'OK, we can do it': Cags announces lineup return with 2-HR night

KANSAS CITY – After Jac Caglianone’s 11-pitch walk in the second inning and the home run in the fifth inning, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker likely didn’t want Nathan Eovaldi facing the Royals' young slugger a third time, not with Kansas City having just taken the lead, starting to see Eovaldi well and a lefty up and ready in the Rangers ‘pen.

How did Caglianone respond to that move?

By crushing the lefty, too.

Caglianone powered the Royals to a 5-3 series-opening win over the Rangers on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, their third consecutive victory and sixth in the last eight games, ever since they left Texas nine days ago after getting swept by this same Rangers team.

It was Caglianone’s second career multi-homer game, and first since he hit his first two home runs of his career on June 19, 2025 – also against the Rangers.

Caglianone was back in the lineup Tuesday after he hurt his right shoulder crashing into the right-field wall at Target Field on Friday. By Tuesday, Caglianone was feeling much improved – clearly. He walked, hit two homers, hit an infield single and stole a base. His favorite part, though?

“A win, honestly,” Caglianone said. “Seeing [Alex] Lange come in and shut the door. Celebrating in the outfield.”

That’s the right attitude for Caglianone and the Royals at a time when wins are most important as they try to get on a roll this summer. And the production from Caglianone, one of their core young hitters, is key toward doing that.

It's been just over a year since Caglianone made his Major League debut on June 3, 2025, which was less than a year after the Royals drafted him No. 6 overall in the 2024 Draft. Last season was a whirlwind first year for the highly-touted prospect, and it wasn’t easy. He hit .157 with a .532 OPS in 2025. An offseason of reflection and resetting had Caglianone in a better headspace entering ‘26.

“Speaking with some [psychologists] and stuff, finding new pathways to compartmentalize things, figuring out where to grow,” Caglianone said. “What are the strengths – all that type of stuff played a big role. So just taking that day by day, not getting too ahead of myself and not staying too hung up on the past is the biggest thing.”

Now he’s starting to see it come together. In his last 21 games since May 15, Caglianone is slashing .310/.395/.521 with four homers and 10 RBIs.

In the second inning Tuesday, Caglianone was in a 1-2 count against Eovaldi fairly quickly but then fouled off another splitter, laid off two balls that were meant to get him to chase and fouled off four more pitches. The 11th pitch was an outside cutter for ball four.

“Trying to get him up and close,” Caglianone said. “Out of hand, seeing [the cutter], knew it wasn’t a slider. Too firm to be a curveball. I knew it wasn’t going to come back enough. But it was a really good pitch. Fun way to end the [PA].”

Caglianone was stranded at first base that inning, and the Royals didn’t have much going offensively against Eovaldi elsewhere. The Rangers built a two-run lead against Royals starter Stephen Kolek, who battled his command for five innings but otherwise limited the damage.

When Caglianone came up again in the fifth, he didn’t wait so long for his pitch, crushing a hanging curveball a Statcast-projected 421 feet out to right-center field to cut the Royals’ deficit in half. That was the Royals’ first hit of the night, and it took some pressure off the dugout.

“Feels like, not necessarily like the floodgates open, but, like, ‘OK, we can do it,’” Vinnie Pasquantino said.

They turned it into a rally the next inning. Carter Jensen hit a leadoff double and went to third on Bobby Witt Jr.’s groundout – an at-bat that didn’t go unnoticed for simply getting the tying run on third base as the Royals emphasize small ball. Maikel Garcia hit a game-tying triple and Pasquantino hit a go-ahead double – the 100th double of his career – out to the center-field wall.

Caglianone kept the rally going despite the pitching change for a left-on-left matchup, hammering the first pitch he saw from Jalen Beeks 431 feet to the fountains in right field.

The Rangers got a run back in the seventh because of a ball Caglianone misplayed in right field, but the Royals' bullpen otherwise locked it down for the last four innings, including Lange’s fourth save in the last six games.

“It’s really cool to see this group that’s been battling all year finally getting rewarded for their work,” Lange said. “... I just love watching them rake. It’s freakin’ awesome.”