(610 Sports) – When Whit Merrifield lined a base hit to right field in the first inning on Sunday, the crowd at Kauffman Stadium began to stand and applaud the Royals right fielder and for good reason, Merrifield had just collected the 800th hit of his professional career in just his sixth season. Merrifield, for his part, was completely unaware of his own accomplishment.
Joining KCSP's 'Cody & Gold' for 'The Whit Merrifield Show' on Monday, the afore mentioned Merrifield spoke about the accomplishment.
"So you get hit number 800 in your career, do you buy yourself anything to celebrate big milestones or anything like that," Merrifield was asked by show co-host Alex Gold?
"Uhh, no," said Merrifield. "I didn't even know I was close to that till it went up on the board, so that was a nice little surprise but they gave me the ball, so I'll give that to my dad for Father's Day. Besides that, no, I'm just happy I got to 800 and got 801, now I'm trying to get 802."
Merrifield's mention of hit number 801, would be the two-run homer he hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, extending the Royals lead over Boston to 6-2, a lead they wouldn't surrender and eventually win 7-3. The Royals won 2 of 3 against Boston, giving them their first series win since early June.
Listen to the rest of Whit's interview with Cody & Gold in the player below: