KANSAS CITY -- For the first time this season, Michael Wacha conquered his biggest hurdle to begin the 2025 season: Facing the order for a third time.
Wacha had been scoreless through four frames against the Yankees and Tigers in his past two outings, but gave up a combined five runs and was unable to finish the sixth inning in each start.
That was not the case on Saturday night.
Behind Wacha, the Royals’ bullpen once again closed out a 2-0 victory against the Astros at Kauffman Stadium for Kansas City’s (14-14) sixth win in a row.
Wacha was once again scoreless through four frames, and then five after working around Jose Altuve with two outs and a runner in scoring position, before getting into trouble in the sixth -- for the fifth straight start.
This time, however, Wacha was able to work himself out of it. With two on and one out, Wacha battled Christian Walker with a seven-pitch sequence, striking him out on a perfectly placed slider on the outside corner.
“That’s the game right there,” said manager Matt Quatraro, regarding the two final outs of the sixth. “Walker is one of the best hitters in the game over the last several years. To get him on that slider, that’s an enormous out ...”
Yet maybe the most impressive play Wacha made the entire game was his sprint to first base on the very next pitch. Yainer Diaz made soft contact on Wacha’s curveball far off the plate to the right side in between Salvador Perez at first and Maikel Garcia at second. Perez made his choice to go after it, roughly 40 feet from the bag, but he barehanded it, spun around and fired to Wacha, who was already at the bag.
“Probably would have been easier if [Salvy] just stood at first base, but hey, he made the play,” joked Vinnie Pasquantino, who came through for the second time in the past six days in the No. 7 spot against a tough lefty when he homered off Framber Valdez in the sixth inning. “That’s what you got to do. Big time players make big time plays, and that was about as big time as it gets. Credit to him because that was unbelievable.”
Quatraro added: “Certainly not how we would draw up the PFP, but it worked, and for Michael to get over there and not take it for granted that Maikel was going to field it ... that’s a veteran that understands any time that ball goes to the right side, I got to bust it over there.”
That play secured Wacha’s first scoreless start and a season-high six innings to go along with his season-best six strikeouts. Wacha, who signed a three-year, $51 million dollar deal over the offseason after compiling a 3.66 ERA over 166 2/3 frames with Kansas City last season, had struggled in the sixth inning this season before escaping it Saturday -- mostly by holding Houston to 0-for-7 with RISP.
“It’s more a mentality type thing,” Wacha said of facing hitters a third time. “It’s understanding what you did in the previous ABs against them and talking with Freddy in between innings on how we’re going to attack them. Just stay on that attack mode out there on the mound.”
Royals pitchers have done that the entire homestand, with four of the past five starters allowing one run or fewer to fuel the winning streak. Seth Lugo, who tossed eight scoreless frames on Friday night, and Wacha, have now led back-to-back shutouts against the Astros for the first time in franchise history. Houston entered the series not having been held scoreless all year.
“Those two battle it out a little bit with who’s going to be better, so they both win this week,” Pasquantino said. “It’s great to see those guys just being really good, doing what they do.”
Offensively, Royals pitchers still aren’t getting a lot of support. Bobby Witt Jr. extended his MLB-best hitting streak to 18 games to help create a run in the first, but Kansas City managed just three hits in eight innings against Valdez.
But the Royals’ formula -- pitching and defense -- was on full display once again with Wacha on the mound to get Kansas City back to .500 for the first time since April 13.
“It’s kind of how this team -- is not necessarily built -- but is proving what we always thought about ourselves, which is that if the offense isn’t in full swing, we can still win games,” Pasquantino said. “We’ll get there. There’s never a doubt about that. Not in our minds.”