KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. is always looking to run. Give him an extra base and he’ll make you pay. The Twins found that out Tuesday night.
With the score tied in the bottom of the eighth, Witt hit a chopper back to reliever Griffin Jax, who threw wildly to first. Witt put on the afterburners and wound up at third base. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a slow roller to first, and Witt was almost home when Ty France picked up the baseball. With no play at the plate, Witt scored and the Royals won 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium.
“It’s more like you’re mad running to first because you’re like, ‘I swung at that pitch and grounded out,’” Witt said. “But Jax is a tough pitcher up there so you’re just trying to put it in play and see what happens.”
Witt went 1 for 3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored. Witt’s double came in the fourth, and he eventually scored on a groundout by Salvador Perez. The Royals were held to just three hits, but three Twins’ errors proved costly.
“The play in the eighth inning there, I don’t know how many guys would get to third,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “And realistically, the only reason that happened was because Jax thought he had to hurry to get Bobby and just didn’t make a good throw.
“Sometimes you earn it in different ways. I mean, he didn’t drive the ball by any means, but he did it with his legs. He put his head down and ran hard the whole time.”
Royals left-hander Cole Ragans had his best start of the season, throwing six innings of one-run ball while striking out 11 and didn’t walk a batter. Ragan’s 11 K’s were one shy of his career-high.
“He looked awesome,” Quatraro said. “He had plus-carry on his fastball, a lot of swing and miss, and when you have to get ready for his fastball, his changeup is elite. And he threw a lot of good curveballs and some good sliders as well.”
The Royals bullpen again didn’t allow a run, as John Schreiber (1-0) got out of a jam in the eighth on a groundball double play, and Daniel Lynch IV recorded the final out in the ninth for his first save.
Quatraro opted to use Schreiber, Lynch and Angel Zerpa and give his big three of Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estevez the night off.
“You need depth,” Quatraro said. “We talk about it all the time. If you’re going to win games and put streaks together those guys aren’t going to be able to pitch every night. So you’re going to need guys to step up, and we feel really good about the depth in our bullpen.”
The Royals (6-5) have won three in a row and four of their last five, while the Twins fell to 3-8 on the season.
UP NEXT
Twins RHP Joe Ryan (0-1, 4.50 ERA) will face Royals RHP Seth Lugo (1-0, 3.27 ERA) at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.
