The Kansas City Royals had the huge beginning pitching benefit entering into their wild-card series versus the Baltimore Orioles, and Cole Ragans had the ability to out-duel Orioles ace Corbin Burnes on Tuesday for a 1-0 win.
The Royals now have a 1-0 series lead and still have their 2 finest beginning pitchers to go, requiring to win simply one video game to advance.
For the Orioles, it is their ninth successive postseason loss.
Here are 4 takeaways from Tuesday's video game.
1. Bobby Witt Jr. came through
Witt Jr. is the Royals' foundation gamer, the face of their franchise and among the most significant factors they have actually recovered from a 106-loss season to make the playoffs.
He had just one hit on Tuesday, however it was a crucial one– it caused the video game's only run in the top of the 6th inning.
Bobby moneys in! pic.twitter.com/T7HVw1g9vq
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) October 1, 2024
That is why Witt Jr. got the big-money agreement. For minutes like that and strikes like that.
2. Adley Rutschman's bad 2nd half continued
On the other side of the field, Rutschman is among the Orioles' core gamers, and after appearing like a possible MVP prospect at the start of the season, his 2nd half has actually been a continuous battle.
He never ever had an OPS greater than.625 in July, August or September, and he opened the playoffs on Tuesday by going 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
The second of those strikeouts can be found in the bottom of the ninth inning with the possible connecting operate on very first base.
Rutschman is an excellent gamer with a substantial profession ahead of him, however this season wound up being a huge dissatisfaction separately and now he has 2 video games to assist alter that.
3. The Orioles missed out on a huge chance
This was the video game the Orioles truly required in this series. Frantically. It appears odd to state that about a group that had among the very best records in the league, has home-field benefit and is the preferred, however the matches on a game-by-game basis are not rather in their favor after this.
Their ace– Burnes– was on the mound, and it was the one pitching match in the series where they have a clear benefit.
Burnes, to his credit, was marvelous.
He pitched into the ninth inning on simply 84 pitches, enabled just one run and did whatever you desire an ace to do to provide your group a possibility in a championship game.
The only issue for the Orioles is they were not able to supply him any run assistance. It was a squandered chance for this video game, and now they may be asking themselves if this entire season may be a squandered chance.
The 2nd they obtained Burnes in February,
