CLEVELAND — The Royals do their absolute best to avoid thinking about the standings and scoreboard-watching the teams they’re chasing, attempting to avoid doing the math with the remaining schedule and how they could sneak into the playoffs.
But they are humans. They know exactly where they stand. They know exactly what’s at stake. And they know that every game is as or more important than the last.
“Honestly, it’s a huge win,” utilityman Nick Loftin said. “We’re still in this fight.”
“We know what’s going on, right?” reliever Lucas Erceg said. “We’re following the standings. We know the finish line is right around the corner. All we’re trying to do is finish strong and let everything else play out the way it’s supposed to.”
Kansas City (74-72) sits four games back of the Mariners (78-68) for the third AL Wild Card spot. The Guardians (74-71) fell to 3 1/2 games back, still ahead of the Royals by a half-game. Both teams are chasing the Rangers (77-70), winners of four straight who are 1 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot, with the AL West race also tightening.
The chaos is everything you could want in September. The Royals have 16 games left and refuse to quit. They lost the first two games of this series with a frustrating offense, shut down by Guardians starters who combined to throw 15 scoreless innings.
A back-and-forth game early was dominated late by the back end of the Royals’ ‘pen, with Luinder Avila earning his first career win after two scoreless innings. Erceg threw two scoreless innings, and Carlos Estévez notched his MLB-leading 39th save.
“Your back’s against the wall here,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “[Cleveland] won the first two games. We’re fighting to hang on. And those guys stepped up.”
The Royals’ offense finally did, too. A lead in the first evaporated with Kyle Manzardo’s two-run home run in the bottom of the frame, but in the third inning, Bobby Witt Jr. swiped his 35th bag of the season, snapping a 17-game streak in which the Royals hadn’t stolen a base. It immediately paid off when Pasquantino ripped a game-tying single into right field for his 100th RBI of the season.
Pasquantino has been waiting on that number since last year, when he finished the regular season with 97 RBIs. He rattled off the situations in which he failed to reach triple digits last year — coincidentally, in Cleveland in late August — before he got hurt and missed the final month of the regular season.
No. 100 means a lot to him, especially because it tied the game.
“We can argue about RBIs until we’re blue in the face, but they’re important to me,” Pasquantino said. “Being able to, selfishly, get to that number, it was something I really wanted to do this year. Doesn’t mean I’m going to take my foot off the gas. I’m not satisfied. But it is humbling.”
In the seventh, Jac Caglianone worked a one-out walk, and Tyler Tolbert entered to pinch-run, almost immediately stealing second base.
Quatraro sent Loftin to the plate to pinch-hit for Kyle Isbel against Guardians lefty Tim Herrin. The Royals sacrificed Isbel’s Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field late in the game because they needed a run.
“Izzy’s starting mostly because of the defense against a tough lefty like Logan Allen,” Quatraro said. “But at that spot in the game, the offense is what takes precedence. We need to go for it there. That was our best shot offensively to have Loftin hit for him.”
Loftin came through, lining a game-tying single into left field. He ended up on third after an errant throw from Guardians catcher Bo Naylor. And Maikel Garcia followed with the go-ahead double.
After the game, the Royals celebrated Avila with a beer shower to commemorate his first win. Then the focus turned to Thursday. Leaving Cleveland with a series split is next on the to-do list for Kansas City to keep this season alive.
“I guess I’m not supposed to talk about the standings, but it’s an important game tomorrow,” Pasquantino said. “Try to get ahead of these guys, because they have the [head-to-head] tiebreaker on us. Anything we can do to keep them behind us would be great.”
