SEATTLE -- Bobby Witt Jr. began his night Thursday with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout that ended a golden chance for the Royals to get on the board. He made up for it, and then some, in the span of four pitches in the seventh inning, powering Kansas City to a 3-2 win to split its four-game series at T-Mobile Park.
It ended with the sort of elusive escape artistry usually reserved for NFL tailbacks and Vegas magicians, when Vinnie Pasquantino laced a grounder through the right side of the infield with Witt on second base and Jonathan India on third. India scored easily to put the Royals in front by a run, and even though Dominic Canzone got to the ball in right field before Witt hit third base, the Kansas City shortstop didn’t think about slowing down.
“At that point, I was already going,” Witt said. “Just full speed ahead.”
Canzone’s throw home beat Witt by a good three steps, and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh fielded it clean off the short hop, just in front of the plate and a couple feet off the line. Witt was well and truly hosed.
So he went into his bag of tricks to get himself out of it.
“Those are the ones that just kind of happen,” he said. “You just want to avoid the tag, and kind of do whatever you can to avoid the tag.”
He started by doing what most runners would in the situation, swinging as far into foul territory as he could and launching into a feet-first slide, hoping to lunge out of the catcher’s reach before clipping home plate with the left hand at the last second. But Raleigh was in position too early for that to work.
At the last moment, Witt lifted his left arm skyward, letting Raleigh’s mitt sail harmlessly under him. Then he spun over, just in time to hit the plate with his right hand, right in front of home-plate umpire David Arrieta, who emphatically called him safe.
“He’s extremely talented, we all know that,” said manager Matt Quatraro, who added that in real time, he -- like the other 38,030 in attendance -- thought his shortstop was easily out. “He rises to the occasion.”
Four pitches prior, Witt turned the game on its head with his bat. Coming up with two on and one out in a 1-0 ballgame, he turned on a 98.2 mph sinker from Seattle reliever Carlos Vargas, lining into left-center field to score Kyle Isbel and tie the game up at 1. The knock stretched the shortstop’s road hitting streak to 23 games, setting a new Royals franchise record.
One pitch later, he stole his 24th base of the season to put two in scoring position for Pasquantino.
Witt stole a base in each of the last three of Kansas City’s games in Seattle. It’s the fourth time he's stolen a bag in three straight games, and the first since Sept. 13-16, 2023. His 24 steals rank second in the AL, to go along with his league-leading 30 doubles.
The extra 90 feet turned out to be incredibly important, giving Witt the chance to give the Royals some insurance with a bit of wizardry. And the insurance turned out to be important, as Carlos Estévez pulled out his own high-wire act.
With multiple relievers coming off pitching back-to-back days and Estévez having thrown just once in the past week, Quatraro turned to his closer to attempt just his second four-out save of the season.
He got out of the eighth without any drama; the ninth wouldn’t be so stress-free.
Canzone needed just one swing to make it a one-run game, hammering a 2-2 slider 412 feet out to center to lead off. Two more singles brought the meat of the Seattle order up with one out.
“We were still winning by one, that’s plenty of room to work with,” Estévez said. “Just had to attack the strike zone and get those guys out.”
After a wild pitch moved the tying run to third base, Estévez did just that, freezing Julio Rodríguez with a fastball on the inside corner, before getting Raleigh to ground out weakly to second to end it.
The 32-year-old’s 24 saves are the most by a Royals closer before the All-Star break since Greg Holland’s 25 in 2014.
“Thought about it, but I like the way Carlos matches up with him,” Quatraro said, as to whether he thought about intentionally walking the league leader in homers with an open base. “ ... Six of one, half-dozen of the other. I don’t know what was the right move, but that one worked.”