First, the Kanas City Royals trailed 7-0 after the first inning. They then fell 8-0 in the fourth inning.
Then they won.
More specifically, they beat the Seattle Mariners 10-9 in one of the most exciting games of the season, cutting the lead and finally breaking through in the ninth inning on a fielder’s choice. Their record is now 38-26, just three games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians.
Seattle’s score came in a first inning that would not end for Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV. A single by Julio Rodríguez and two hits by pitches loaded the bases with one out, then Lynch got Cal Raleigh to fly out to short left. He was one strike away from ending the inning unscathed, but Mitch Garver walked to score the first run.
Mitch Haniger and Victor Robles each followed with doubles, then Ryan Bliss delivered the exclamation point with a two-run homer. Three innings later, Ty France hit an RBI double to put Seattle up by eight runs.
Kansas City responded with a comeback of its own in the bottom of the fourth to score three runs, then scored three more in the sixth to make the score 9-7. That set them up for a ninth in which Nick Loftin and Garrett Hampson reached base to lead off the bottom of the inning.
Cue MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., who hit a high-speed 3-pointer to tie the game.
The Mariners intentionally walked the next two batters to force the out at home and nearly forced extras. Nelson Velázquez hit a double play to short that JP Crawford barely caught, but stumbled as he moved to throw the ball to second base.
The ball arrived to score one, but it was too late for first. Win, Royals.
By Sarah Langs of MLB.com, was just the fifth time in the last 50 seasons that a team won a game after coming out of the first inning down 7-0 or worse. No team had done it since Cleveland in 1995.
It was a well-deserved Gatorade shower for Witt.
