Bobby Witt Jr. is the best Kansas City Royals’ best player. The only problem is that he has been on the injured list for the last 11 games. But tonight, he was back in the lineup, and he immediately made his presence known. So, too, did Kyle Isbel, in his first game back since June 9. The result was a clear-cut 8-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins in front of just over 20,000 fans—on a Tuesday!
Part of the reason there were so many fans was because of the ceremony honoring Salvador Perez. It was the first
home game for him since hitting his 318th career home run, passing George Brett for the all-time Royals franchise record. It was a short but sweet ceremony, and the Royals had varying tributes to Salvy all night on the screen and on the TV.
As far as the game itself was concerned, the Royals struck very quickly. In the bottom of the first inning against Joe Ryan, Witt singled and then moved to third on a Jac Caglianone single, scoring on a Salvy fly ball. Michael Massey crushed a double, which scored Cags from first. Quick 2-0, Royals.
Pitching-wise, it was new Royals ace Randy Dobnak on the mound. Dobnak was…not particularly sharp; he walked three Twins and only struck out one in his five innings of work, but fortunately for him his defense played well behind him. Caglianone had multiple tough grounders hit to him and played them all well, and in the top of the fourth inning John Rave made an incredible running stab to hold Josh Bell to a single as opposed to a double.
The Royals almost scored again in the bottom of the third after another Bob single and a Jac single. But Salvy hit into a double play with “hit the ball Salvy, hit the ball *clap clap*” chants ringing out. So it goes.
The good news is that the Royals kept at it. In the bottom of the fifth: Kyle Isbel singled, Carter Jensen walked, Bobby Witt doubled and advanced to third base on an error. Witt then scored on a weak fielder’s choice from Cags that…really should have been an out. But hey, the Twins didn’t play it well, and that’s why that play works sometimes.
With Dobnak out of the game in the sixth inning, you had to wonder if the Royals bullpen would keep the 5-2 lead. They did, somewhat surprisingly. Well, two of their most effective pitchers—Daniel Lynch IV and John Schreiber—tossed scoreless frames, and Stephen Cruz only allowed a solo home run.
Nate Pearson pitched the ninth inning, and by that point the Royals had managed to secure a six-run lead thanks to some eighth inning padding from the bats of Starling Marte and Isbel, once again.
All told, it was actually a rather delightful night at the ballpark. I took a walk around the park about the seventh inning and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves on Dollar Dog Night. Hopefully, the Royals can continue to provide pleasant, enjoyable experiences at home for the rest of the season. Now that Witt is back, and seemingly quite focused, there’s a greater chance of that happening.
