Royals snap 7-game losing streak in shutout win over Nationals

KANSAS CITY, Mo, — The drought is over. The Kansas City Royals only scored one run on Tuesday evening, but it was all they needed after a stellar pitching performance on the road.

The Royals bats have been struggling tremendously over the past few weeks. So much so that they went 27 innings without scoring a run.

That scoreless streak ended thanks to a Bobby Witt Jr. infield single followed by a throwing error from Washington Nationals shortstop Nasim Nuñez that brought in Kyle Isbel in the 10th inning.

Witt finished 2-4 to go along with a stolen base. He had his 61st multi-hit game, tied for the most in the MLB.

Cole Ragans (11-9) had an excellent outing on the mound along with the Royals bullpen. Ragans went six innings, giving up only three hits with six strikeouts, three walks and zero runs. Angel Zerpa (2-0) was credited with the win.

It wasn’t pretty, but at this point in the season, the Royals will take wins any way they can get them.

“This is the start of something special, right here, right now,” Witt said after the win. “We got a special group in there, and a lot of people are out there doubting us that we shouldn’t be in this situation. We didn’t come this far just to come this far.”

The Royals currently hold the second Wild Card spot at 83-74. They are tied with the Detroit Tigers and sit two games above the Minnesota Twins with five games left to play.

The Royals hold the tiebreaker over the Tigers and the Twins hold the tiebreaker over the Royals and Tigers. The Royals magic number is four.

They will look to secure the series tomorrow when Michael Lorenzen (7-6) takes the mound against DJ Herz (4-8) at 5:45 p.m.

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