KANSAS CITY -- Sometimes, speed is all you need.
Specifically, Bobby Witt Jr.'s speed.
In a tight pitchers' duel Tuesday night, the Royals took advantage of the Twins¡¯ defensive mistakes and ran away with a 2-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium to pull over .500 (6-5) for the first time this season and win their third consecutive game.
Tied at 1 in the bottom of the eighth, Witt hit a chopper back to reliever Griffin Jax -- and ended up on third base when Jax overthrew first. Witt turned on another gear to put a runner in scoring position for Vinnie Pasquantino, registering a 30.3 feet per second sprint speed (30.0 is considered elite), per Statcast.
It took Witt just 11.43 seconds to go from home to third base, the third-fastest such time so far this season (and Witt also has the fourth-fastest at 11.49 seconds with his triple on Sunday against the Orioles).
¡°He took over that game like very few people can do,¡± Pasquantino said. ¡°I don¡¯t mean in a slugging percentage way or anything like that. I mean in a pure, ¡®Oh my God, he¡¯s so fast.¡¯¡±
Witt¡¯s speed set up the go-ahead run when Pasquantino chopped a two-strike pitch to first baseman Ty France. The infield was drawn in, but Witt was already on his way home. There wasn¡¯t a play at the plate, so France turned around and threw Pasquantino out at first.
Witt slid home Superman-style.
¡°It was a full takeover on the basepaths by him tonight,¡± Pasquantino said. ¡°Hats off to him. Without him, we don¡¯t win this game tonight. I know you can say that about a lot of games we play, but this one especially.
¡°As great as Cole [Ragans] was, as great as [Angel] Zerpa was, as great as Daniel [Lynch IV] was, as great as [John] Schreiber was, as bad as I was -- that¡¯s a Bobby Witt Jr. special right there. We¡¯re lucky to have him.¡±
Tuesday night was another reminder of Witt¡¯s game-changing ability. The All-Star shortstop is still heating up at the plate this early in the season, but his speed is one reason his offense will never slump.
How fast he hustled out of the box -- took him only 4.48 seconds to go from home to first ¨C and what he could do on the bases was likely in Jax¡¯s head as he fielded the ball in the eighth inning.
¡°I don¡¯t know how many guys would get to third there,¡± manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°... Sometimes you earn it in different ways, right? He didn¡¯t drive a ball by any means, but he did it with his legs.¡±
Witt was part of the Royals¡¯ first run Tuesday, in the fourth inning, when he knocked the first hit of the night off Pablo L¨®pez for a double. He went to third when Pasquantino reached on an error by second baseman Mickey Gasper. And Witt scored easily when Salvador Perez hit a hard grounder to third baseman Jose Miranda for a forceout at second.
¡°That¡¯s what we do,¡± Witt said. ¡°That¡¯s what Royals baseball is. We¡¯re just trying to apply pressure as much as we can. Right when you put the ball in play, you¡¯re a baserunner. Just trying to make anything happen on the basepaths.¡±
The Royals were trying to make anything happen at all Tuesday to back up their pitchers. Ragans delivered a gem of a start, striking out 11 with no walks and only one run on four hits in six innings.
But Twins starter L¨®pez matched Ragans until L¨®pez left early with a hamstring injury, and the Royals weren¡¯t able to capitalize on a bases-loaded situation when Pasquantino flied out to deep right field during a 10-pitch at-bat.
But the Royals' bullpen stepped up big on a night in which Quatraro was trying to stay away from his trio of high-leverage arms in Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg and Carlos Est¨¦vez after a heavy workload the past two days. Zerpa (one inning), Schreiber (1 2/3) and Lynch (1/3) closed it out.
¡°You need depth, right?¡± Quatraro said. ¡°We talk about it all the time, and that¡¯s the benefit of if you¡¯re going to win games and you¡¯re going to put streaks together, those guys aren¡¯t going to be able to pitch every night. ¡ You¡¯re going to need guys to step up, and we feel really good about the depth of our bullpen.¡±
With all the running Witt did Tuesday, surely the Royals¡¯ shortstop was out of breath by the end.
Right?
¡°Nope,¡± Witt said. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡±