A grand night from Bobby Witt Jr. helps Kansas City Royals rally past White Sox

“Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project was blasting inside the Royals’ clubhouse at Guaranteed Rate Field late Monday night following their 8-5 win over the White Sox ... when a lone voice cried out over the music.

“YEAH, BOB!”

“Sirius” was the Chicago Bulls’ anthem in the 1990s during their run to six NBA championships. Michael Jordan was the biggest star in basketball at that time, and it’s not hyperbole to say the Royals now have the best in their sport.

Bobby Witt Jr.

In a season of excellence that will have him in the running for an MVP award, Witt arguably had had his best game yet on Monday.

“You gonna ask about Bobby?” Royals manager Matt Quatraro quipped at the start of his postgame news conference.

Let’s start with Witt at the plate. He collected four hits, including a lead-flipping grand slam in the eighth inning.

Witt was pumped as he celebrated that home run in the dugout.

“Definitely fired up,” Witt said. “Anytime you take a lead like that against an in-division team, it’s a lot of fun.”

Witt raised his batting average to .347, best in the majors, by going four for five with the homer and a double. During his 11-game hitting streak, Witt is batting an absurd .546 with nine extra-base hits, 12 runs scored and 12 RBIs.

After giving the Royals the lead in the eighth, he made sure they got the win with a pair of jaw-dropping defensive plays in the ninth.

“That guy’s incredible,” Quatraro said. “Obviously, a go-ahead grand slam, you aren’t going to get any bigger than that. Then watching those defensive plays, there were so many things that he did so well tonight, it’s hard to really remember them all in the moment.”

Right fielder Hunter Renfroe added: “Right now to me, he’s one of the best players in baseball and when he comes to bat with the bases loaded, you think something special’s gonna happen and obviously it did. It was pretty remarkable and fun to be a part of.”

Seeing Witt come through in the clutch is no surprise to Renfroe, who is in his ninth season in the majors.

“Any time you have a future MVP front-runner at the plate,” Renfroe said, “(you expect something) to happen every single time he’s up there.

“So when it doesn’t happen, you’re kind of like, ‘Oh man, what happened there?’ But it was fantastic to see that and he’s a special player and a wonderful human being.”

The Royals (58-49) stayed a game ahead of Boston in the race for the third American League wild-card spot. The Red Sox beat the Mariners 14-7 and have a 56-49 record.

Electric eighth

The Royals trailed 5-2 with one out in the eighth inning when Renfroe and MJ Melendez sparked the comeback with consecutive home runs to right field against White Sox reliever Steven Wilson.

“I think that definitely brought some excitement, some energy to the dugout, and obviously MJ right after me was huge,” Renfroe said of his home run. “So I think that really kind of started to turn the point of the tide right there. So it was really good to see that and obviously, MJ coming back and doing what he did right there was pretty special.”

After an out, Maikel Garcia singled and John Brebbia came on in relief.

Garcia swiped second and then Adam Frazier was hit by a pitch on the 10th offering from Brebbia. Michael Massey walked and Witt followed with his grand slam to left field, giving the Royals an 8-5 lead.

“There were so many things that led up to that,” Quatraro said. “The two homers. Maikel getting to second. Frazier’s at-bat was incredible. Massey taking the walk. I mean, just getting Bobby up there was a Herculean effort in that inning, really. I mean, he was the eighth hitter right in that inning.”

Mediocre Marsh

Royals general manager J.J. Picollo started Monday by making a trade for pitcher Michael Lorenzen , who could be added the bullpen or plugged into the rotation, as needed.

If it’s the latter, Lorenzen likely would replace right-hander Alec Marsh, who is in his first full season in the majors.

Marsh had a chance Monday night to lock down his spot in the rotation at Guaranteed Rate Field. He wasn’t awful, but he wasn’t sharp, either. He allowed two runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out three but also hit a pair of batters.

The Royals’ bullpen, which had a 7.43 ERA over the previous four games, wobbled again, allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings. But James McArthur pitched a perfect ninth.

Marsh or Lorenzen might be able to help shore up the Royals’ relief corps. Or perhaps Picollo will make another deal ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Bullpen blip

After escaping a jam created by Marsh in the fifth inning that kept the game tied at two, reliever Angel Zerpa allowed consecutive doubles to start the sixth as Chicago took the lead.

After a strikeout, two singles brought home another run to give the White Sox a 4-2 edge.

Andrew Vaughn hit a home run an inning later against Chris Stratton to push the White Sox advantage to 5-2, but that merely set the stage for the Royals’ comeback. Chicago lost for the 15th straight time and is 1-10 against the Royals this season.

Injury report

The Royals on Monday placed relief pitcher John Schreiber on the 15-day injured list because of a right knee patella tendon injury.

Fellow right-hander Will Klein was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. Klein has appeared in five games this season with the Royals (6.35 ERA with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings). At Omaha, he had a 3.58 ERA in 34 appearances.

What’s next: The Royals will face the White Sox two more times in the Windy City. Michael Wacha will be on the mound Tuesday, facing Jonathan Cannon. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.