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Royals cap series win over Twins with walk-off; Isbel to the IL

By artoodeetoo
09/08/2025

9/5 -- Royals drop nailbiter to Twins: Wasting another fine effort from Noah Cameron, the Royals' bats went silent in dropping a 2-1 decision to Minnesota to open a three-game series at home with their divisional rivals. Cameron struck out nine to tie a season and career high, allowing just one earned run. He scattered just four hits and two walks over his 104 pitches.

"Mixing it up, changing speeds even on his fastball, really helped him keep hitters off-balance," pitching coach Brian Sweeney noted to reporters at the post-game press conference, as skipper Matt Quatraro had to step away to attend to a personal matter. "That's a thing that younger pitchers have the biggest adjustment to pitch at this level. He's always been good at that, even prior to getting here."

Aside from a couple of hits each from Mike Yastrzemski and Jac Caglianone, the Royals didn't get much offense from the rest of the lineup, as they went 4-for-25 with no extra-base hits. A positive from the lackluster offensive performance has been the ongoing maturation of Caglianone, who has gone 15-for-56 (.267) with five doubles and four homeruns since returning from the minors last month.

The best part is that he's posted an on-base percentage of .391 since returning from his rehab assignment, although that's been helped by being hit by a pitch four times. Even without those, his OBP would be .365 since coming back up, still a very good number.

"I think a lot of it is just reps and getting in the cage and working on some things," he said of his improvement over the last few weeks. "Alec (hitting coach Zumwalt) has been the only other person I've seen more than my girlfriend over the last several weeks."

Unfortunately, Caglianone was forced out of the game due to hamstring tightness, and has been listed as day-to-day going forward according to Sweeney. The hamstring issue is the same injury that landed him on the injured list earlier in the season, so it will bear watching going forward.

Kyle Isbel also was pulled from the game in the middle of the fifth inning, with Jorge Mateo replacing him in center. After attempting a throw to the plate on an Alan Roden single, Isbel winced after throwing, eventually being diagnosed with a strained oblique. These two injuries also impacted the decision-making late in the game as the Royals were down 2-1 to begin the ninth.

Catcher Luke Maile singled to lead off the inning, but with replacements like Jorge Mateo and Jonathan India already in the game as replacements earlier in the game; and rookie catcher Carter Jensen still not cleared to play, Quatraro had to roll the dice with the veteran catcher on the basepaths.

"We were down to Randal (Grichuk) off the bench, and that would have meant losing a solid bench bat to pull off a double switch and lose the DH spot in the lineup," Sweeney noted. "The injuries earlier in the game really forced us into a box, so rolling the dice was the only option."

Mateo, who had subbed in for Isbel earlier, grounded into a fielder's choice, beating out a relay throw from second to deny the double play. He would end up stealing second, but was eventually stranded at third as Bobby Witt Jr grounded out to short.

9/6 -- Isbel placed on 10-day injured list: Kansas City made a roster move on Saturday, placing Kyle Isbel (oblique) on the 10-day IL and re-calling John Rave to take his spot on the roster. This will be Rave's second stint with the club this year, but it is likely to be a short one as manager Matt Quatraro noted that it is a low-grade strain that should be cleared up by the time the IL stay is complete.

"We're hopeful that he won't need any ramp-up in the minors when he comes off, but the way that the team physicians spoke that we wouldn't need any further action," he said. "John will do a good job for us in the meantime, but we're hopeful to get Kyle back as soon as we can."

Isbel is expected to return in time for the team's final homestand of the season, a critical six-game stretch against two teams that are ahead of them in the wildcard race in Seattle and Toronto that begins on September 16th.

9/6 -- Jensen cleared to play; will be in starting lineup: Rookie catcher Carter Jensen (quad) has been cleared by team officials, and will be in the lineup against the Twins tonight in the number-nine spot.

"I mean, it's a thrill to finally be able to put on the gear and get out there," he said. "I watched dozens and dozens of games here when I was a kid, and was in the building when Salvy hit the groundball down the line to beat the A's in 2014 to win the wildcard. Now I'm here on the same team with him all these years later. It's just surreal."

Jensen's presence will allow the Royals to more frequently rest their two veteran catchers in Salvador Perez and Luke Maile, and giving the youngster a chance to acclimate to the rigors of preparation and traveling at this level.

"We're excited to get him out there and playing," skipper Matt Quatraro said. "We sat down and told him, we're in the thick of it, and we're counting on you as part of this run to the postseason. We wouldn't have him up here if we didn't think he could handle it."

Quatraro, himself a former catcher, noted that having not one, but two veteran catchers to learn from over the next handful of weeks is "extremely invaluable" to his development as a player.

"We also re-iterated that this was his opportunity to really learn and soak up what you can from these two, and that they have nearly two decades combined playing this game," he added.

Jensen noted that he had secured "nearly thirty" tickets for the game tonight for family, friends, and former high school teammates from Park Hill High School in suburban northern Kansas City.

What was even more frustrating is that the Royals missed on a golden opportunity to narrow the wildcard race, as all of the contenders in front of them minus the Yankees also dropped their games, most of them by one-run margins. At 5 1/2 games out, they still have the opportunities in front of them, but the hourglass is starting to run out of sand.

9/6 -- Lorenzen, Royals hold off Twins to even series: Since coming off the injured list in mid-August, Michael Lorenzen has been a man on a mission by posting three quality starts in his last four; including Saturday night's gem in which he went seven innings while allowing just one earned run on six hits. He struck out four with just one walk to pick up the victory, his sixth of the season as the Royals claimed a 2-1 triumph.

"Definitely feeling in a groove right now," he said after the game. "There really isn't a pitch that I have that I don't think I can't get over for a strike. It's a good feeling to have as a pitcher, that you can throw any pitch in any count."

The bats struggled again, but the pitching was good enough to hold off the Twins' bats for the win. All of the damage was done in the first few innings, with Maikel Garcia hitting a solo homerun in the second inning, and Vinnie Pasquantino singling home a run in the third.

"When you get those first two runs early on, you want to keep building on that throughout the game, but it really puts a lot of pressure on the pitching when you miss on opportunities," said manager Matt Quatraro. "Luckily for us, Mike was rock-solid and handed the game off to Lucas and Carlos, who have been the rocks at the end of the pen all season."

WIth Cleveland's loss, the Royals have moved ahead of the Guardians in both the Central and wildcard races, but are still four games behind Seattle for the final spot. Kansas City will turn to Seth Lugo to secure the series victory tomorrow night, with Taj Bradley opposing him.

"I mean, every win is precious right now," Quatraro went on to add. "We're getting a little healthier, with Carter (Jensen) getting cleared to play today, and Cole (Ragans) coming back and making his first start in several months later this week, so we're still in a solid place, but time is getting short."

9/7 -- Witt walk-off in 11th: Bobby Witt Jr made MLB history on Sunday afternoon, becoming the second shortstop ever to have one hundred homeruns, one hundred steals, and more than 20 fWAR before the end of their age-25 season. Alex Rodriguez is the only other one to do so, putting BWJ in a very exclusive club.

With the Royals needing a spark down 1-0 against new Twins closer Justin Topa in the ninth, Witt hit a solo homerun to lead off the inning to tie the score, and would later walk the Twins off with a single in the 11th as the Royals pulled off arguably their biggest win of the season to date, a 2-1 11-inning thriller that allowed them to gain a game on other wildcard contenders in Seattle and Toronto. They also moved to one-and-a-half games over Cleveland with a key series beginning there on Monday.

Toronto and Seattle have dropped into a tie for the third and final spot, with the Royals now three games back of them. Texas has moved up into the second spot, a half-game ahead of the Blue Jays and Mariners.

"Just Bobby doing Bobby things," skipper Matt Quatraro beamed after the game of his star shortstop. "This was one that we really had to have, and really couldn't have done it without his contributions."

That's not to say he was the only one, however. Seth Lugo held a no-hitter through nearly six innings, finally surrendering a one-out single to Will Holland that helped lead the Twins to their first and only run of the game. The bullpen didn't allow a single hit in four scoreless innings, with Daniel Lynch IV pitching for the first time in a week getting the win.

Another unsung hero per Quatraro was rookie catcher Carter Jensen, who drew the starting assignment behind the plate for the second straight game. In twenty innings, the Twins scored just two earned runs with him calling the game for Royals pitching, and no baserunners had attempted to steal on him.

"The pitchers are all raving about him," Quatraro said of his young catcher. "Like I've said before, he's a student of the game that really has a knowledge of the game that's beyond his years. If he stays healthy, I think he'll enjoy a pretty long career in this game."

In the other dugout, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was questioned as to why he didn't keep Bradley in the game to preserve the shutout. Bradley had gone eight shutout innings, allowing five hits and a walk with six strikeouts, but was at ninety-eight pitches, with a little over a third of those in the previous two innings.

"We noticed that the velocity over the previous few innings was starting to dip a little bit, so we thought with Witt leading off the next inning, it was a good time to get Justin in there," he said, referring to Justin Topa. "Obviously, it didn't work out, but I'd make the same choice again in the same situation."