CLEVELAND -- For about three minutes in the Royals’ 8-3 win over the Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field, Josh Rojas waited.
After Rojas had his name announced as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt bounded out of Cleveland’s dugout to bring in left-handed reliever Erik Sabrowski against a fellow lefty.
So, as Sabrowski took his warm-up pitches, Rojas stood adjacent to home plate and waited. As he took his practice swings, the stadium jumbotron cycled through various shots of fans before eventually settling on rapper Don Toliver, who was relaxing in a suite before his performance at the adjacent Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
By the time Rojas dug into the batter’s box, there was some extra energy among the 31,509 gathered at Progressive Field who were ready to watch Rojas and Sabrowski battle with the bases loaded.
It ended up being a quick battle.
Even if Vogt made the right move on paper (Rojas entered with an OPS of just .302 against left-handed pitchers this season), Rojas countered on his side by dropping a two-run, check-swing single into left field that had an exit velocity of just 74.9 mph.
He brought in two more runs two innings later with a more conventional, Statcast-projected 360-foot home run that was the final cherry on top of a Royals victory that guaranteed them a series win.
Rojas’ electric day at the plate marked his second career four-RBI day, with the first coming on May 20, 2022, when he was a member of the Diamondbacks.
His scoring outburst Saturday backed an afternoon of pitching chaos from the Royals after starter Daniel Lynch IV only managed to go 3 1/3 innings in his fifth start since moving to the rotation on Aug. 7. Kansas City relievers Anthony Gose, Craig Kimbrel, John Schreiber, Nate Pearson and Alex Lange closed out the win with 5 2/3 innings in relief.