By MATT PIKE
Nick Loftin's squeeze bunt with one out in the ninth inning scored Josh Rojas to give the Kansas City Royals a 4-3 walk off series opening victory over the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium.
After the Giants opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run by Heliot Ramos, the Royals took the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Salvador Perez hit a two run home run, scoring Vinnie Pasquantino, for the 316th home run of his career to put him one home run away from tying George Brett's franchise record of 317. Kansas City extended the lead to 3-1 on Isaac Collins' RBI single that drove in Michael Massey. The Royals held that lead until the ninth inning.
Loftin, who entered after starting shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. left the game in the fifth inning with lower back tightness, singled in the seventh in addition to the game-winning bunt. Setting up the game winning bunt, in the top of the ninth inning, Alex Lange blew his second consecutive save, giving up a game tying two run home run, bringing home Jung Hoo Lee. For the second consecutive time as well, the game tying hit off Lange, came with two outs.
In the bottom half of the inning, Rojas hit a single to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Tolbert and then went to third on Carter Jensen's lineout. Loftin then bunted toward first base and Rojas scored easily when Bryce Eldridge didn't field the ball cleanly. Lange improved to 1-5, earning the win, striking out two in the ninth to go with the two hits and two runs.
Royals starter Michael Wacha, in his first start since appearing in the MLB All Star Game, gave up three hits and one run over six innings while striking out five and walking two. At the plate, Loftin was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Lane Thomas was 2-for-4. Perez was 1-for-3 with the home run and two RBI's.
Kansas City and San Francisco continue their series tomorrow. Luinder Avila (4-3, 5.08 ERA, 50K's) will start for the Royals against Tyler Mahle (2-8, 5.31 ERA, 73K's) for the Giants. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame will air at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.