Bobby Witt Jr. makes playoff debut as Orioles reliever for Royals in AL wild card opener – Orange County Register

HOWARD FENDRICH AP National Writer

BALTIMORE – Bobby Witt Jr. was preparing to make his long-awaited playoff debut with the Kansas City Royals, after the final notes of the national anthem rang out at Camden Yards on Tuesday, he took a moment to let everyone soak it in.

Bright lights on a cloudy afternoon. 41,506 screaming fans in the stands, most of them supporting the host Baltimore Orioles. Orange towels swirled in their hands.

“I think, ‘This is where you want to be,’” Witt said later. “This is where you want to be. And that’s what makes you a baseball player. This is what you dream of.”

Witt showed why he’s one of the game’s biggest young stars, bringing home the only run in a single Tuesday to back up six big innings from fellow playoff rookie Cole Ragans, and helping the Royals return from a nine-game losing streak. postseason absence thanks to a 1-0 victory over the Orioles in the first game of the American League Wild Card Series.

“It’s quite normal for him to run. He was the leader of the offense – him and (Salvador Perez) – all year long,” KC’s Michael Massey said. “Putting him in that situation is what we want as a team.”

Witt, a 24-year-old hitter who led the major leagues with 211 hits this season and a .332 batting average, knocked the ball home off a 95 mph first-pitch hit by 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes , two outs in the sixth.

Burnes used this knife to finish off Witt in the first two punches.

“He took some bad swings, poor contact, so it was a pretty good pitch,” Burnes said. “He didn’t hit too hard. He just found a hole and that’s the difference.

Maikel Garcia scored on a tying walk, stealing second – Burnes had allowed runners to cover a league-high 41 bases this season – and advancing to third with an out.

Garcia is another postseason rookie, as is Lucas Erceg, who saved four shutouts, a symbol of a rising Royals club that lost 106 games last season but used a 30-win improvement to get back to October for the first time since winning the World Series in 2015.

Witt dealt with a few butterflies in the ninth, and Erceg found he had to slow down when he realized he wasn’t sticking to his normal routine on the mound. But other than that, these KC kids certainly seemed comfortable in the sunshine when the games mattered most.

“Basically just be yourself,” Witt said. “That’s what we do as a team.”

Now the Royals can end this best-of-three series and advance to the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees by winning Game 2 in Baltimore on Wednesday. Kansas City sends All-Star Seth Lugo to the mound to face Zach Eflin.

Baltimore has lost its last nine postseason games.

Ragans left the field after 80 pitches due to spasms in his left calf, and he performed well in the bullpen for the rest of the game. The All-Star lefty was incredible, combining a 98 mph fastball with a variety of off-speed offerings while allowing just four hits and striking out eight.

Burnes looked like the ace Baltimore was hoping for when it acquired him from Milwaukee in February.

“He did his part,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.

This season’s AL All-Star hitter received a standing ovation after giving up a leadoff single in the ninth. He allowed one run, five hits and one key free pass to Garcia.

“The walk hurt,” Burnes said. “The walk cost us the game.”

He became the first starter to throw a pitch in the ninth inning of a postseason game since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series.

However, the visitors from Baltimore – the team’s 235 goals scored were surpassed only by the Yankees – could not advance.

In the third inning, the Orioles reached third, but Jordan Westburg flew to the warning track in left field. In the fifth place, the players were in the corners, but Ragans outplayed James McCann and 2023 AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson.

“Big place,” Ragans said.

Hyde’s take? “It hurt.”

And in the eighth, with a pair on the field and two outs, Erceg replaced Kris Bubic and had Anthony Santander singled into the shortstop with thousands of spectators on their feet.

“It will be louder. Regardless, it will be bigger,” said Witt, whose father was a pitcher in the major leagues. “But you just have to know that this is the game I grew up playing and I love.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Members of the royal family: Vinnie Pasquantino has been removed from the injured list after being sidelined since August 29 with a broken right thumb. He went 0 for 3 with a walk as DH.

NEXT

Lugo (16-9, 3:00 ERA) will make his first postseason start. Eflin went 10-9 with a combined ERA of 3.59 for Tampa Bay and Baltimore in 2024.

Originally published: October 1, 2024 at 16:31