Bobby Witt Jr. smacks inside-the-park-home run in 5-1 Royals win
After last night’s thriller, I wouldn’t blame you if you had some long blinks while watching this one.
May 9, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images Coming into 2026, Michael Wacha had been the epitome of consistency for the Royals.
If you saw he was starting, you could mark down ~6 innings and a couple of runs scored pretty much every time. Every once in a while, he’d get torched, slightly more often than that, he’d pitch a gem. 2026 has been different, though, at least in terms of what we can consistently expect from the 34-year-old.
Wacha made his eighth start tonight and pitched seven shutout innings. If you look at it primarily from an innings-pitched perspective, half of those starts have been 7+ innings with 2 or fewer runs allowed. If you focus on the runs-allowed perspective, he’s thrown 3 games where he didn’t give up a run and all were at least 6 innings.
No matter how you slice it, 3/4 of his outings have been Quality Starts, allowing 3 runs or fewer and pitching 6 runs or more. None of those quality starts saw him give up more than 2 runs. It’s been a remarkable stretch.
Continue to the original source for the full article.