CLEVELAND -- Sometimes baseball can be a simple game.
While it’s a sport that has a season which features thousands of games and outcomes, there are still plenty of occasions where the difference between a team winning and losing can be contributions from its best players.
That scenario played out for the Royals on Friday night in their 3-0 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field.
While Kansas City’s offense wasn’t able to do much for most of the evening, the game’s first run was generated on a Bobby Witt Jr. masterclass in the fifth inning, while Michael Wacha made it stand up with eight scoreless innings and a season-high 10 strikeouts as the Royals won for the 10th time in 11 games.
“That’s probably the best we’ve seen [Wacha] all season,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “What impressed me the most was that he threw so many strikes.”
Along with touching 97.8 mph on his fastball in the third inning (the fastest pitch he’s thrown since Sept. 27, 2017), Wacha’s velocity was up across the board on all of his pitches. He ended up generating 16 whiffs with his arsenal. Six of them came on his signature changeup.
“As the game went on, I got loosened up, and the crowd out there was amazing,” Wacha said. “Pitching in that kind of atmosphere always brings the best out of you.”
Wacha met Progressive Field’s postseason atmosphere with another dominant start against Cleveland, as he now owns a 2.07 ERA in 65 1/3 career innings against the club. He also sports a 1.54 ERA in 70 innings against the American League Central this season.
“They’re a good club and you have to game plan against that lineup, so I always try to be as prepared as possible when I’m facing off against them,” Wacha said.
For eight innings, it looked like the only offense Wacha was going to get in support was Witt’s aforementioned showing in the fifth inning.
Witt led off the fifth inning with a 109.2 mph double to left field that was inches away from being a home run. After the game, Witt was asked if he thought his double was out off the bat, but before he got a chance to answer, Vinnie Pasquantino responded for him with an answer of “[Heck] no, you don’t have any power,” that elicited plenty of laughs from remaining players in Kansas City’s clubhouse.
“I’ve got speed, though,” Witt quickly chirped back, which generated even more laughs from his teammates.
That speed was evident in the moments following his double after he advanced to third on a Jac Caglianone fly ball to center field before coming around to score on a Salvador Perez groundout to shortstop.
“Just trying to always take the extra 90 feet,” Witt said. “When Wacha’s on the mound, I like our chances [with one run].”
Even though Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio would have had a hard time getting the speedy Witt at home, his quickness on the basepaths made Rocchio rush through the transfer and ruin any chance he had to try to get Witt at the plate.
Witt got on base with hard contact, then made things happen with his legs. Call it the Witt way.
“Not too many guys hit balls like that,” Quatraro said. “Rocchio made a nice play on that ball to keep it in the infield, but Bobby was scoring either way. His speed changed that inning.”
Budding Guardians killer Carter Jensen gave the Guardians even more of a cushion with his ninth-inning home run off Craig Yoho. His 19th homer (and third off Cleveland pitching this season) set the Royals’ single-season mark by a primary rookie catcher.
“I’d be lying if I said it’s been fun all this season, but at the end of the day, I’m doing what I love,” Jensen said.
It may be too late for the Royals (61-75) to reach the postseason, but that doesn’t mean they can’t throw a wrench in another team’s postseason chances before the harsh chill of fall gets here, as Kansas City sits 7 1/2 games back of Cleveland (68-67) for the third AL Wild Card spot.
“They’ve turned the page,” Quatraro said. “Even when we were losing games, the resolve and commitment was never wavering, so now they’re getting rewarded with some wins.
“But there’s baseball left to be played, and this is a crazy game.”