September 15—In the American League playoff race, the Kansas City Royals play their best game of the season ahead of a Sunday afternoon series finale against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
Kansas City (82-67) is three games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians and just two games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the race for an AL wild-card spot. The Royals are also 3.5 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins, who currently occupy the third and final wild-card spot.
The Royals beat the Pirates 5-1 on Saturday to clinch the weekend series against Pittsburgh and secure Kansas City’s first winning season since 2015 — the club’s last playoff appearance.
“It really doesn’t mean much to me,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of achieving a winning record. “Our guys have set the bar much higher than that. From Day 1 of spring training, they want to win the division, and we probably need 90 wins to do that.”
Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. continued his stellar season with two hits on Saturday, including his 31st home run of the year. His three RBIs put him above the 100 mark for the first time in his career, and he led the majors with a .333 batting average, 198 hits and 121 runs.
Brady Singer (9-10, 3.42 ERA) will start to help the Royals complete the win on Sunday. The 28-year-old right-hander struck out five in three innings in a 10-4 loss to the Yankees on Monday.
Singer hasn’t earned a win since August 18 and has faced the Buccaneers only once in his career. On June 1, 2021, he allowed 4 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 10–5 win.
For Pittsburgh (70-78), a win on Sunday would save the final series at PNC Park in 2024. contest.
This is one of the last chances for shortstop-turned-center fielder O’Neil Cruz to feel more comfortable in his home outfield.
Cruz had 74 carries in his first 100-game season, second only to teammate Bryan Reynolds’ 84. There was a big mistake at center.
Cruz threw two fly balls, both of which resulted in runs for Kansas City. On August 26, the Buccaneers decided to move the 6-foot-7 Cruz to center.
“When we took him out there, we said there would be some bumps in the road and I think we saw some of those today,” Buccaneers manager Derek Shelton said. “Unfortunately, there were some plays that led to runs.”
The Pirates will look to put their poor showing behind them on Sunday when right-hander Jared Jones (6-7, 3.82 ERA) takes the field to start the game. The 23-year-old rookie was solid in his last game, allowing just two runs in seven innings and striking out nine in a 7-3 win over the Washington Nationals last Sunday.
Jones will make his first career start against the Royals on Sunday.
–Visual-level media
