The 2024 Kansas City Royals postseason run continues. The Royals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 on Wednesday behind a strong bullpen performance and a few timely hits. Designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead with his RBI single in the 1st inning to score Michael Massey. Having the “Pasquatch” back has really given the Royals lineup a boost in the postseason. Looking to follow up Cole Ragans dominant start in game 1, Kansas City starting pitcher Seth Lugo started the game strong. Lugo started the game with 6 strikeouts over 4 scoreless innings before running into trouble in the 5th inning. Baltimore finally scored their first run of the 2024 postseason on a solo home run by centerfielder Cedric Mullins to tie the game at 1-1. Lugo then gave up a bloop single, walk and allowed a baserunner to get to first on his own throwing error to load the bases with nobody out. Royals’ manager Matt Quatraro kept Lugo in the game to face the dangerous Anthony Santander, who led the Orioles with 44 home runs in the regular season. Lugo got Santander to pop-up to record the first out of the inning, but the Royals turned to the bullpen to record the final two outs. Angel Zerpa struck out Colton Cowser and got Adley Rutschman to ground out to end the threat and keep the game tied at 1-1. The Royals would make them pay the very next inning. The Royals superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. hit an infield single to score Kyle Isbel in the top of the 6th inning to retake the lead 2-1, a lead the Royals would not relinquish. The Royals bullpen proceeded to throw 4 scoreless innings with Angel Zerpa, John Schreiber, Kris Bubic and Lucas Erceg only allowing 2 more baserunners the remainder of the game. Lucas Erceg shut down the Orioles in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the series.
The Royals magical season continues because their bullpen has gone from their biggest weakness to arguably their greatest strength. The Royals bullpen did not allow a single run in this short two game wild-card series against the Orioles. They will have another tough task ahead of them as they head to New York to face the Yankees in a best-of-five series.
Game 1 starts at 6:38PM ET on Saturday and will air on TBS. The Royals will likely need to score more than 1.5 runs per game if they want to beat a Yankees team that lead the Major Leagues with 237 home runs during the regular season. The Yankees have MVP favorite Aaron Judge and the dangerous Juan Soto anchoring their lineup. If the Royals continue to get strong pitching performances and timely hitting from their lineup, they have a great chance to continue playing baseball deeper into October.