ATLANTA, Ga. (KCTV) – The Kansas City Royals sent four players to the MLB All-Star Game for the second consecutive year, and the first time since 2015-16.
Tuesday night in Atlanta, each of the Royals’ four representatives made an appearance in the game, and they each had varying levels of success.
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. entered the game as a defensive replacement for Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson in the bottom of the fifth inning. In his second career All-Star appearance, the 25-year-old came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning with fellow teammate Maikel Garcia on third base.
Garcia arrived at third base after drawing a six-pitch walk from San Francisco Giants reliever Randy Rodriguez and stealing second base on the first pitch of Witt Jr.’s at-bat. When the throw from Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman sailed into center field, Garcia advanced to third on the error.
From there, Witt Jr. drove in Garcia, grounding a ball hard back up the middle, where St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan was standing. The RBI groundout cut the American League’s deficit to 6-4.
Part of the reason the American League was trailing 6-0 entering that seventh inning was because of the struggles of Royals lefty Kris Bubic. Appearing in the bottom of the sixth inning, Bubic walked San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. to begin the inning.
The Chiefs extend Trey Smith and four members of the Royals head to the MLB All-Star Game. Marleah Campbell and Gabe Swartz discuss.ALSO READ: Chiefs ink Trey Smith to multi-year extension
Then, Tatis Jr. stole second and advanced to third on an infield single from Donovan. New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso then drilled a 1-0 fastball to right field for a 3-run home run that gave the National League a 5-0 lead. Bubic got Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez to ground out, ending his night with 0.1 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed and 3 earned runs, before Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize relieved
An inning later, Royals closer Carlos Estevez entered the game and struck out Miami Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers, Tatis Jr. and Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson. He worked around a walk to Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and a single to Donovan to produce a scoreless inning.
In the ninth inning, Witt Jr. got his second RBI of the game with a double down the right field line. It cut the AL deficit to 6-5. Witt Jr. came around to score on an infield single by Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan to tie the game at 6-6 with the AL down to its last out.
Witt’s game-tying run helped force a tie through nine innings, which triggered the first tiebreaking home run derby in All-Star history. The National League won that swing-off, 4-3, to win the game.
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.