An Eighth Inning to Remember

The Royals bats were ice cold again. Until they weren't.

Isn’t it funny how fast you can change your tune? Through seven innings yesterday, the Royals had no runs on four hits. They were shut down by a pitcher making his big league debut who wasn’t even impressive to watch. Then multiple relievers came in and looked like they would use sliders and sweepers to mow down the Royals the rest of the way and hand the team their fifth consecutive series loss. With two outs in the eighth, the entire conversation improved. It could only start with one batter - Bobby Witt Jr.

Could it have possibly been anyone else? Witt’s at bat in the bottom of the eighth is what you could look back on at the end of the year and say changed the course. Michael Massey started the inning by pinch-hitting for Garrett Hampson (who, by the way, has seen his luck run out), and he was fooled badly by a changeup and struck out. Then Maikel Garcia grounded out weakly on a great pitch. That set the stage for Witt.