins entering this series.
“That’s something that we talked about before the series, just being able to put it to them,” Melendez said. “That’s something obviously we hadn’t been able to do.”
Melendez described the Moore news as something that “weighed heavy on our hearts,” but the Royals obviously were able to switch gears and prepare to play.
“It’s baseball,” Melendez said. “There’s nothing we could really do about it. So it’s just about trying to turn the page, be here in the game, be present and go try and win a ballgame. That’s what we were able to do. I thought we played really good today.”
Veteran star Salvador Perez collected three hits (3 for 4, double, RBI), and rookie infielder Bobby Witt Jr. went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI.
“It’s just kind of how MJ just kind of puts together good at-bat, does great things up there, sees pitches, gets on base and still has that power and drives in runs,” Witt said. “Then Salvy, does what he does as well.”
Rookie infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton also went 2 for 3, while Vinnie Pasquantino (1 for 3) doubled and walked for the Royals (60-89).
Melendez, Witt, Perez and Pasquantino — all rookies aside from Perez — form the 1-4 hitters in the Royals lineup.
Witt, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, first met Moore when Witt was still early in his high school career. Witt even played alongside Moore’s son, Robert, in some USA Baseball events.
“It was a sad day really for this whole organization,” said Witt, who referred to Moore as a role model.
Royals starting pitcher Daniel Lynch allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and one walk in four innings. Lynch also struck out three.
After Lynch retired the Twins in order in the first inning, Melendez’s 437-foot blast gave the Royals an early lead. Two batters later following Witt’s single up the middle, Perez doubled on a ball that dropped in front of hard-charging right fielder Matt Wallner.
The ball caromed past Wallner as he fell to the turf as Witt sped around the bases and Perez hustled to second base for an RBI double.
“Just to get the day started well was good,” Lynch said. “I thought the guys looked great at the plate the entire day, put together some really great at-bats. We played great defense. Especially early, we started off awesome, so I think that was definitely a good spark.”
The Twins (73-76) cut into the deficit with a run in the second, but the Royals bumped the lead back to two runs thanks to a two-out RBI single by Edward Olivares.
The Twins didn’t fade away that easily. A fielding error by Pasquantino led to a run in the fourth inning against Lynch when Wallner smacked an RBI double with two outs.
The Royals tacked on two runs in the seventh to close out the scoring courtesy of a Witt RBI single and a Pasquantino RBI double.
“You’re going to have stuff that comes up, and today was one of those days,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The conversations we were having is you’ve just got to go play the game. Don’t completely put stuff away and not address it. Have some conversations. Those need to be had. But also, we’ve got a job to do. Go do your job, and let’s figure out a way to play the game really well that everybody would be proud of.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 10:19 PM.
