Game-tying 452-foot blast sparks Royals’ win over Nationals
May 28, 2023
Kansas CITY — Smoke billows from the big hole at the bottom of the left-field scoreboard at Kaufman Stadium as Edward Olivares’ 111-mph homer rockets just to the switchboard. Serious damage to race.
452 feet High’s blast, which stopped just that nasty scoreboard on the Royals Hall of Fame building in left field, tied Sunday’s game in the eighth inning and set up Michael Macy’s ninth-inning single that gave the Royals The team entered the final game of the series against the Nationals with a 3-2 victory.
As for the scoreboard? Well, Olivares has no regrets.
“Sorry, but not sorry,” Olivares smiled slyly. “It tied the game.”
Silent with Nationals With starter Mackenzie Gore and his career-high seven innings with 11 strikeouts, the Royals scored in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings for their sixth comeback victory of the season. All of the key contributors to Sunday’s victory were young players that Kansas City plans to build over the next few years.
THIS IS WHY LOCKING WINS IS SO IMPORTANT . The Royals are just 16-38 on the season, their second-worst record in a third of a season (54 games).
But sometimes seeing is believing.
“They are eager to win, positive Aggressive young players,” manager Matt Cuatraro said. “Sometimes you just have to win to believe you can do it. … Most of these games were close in the middle innings, some of them, like today, were even late innings. Just let those games play against you It’s just beneficial.
“Easier said than done It’s hard, but you don’t know if you can do it until you do it. You don’t know how it snowballs until you’ve made it a few times. “
every shot against Gore , the Royals hitters all learned more. MJ Melendez saw five sliders and a fastball in his second at-bat, then three fastballs in his fourth strikeout and a curveball.
at On his third down of the seventh quarter, Melendez had seen it all. So when he caught a fastball in the zone, he was on time and put it in the left center seat.
“[Gore] did it Good just mixed pitches — different hits and he’s doing completely different things,” Melendez said. “Going into third, I wanted to stay locked in and ready for the fastball. “
Thanks to starter Daniel Lynch and bullpen, Royals trailing by one point going into Game 7.
Lynch, who made his 2023 debut after missing the first two months with injury, allowed two runs, six strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Some things need to be cleaned up — like the 34-ball fourth inning that led to two runs — but overall, Lynch looked sharp and felt healthy.
Those are two good signs for him to start the season and it means a lot for the 26-year-old. Royals Count on him to be a key part of their rotation moving forward.
Lynch relied on his slider and changeup for his upfield pitch, with his slider getting 6 of 14 swings (43%) and his changeup on 11 swings He got 5 swings (45 percent) in . Come back out in the sixth inning.
“It felt like my stuff was good,” Lynch said. “It felt like I was being attacked. Maybe in the fourth quarter, I can reduce my turnovers a little bit. I’ve had some uncompetitive misses. But the first game came back with a lot of intensity. And good hitters over there. So I think these things are good and I want to build on that. “
Royals are evaluating Oliva Reiss, who was committed to playing in left field during his club role, has been finding his timing in May, slashing just .153/.231/.271 for the month. But when he was in the eighth inning against Chadcu Walking up to the plate in a game by Paul, he was well-prepared for the slider, mashing the scoreboard with a dangling slider.
“A hitter can flip a switch for somebody and they can start feeling better,” Quatraro said. “And he’s had a really good swing the last few days. “
In the ninth inning, Melend Macy was on base due to an error by Nationals first baseman Dominic Smith. When the Nationals called to visit the mound, Macy took advantage of the time.
After all, this is a season to learn what young players can do and who they can be.
“This is what we will start to learn from some of our past experience Learning, that moment where I was chasing or gaining a lot of Allotropic experience,” Messi said. “So just trying to recall those moments and put myself in a good frame of mind. “
