First career hit 'a cool feeling' for top prospect Caglianone

ST. LOUIS -- Jac Caglianone had stepped into the batter’s box six times before the fourth inning Thursday afternoon and put the ball in play all six times. Nearly all of them were hard-hit, but all of them had turned into outs.

His seventh try found some grass for the Royals top prospect’s first career hit and first career RBI.

Caglianone’s RBI double helped the Royals to an early lead that they eventually squandered in their 6-5 walk-off loss to the Cardinals in 10 innings in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader at Busch Stadium.

The bullpen blew a three-run lead in the seventh and eighth innings, only for the Royals to fight back and tie it in the ninth and take a one-run lead again in the top of the 10th with Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI single, the fourth hit of the day for the Royals’ first baseman.

But the Royals only scored one in the 10th, while the Cardinals plated two against closer Carlos Estévez, including the winning hit from Willson Contreras.

“We take the lead there in the 10th, and the way I look at extra innings is I always assume the runner is going to score, just because he’s there,” Pasquantino said. “There’s nobody out. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s how I look at it. My opinion, you kind of assume each team is going to score one. It’s, ‘Who can score two?’ And they were able to do it.”

The Royals felt like Game 1 slipped away from them, especially with how many good things happened early. Jonathan India hit a leadoff home run to get the scoring started. Starter Noah Cameron shoved -- again -- with six scoreless innings, lowering his season ERA to 0.85 in five big league starts this year.

Cameron is just the second pitcher in MLB history to go at least six innings and allow one run or fewer in each of his first five starts, joining Fernando Valenzuela, who did so in his first seven starts.

And then there was Caglianone’s milestone hit.

After seeing a slider come into the zone for strike one and swinging through a fastball at the top of the zone for strike two, Caglianone adjusted his sights on a low curveball from Miles Mikolas and laced it down the right-field line and into the corner.

“Got down 0-2, and luckily just saw the curveball pop,” Caglianone said.

Caglianone ran into second base while Salvador Perez -- who had doubled just before Caglianone -- raced home and put the Royals up two runs.

“Choke up, spread out a little bit in the stance and try to make contact,” Caglianone said of his two-strike hit. “... It was cool. I was just thinking about my dad, my family being here and stuff. It’s cool to be able to score Salvy. That was a cool feeling.”

Caglianone made his Major League debut on Tuesday night and went 0-for-5 as the victim of some elite defense by the Cardinals.

And then Wednesday night’s game got rained out, turning into Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader.

But the wait was worth it for Caglianone’s first hit -- likely what will be the first of many.

“He’s going to impact a lot of games for us,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We’re pretty confident in that. He’s been swinging the bat fine, squared the ball up his first time as well. For him to get the first one out of the way, that relaxation, that feel is good for him and good for us.”

Caglianone drew his first start in right field on Thursday, too, and made a running catch in the fifth inning to snag an Alec Burleson fly ball. Caglianone, who played first base when he wasn’t pitching in college as a two-way player, has just begun to learn the outfield this season.

He’ll continue to develop out there, and the catch Thursday showed he’s capable of making plays, although Caglianone came out of the game for John Rave in the bottom of the eighth inning as a defensive replacement.

“He tracked that ball really well,” Quatraro said. “Hit hard, going toward the line. It was a really nice play.”