Incredible ending provides much needed positivity before the All-Star Break
Today, the Royals took on the Mets, looking to avoid a sweep after a pair of disappointing games to start the series. In the last game before the All-Star break, Kansas City needed to come away with a win to carry momentum into the second half. On the back of the immaculate pitching performance by Noah Cameron, the Royals came away with an electric 3-2 win to salvage the series and enter the break at 47-50.
Kansas City entered the weekend series, after sweeping the Pirates earlier this week, and hoped to use this series to carry some momentum into the second half of the year. Kansas City made it exciting early, when John Rave hit a double down the first baseline and drove in Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.
Noah Cameron entered the game with a 2.56 ERA and has proven to be one of the best rookies in baseball. The young lefty continued his dominant start to his career, going 6.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. His changeup was elite and kept Mets hitters guessing the entire game.
On the other side, Clay Holmes gave a solid five innings, only allowing the two runs from the second inning. He was in line to take a loss as the Mets entered the 9th down 2-0. Then things got interesting when Carlos Estevez came in for the Royals to get his 26th save of the year, but struggled to close things out, keeping fans in their seats.
The Mets led off the inning with a line drive at Nick Loftin, who misread the ball, and it sailed over his head for a double to start the inning. Jeff McNeil came to the plate and hit a hard shot to left center, which resulted in an RBI triple. Kyle Isbel made an incredible effort, but just missed the ball, and the Mets were down one with a runner on third and no outs. A sacrifice fly to center by Jared Young drove in McNeil, and the Royals entered the bottom of the 9th tied up 2-2.
Salvador Perez came to the plate and struck out on four pitches to give the Mets their first out of the inning. Matt Quatraro elected to pinch-hit Tyler Tolbert for Jac Caglianone, who came up and hit a big single for the Royals’ first baserunner. He then stole second (no replay needed) to give Nick Loftin a shot to drive in the winning run. Loftin came through, shooting a single to left field, and Tyler Tolbert flew around third to score the winning run.
Kansas City came away with one of its biggest wins of the season to enter the All-Star break on a positive note. The Royals were able to avoid the sweep and put themselves just three games behind .500 as they head into the second half. They have off until Friday when they head to Miami for a three-game series. Now, fans will keep their eye on the draft and will get to watch Bobby Witt Jr, Kris Bubic, and Maikel Garcia in the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Winners
Tyler Tolbert – 1 for 1, stole a base, and scored the game-winning run in the ninth
Nick Loftin – Game-winning RBI single
Jonathan India – 2/4 at the plate with several good defensive plays
Noah Cameron – 6.2 innings, no runs allowed, 8 Ks vs 2 BBs
Losers
Jac Caglianone – 0-2 at the plate with a defensive error in the first
Carlos Estevez – Blown save, two runs allowed