Bobby Witt Jr. drove in his 100th run of the season with a solo home run in the first inning, and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Saturday.
Witt also added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and a run-scoring double in the sixth. He went 2 for 3, boosting his MLB-leading batting average to .333. Witt now has 31 home runs and 102 RBIs.
“It’s hard to set personal goals because you never know what might happen during the season,” Witt said. “So, I just take it day by day, play the game and let things happen on their own. But 100 RBIs does mean a lot. I’m happy to be able to do that.”
Michael Wacha (13-7) allowed one run in five innings, improving to 9-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 13 starts since early July. He gave up four hits, walked three, and struck out eight.
“The first two innings were really efficient then in the third inning they started working some walks and long counts, working some good ABs and really made me work,” Wacha said. “I wish I could have gone a little deeper, but the bullpen came in and did a great job.”
John Schreiber, Sam Long, James McArthur, Kris Bubic, and Lucas Erceg combined to pitch four innings, giving up five hits for Kansas City.
The Royals won for the seventh time in nine games since a seven-game losing streak, as they aim to make the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2015. By improving their record to 82-67, they also secured their first winning season since 2015.
“It really doesn’t mean that much to me,” manager Matt Quatraro said about having a winning record after last season’s 56-106 record. “Our guys have set the bar much higher than that. They’ve wanted to win the division since the first day of spring training and we might need 90-some wins to do that.”
Kansas City started the day with a 2½-game lead over Minnesota for the second AL wild card spot and was three games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.
