Bobby Witt Jr.'s 2 homers and 6 RBIs lead Royals past Tigers 10-3
Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. backs up to avoid getting doused by a teammate after their baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Royals won 10-3. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. homered twice as the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 10-3 for their fifth straight win on Tuesday night.
Maikel Garcia led off the first with a triple and scored on Witt’s infield hit. Witt stole second and scored when Salvador Perez hit a single to right.
After Kyle Isbel and Garcia singled in the second, Witt hit Casey Mize’s splitter 468 feet — the farthest of his career — into the upper deck fountains.
“I didn’t really watch it,” Witt said. “I just kind of hit it and started running, but yeah, it felt good.”
“That’s probably one of the longest balls I’ve ever seen hit,” said Royals starting pitcher Alec Marsh. “Unbelievable. He’s a generational talent. You think you’d get used to it being around him every day, and then he does something new that you haven’t seen and it’s just ‘wow.’ The wow factor is unbelievable.”
Mize (1-3) surrendered six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career.
“They were taking really good swings off him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He threw some chase pitches that got hit for base hits. He threw some pitches in the strike zone that got hit hard. It just wasn’t his day.”
Kansas City Royals' Maikel Garcia slides home to score on a single by Bobby Witt Jr. during the first inning of the team's baseball game against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
Garcia drove an RBI triple to right and scored on Witt’s third-inning sacrifice fly to give the Royals an 8-0 lead. Garcia scored three runs while matching a career best with four hits, extending his hitting streak to nine games.
“Maikel setting the tone kind of gave me excitement,” Witt said. “He’s doing the job, I’ve got to do my part.”
Witt added a solo homer leading off the sixth. It was his fourth multihomer game as he matched a career best with six RBIs.
In the seventh, Hunter Renfroe’s fourth homer of the season capped the scoring.
Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr., left, is safe with a steal of second next to Detroit Tigers shortstop Zach McKinstry during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
Kansas City collected six extra-base hits and has at least one extra-base hit in all 50 games this year, one game shy of their franchise record set in 1978.
Marsh (4-1) allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings. The Royals have won all but one of his eight starts.
“Anytime we play like that we’re going to win a lot of games,” Marsh said of the Royals’ early offense. “First three innings I wasn’t paying attention. Sitting there for 20 or 30 minutes, I was like ‘what’s going on out there?'”
Kansas City has led or been tied for all 45 innings of the current homestand and hasn’t trailed since Wednesday’s loss at Seattle.
Matt Vierling hit a two-run triple in the fourth and scored on Colt Keith’s single. Keith had three of Detroit’s six hits.
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Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (6-0, 1.80 ERA) opposes Royals LHP Cole Ragans (3-3, 3.70) in Wednesday's series finale.