Royals

Bobby Witt Jr. made his major league debut even more memorable with a two-out, go-ahead double in the bottom of the eighth as the Royals defeated the ...

Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes left in the first inning after he tried to make a diving catch on Dylan Carlson’s wind-whipped pop-up double down the left-field line. Bregman and Yordan Alvarez hit back-to-back homers to begin the eighth against Ryan Tepera. David Fletcher’s RBI triple in the bottom of the inning accounted for the Angels’ only run of the game. Joe Mantiply (1-0) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth for the win. The Royals responded in the fifth when Nicky Lopez drove in Hunter Dozier with a two-out drive to left center. Michael A. Taylor led off the eighth inning with a walk and Nicky Lopez bunted Taylor to second. Ohtani made 80 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, allowing only a two-out RBI single by Alex Bregman in the third inning.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. searched the crowd for his family before his highly anticipated big league debut Thursday, finally spotting them in ...

Bobby Witt Jr. rose to the occasion in his Major League debut, leading the Kansas City Royals to an opening day win.

The 21-year-old Witt, who received a standing ovation from the home crowd, went hitless in his first three at-bats, but came up big in his final at-bat. In his three other at-bats, Witt flew out to right field, grounded out to second and grounded out to short. Witt advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored his first career run on a single by Andrew Benintendi. His RBI and run scored would be the difference in the ballgame.

Kansas City manager Mike Matheny named Daniel Lynch the fifth member of the starting pitching rotation, while Brady Singer will move to the bullpen.

“(Singer) is going to be in the bullpen right now,” Matheny said. “A lot like the conversation with Jackson Kowar. We see you as starters. The Royals shuffled their pitching plans last May in order to pave the way for Lynch to break into the rotation. “I thought he did a very nice job of working on things he needed to work on to be more consistent with all four pitches. “We talk about competing in the spring training, it can’t just be lip service,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. But the Royals entered camp with as many as nine viable options for five spots.

The double was Witt's first career hit and RBI, and the Kauffman Stadium crowd chanted "Bobby! Bobby!" throughout the at-bat. Here's the video:.

The Royals have been an outlier in recent years because he haven't manipulated the service time of their top prospects, and Witt is no exception. Witt was selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft, making this the second time he's finished a step behind Rutschman. That's no knock on him, however, as he's a high-grade prospect in his own right. There used to be fear that Witt would swing-and-miss too frequently to maximize his loud offensive tools; those concerns haven't materialized, and he struck out in just 22.5 percent of his Triple-A plate appearances. Witt, 21, was the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft. Our R.J. Anderson ranked Bobby Jr. the No. 2 prospect in baseball last month. He not only make contact with a pitch that was almost literally at eye level, he was able to drive it to the pull field for extra bases.

Kansas City Royals fans paused to take stock of their current stadium and to consider what a move to the city's center could bring.