As Bobby Witt Jr. got ready for his highly awaited playoff debut with the Kansas City Royals, he took a moment after the national anthem ended at Camden Yards on Tuesday to take it all in.
The bright lights on a cloudy day, the 41,506 excited fans in the stands, mostly cheering for the Baltimore Orioles, and the orange towels waving in their hands all surrounded him.
“I’m like, ‘This is where you want to be,’” Witt said afterward. “This is the spot you want to be in. And this is what makes you a baseball player. This is what you dream of.”
Witt showed why he is considered one of the brightest young talents in the game by driving in the only run with a single on Tuesday. He supported Cole Ragans, another player making his playoff debut, who pitched six excellent innings.
This helped the Royals secure a 1-0 win over the Orioles in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series, marking their return to the postseason after a nine-year absence.
“It’s kind of fitting for him to drive in the run. He’s been the leader of the offense — him and (Salvador Perez) — all year,” said KC’s Michael Massey. “Having him up in that situation is what we want as a team.”
Witt, the 24-year-old shortstop who led the majors with 211 hits and a .332 batting average this season, hit the ball through the infield on a 95 mph cutter from 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes with two outs in the sixth inning.
Burnes had used that cutter to get Witt out in his first two at-bats.
“He took some pretty bad swings on it, weak contact, so it was a pretty good pitch,” Burnes said. “He didn’t hit it very hard. It just found a hole, and that was the difference.”
Maikel Garcia scored after he drew a walk, stole second base — Burnes allowed a major league-high 41 stolen bases this season — and advanced to third on a groundout.
Garcia is another rookie in the postseason, along with Lucas Erceg, who got a four-out save. This shows that the Royals are a rising team, having lost 106 games last season but improving by 30 wins to return to October for the first time since they won the 2015 World Series.
Witt admitted to feeling nervous in the ninth inning, and Erceg said he had to remind himself to slow down since he wasn’t following his usual routine on the mound. However, these young players from Kansas City seemed to be relaxed in such important moments.
“Pretty much just be yourself,” Witt said. “That’s what we do as a team.”
Now the Royals can win this best-of-three series and move on to an AL Division Series against the New York Yankees by winning Game 2 in Baltimore on Wednesday. Kansas City will have All-Star Seth Lugo pitching against Zach Eflin.
Baltimore has lost its last nine postseason games.
Ragans left the game after 80 pitches due to cramping in his left calf, and the bullpen finished the game. The All-Star left-handed pitcher was impressive, mixing a 98 mph fastball with different off-speed pitches while giving up only four hits and striking out eight batters.
Burnes showed he was the ace Baltimore hoped for when they traded for him from Milwaukee in February. “He did his part,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.
The AL’s All-Star starter this season left to a standing ovation after allowing a leadoff single in the ninth. He gave up one run, five hits, and one important walk to Garcia. “The walk hurt,” Burnes said. “The walk cost us the game.”
He became the first starter to pitch in the ninth inning of a postseason game since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series.
But Baltimore’s power hitters — the team that hit 235 home runs, second only to the Yankees — could not deliver.
The Orioles had a runner on third in the third inning, but Jordan Westburg flew out to the warning track in left field. They had runners on the corners in the fifth, but Ragans struck out James McCann and 2023 AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson.
“A big spot,” said Ragans. Hyde’s opinion? “That hurt.”
In the eighth inning, with two runners on and two outs, Erceg took over for Kris Bubic and got Anthony Santander to hit into a fielder’s choice while thousands of fans stood up in excitement.
“It’s going to be louder. It’s going to be bigger, whatever,” said Witt, whose father was a pitcher in the majors. “But you just have to know this is the game I grew up playing, loving.”
