Kansas City, Mo. – Bobby Witt Jr. knew the ball was gone the moment it left his bat.
Only later did the young Kansas City Royals star realize what kind of company it allowed him to join.
The two-run shot in the eighth inning against Texas on Tuesday night merely padded the lead for Kansas City, which went on to a 5-2 victory. It was the fifth straight win for the Royals, who closed to within 2 1/2 games of an AL wild-card berth and are within nine games of the first-place Tigers in the AL Central.
But it also was the 100th career homer for Witt, making him the youngest in franchise history to reach that mark. He made it at the age of 26 years, 66 days, or more than a year earlier than Carlos Beltran when he accomplished it during the 2003 season.
“I want him up there every inning,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, you look at the lineup and you’re trying to figure out, ‘How many times can we get to the plate? How many guys can we keep on base for him when he does come to the plate?’
“I mean, that’s an immense amount of pressure on a younger player to understand that’s how everybody feels about him,” Quatraro said. “But he has the physical ability, the makeup and the mental capacity to handle it.”
The latest no-doubt shot, which came off Texas reliever Cole Winn and landed an estimated 449 feet to dead center field, made Witt only the fourth player with at least 100 homers and 100 stolen bases through his first four big league seasons. The others are Julio Rodríguez, Darryl Strawberry and Bobby Bonds – some pretty select company.
Witt also become one of six shortstops in the last 95 years to hit at least 100 homers through his age-25 seasons. That list of luminaries includes Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr., Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa and Hanley Ramirez; of those players, only Rodriguez and Ramirez also had 100 steals by the time they were 25 years old.
“It was special,” Witt admitted, “just seeing the kind of names on the list or whatever they showed. But now, it’s just kind of on to the next. It was special. We enjoy it. And now it’s just onto the next game.”
They keep getting more important for the Royals, who have won five straight and seven of their last eight. They head into the third-game of their four-game set against the Rangers on Wednesday night with a chance to inch closer to a wild-card spot, and they proved last year that they could do some postseason damage if they can only get in.
Witt continues to be the catalyst of their second-half surge, too. He’s hitting .291 with 18 homers and 69 RBIs.
“It’s special when he goes out there,” said the Royals’ Seth Lugo, who allowed just two runs on three hits while pitching into the seventh inning Tuesday night. “I’ve been saying it for two years: He goes about his business the same way. He doesn’t get up or down on himself. He’s a master of consistency. That’s what he does.”
Witt also happens to be a slick fielder with a Gold Glove in his trophy case.
But at the plate is where Witt has become a bona fide star. He led the majors with a .332 average last year, when he hit 32 home runs, stole 31 bases and finished with 109 RBIs. And while he may not quite replicate the average, homer total or RBI numbers in this campaign, he already has 32 stolen bases while getting caught just seven times.
“There’s not too many guys that get to 100 (homers),” said Vinnie Pasquantino, who also homered Tuesday night. “And the fourth player in MLB history with 100 stolen bases? It’s not a list I’ll ever be on. I mean, it’s kind of unbelievable.
“He’s one of the best players in the league for a reason,” Pasquantino said. “A superstar.”
Guardians fall to Diamondbacks
Phoenix – Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in three runs, Jake McCarthy hit a solo homer and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-5 on Tuesday night.
McCarthy finished with two hits and Corbin Carroll tripled twice, his fourth game this season with two triples.
Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez gave up four runs on five hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings. Juan Burgos (1-0) got one out to earn his first major league win. The 25-year-old rookie entered with two outs and a runner on first in the seventh, gave up a double to Angel Martínez and intentionally walked José Ramírez before pinch-hitter Kyle Manzardo grounded out to end the inning.
Andrew Saalfrank pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
McCarthy’s homer opened the scoring in the third. Carroll tripled and scored on a groundout by Gurriel in the fourth.
Carlos Santana singled to drive in José Ramírez and then scored on a single by Nolan Jones in the Cleveland fourth. Ramírez hit a two-run homer in the fifth.
Tim Herrin (4-3) gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning to take the loss.
Carroll leads MLB with a career-high 16 triples and is the first player with at least 16 in one season since José Reyes and Shane Victorino both had 16 in 2011.
Yankees tie club record with nine HRs
Tampa, Fla. – Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger both hit two home runs, Aaron Judge launched his 40th of the season and the New York Yankees matched a franchise record with nine longballs Tuesday night in a 13-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Judge, Bellinger and Stanton went back-to-back-to-back in the first inning to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead four batters into the game – after the first pitch was delayed nearly two hours by rain.
José Caballero connected twice for his first career multihomer game. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice also went deep for the Yankees, who won their fourth straight and looked awfully comfortable in a road game at their spring training home.
New York took full advantage of the cozy dimensions before a crowd of 10,046 at George M. Steinbrenner Field, where the Rays are playing while Tropicana Field undergoes repairs.
Bellinger finished 4 for 5 with three RBIs.
Following the long rain delay, Shane Baz (8–10) gave up Judge’s 429-foot shot to center field. Bellinger followed with a 381-foot drive to right, and Stanton lined a 386-footer to right-center.
Baz allowed six runs and seven hits, including five homers, in three innings. He has yielded 29 earned runs in his last 28 innings (9.32 ERA) over six starts.
Carlos Rodón (13-7) earned the win, allowing two runs in six innings.
New York also hit nine home runs in its second game of the season, a 20-9 victory over Milwaukee on March 29 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees became the first team in major league history to hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the first inning three times in one season (also March 29 and April 29).
Judge became the fourth Yankees player with at least four 40-homer seasons, joining Babe Ruth (11), Lou Gehrig (5) and Mickey Mantle (4). Judge hit 52 homers in 2017, 62 in 2022 and 58 in 2024.
Dodgers’ Betts staying at shortstop
Denver – Mookie Betts has played strong defense in his first full season as a shortstop, but the recent outfield play for the Los Angeles Dodgers has manager Dave Roberts fielding questions about whether the 2018 AL MVP would be more valuable to the team in right field.
Outfield defense has been a problem for Los Angeles, and Roberts called out Teoscar Hernández’s play in right after Monday night’s 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Hernández failed to catch Ezequiel Tovar’s high popup that landed for a double in the ninth inning, and Tovar scored the winning run two pitches later.
But Roberts isn’t ready to move Betts from shortstop, where he has played all but one inning this season. Betts entered Tuesday night with a .984 fielding percentage and has committed just six errors in 376 chances.
“There’s got to be an alternative, right?” Roberts said before Tuesday night’s game against Colorado. “And I think right now, the way Mookie’s playing at short, not bouncing him around, I think we feel very good about it.”
Betts met with Roberts after Monday night’s loss but the manager said it was just to check in.
“Mookie pops in my office all the time and we were just talking about his swing,” Roberts said. “I wanted him to check in with me about where he’s at, certain checkpoints as we go through the season, and that was a check-in.”
The Dodgers have options in the outfield, but Michael Conforto has struggled at the plate and Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernández and Hyeseong Kim are on the injured list.
Edman and Hernández can play infield and outfield, which would strengthen the defense.
Teoscar Hernández, despite his recent offensive struggles, is a stronger option with the bat than Conforto. The slugger had an RBI double in the first inning Tuesday night that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
“Given everything that we were going through, we’ve gone through, we’re still finding ways to win a lot of ballgames,” Roberts said. “Just in totality, we can all do a better job, all of us. And so I just refuse to try to pin it on one position, one person. … That’s just not what I do.”
Scherzer, Springer lead Blue Jays
Pittsburgh – Max Scherzer pitched six strong innings to notch his 220th career win, and George Springer hit an early two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Scherzer (4-2) allowed one run and four hits with four strikeouts and three walks. The 18-year veteran has pitched at least six innings in five consecutive starts.
The Blue Jays (74-53) built a 5-0 lead against Mitch Keller in the first two innings.
Springer hit a 423-foot shot to center field for his 20th homer of the season in the second inning. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the first when Alejandro Kirk had an RBI single and Nathan Lukes followed with a two-run single.
Kirk added a two-run home run, his 10th, off Colin Holderman in the seventh inning to make 7-1. The All-Star catcher finished with three hits and three RBIs.
Keller (5-12) was tagged for five runs in 3 1/3 innings after giving up six runs in four innings in a loss at National League-leading Milwaukee in his previous start last Wednesday.
The Pirates lost for the eighth time in 10 games as they fell deeper into the NL Central basement.
Blue Jays All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sat out because of tightness in his left hamstring. An MRI performed earlier Tuesday revealed no damage.
The Blue Jays are 25-13 in interleague games, tops in the major leagues.
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