Bobby Witt Jr.'s 2 extra-base hits, 3 RBIs boost Royals past mistake-prone Pirates

Bobby Witt Jr. is one of baseball’s burgeoning stars, and the Kansas City Royals shortstop showed the Pittsburgh Pirates why he’s an American League MVP candidate.

The 24-year-old Witt recorded his 100th RBI of the season on a solo home run in the first inning, then added two more on a sacrifice fly in the fifth and a double to center in the seventh.

So the Pirates didn’t take any chances when Witt came to bat in the ninth inning with two runners in scoring position, electing to intentionally walk him to load the bases instead.

Witt’s two extra-base hits and three RBIs boosted the Royals to an early lead, as they took advantage of Pirates fielding mishaps on their way to a 5-1 win Saturday afternoon before 15,439 at PNC Park.

“He’s one of the best players in the game,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You see the different things he does, the way he moves, the pitches he gets to. … He’s got a really good presence about him, and it’s why he’s in the MVP (discussion).”

Pirates starter Mitch Keller (11-10) took the loss despite recording a quality start by allowing three earned runs on four hits while striking out six over six innings. The Pirates provided little support as they left 13 men on base — going 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position — and had two fielding errors and several misplays by Oneil Cruz in center.

Royals starter Michael Wacha (13-7) held them to one run on four hits and three walks while striking out eight in five innings.

Witt didn’t waste any time making his impact, drilling Keller’s 2-0 cutter 420 feet to left-center for his 31st home run to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

“Obviously, you don’t want to give up the run, but I wasn’t even too upset with the pitch,” Keller said. “Just going 2-0 to him is not really a recipe for success. You fall behind 2-0, it’s a tough count to be in to one of the best hitters in baseball.”

Keller didn’t allow another hit until the fifth. Adam Frazier led off with a fly ball to center that Cruz charged and tried to make a diving catch, only for it to bounce past him for a triple. Maikel Garcia followed with a double to the right-center gap to drive in Frazier for a 2-0 lead. The Pirates challenged a tag call on a double steal, but it was upheld after review, putting a pair of runners in scoring position. Witt hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to drive in Garcia and make it 3-0.

“When we moved him out there, we said there’s going to be bumps in the road, and I think we saw a little bit of it today,” Shelton said of Cruz, who switched from shortstop in late August. “Unfortunately, a couple of plays that ended up resulting in runs. But, yeah, it’s going to be a situation where there’s plays that he’s got to learn how to make.”

The Pirates scored in the bottom of the fifth, when Jared Triolo hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on a single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and scored on Cruz’s single up the middle to cut it to 3-1. But they stranded runners at first and third.

The Royals added to their lead in the sixth. Michael Massey hit a leadoff double to the North Side Notch and scored on a fielding error by third baseman Triolo on Freddy Fermin’s grounder.

“We gave up a couple runs that were situations that he couldn’t control,” Shelton said. “I didn’t think he had his best stuff, but I thought he was able to grind through it and continue to get outs.”

After Kyle Isbel hit a leadoff double to center off Carmen Mlodzinski in the seventh, Cruz tried to make a shoestring catch on a Witt fly, but the ball popped out of his glove for a double that allowed Isbel to score for a 5-1 Royals lead.