​The Royals could not sustain the offensive surge they had shown in the previous two games, and Wednesday’s action unfolded more like a baseball shootout than a football contest—at least until the late innings. New York jumped out to an early lead by scoring five runs in the eighth to pull ahead and eventually win 6-2. The Mets started strong, with Steven Cruz delivering a shaky opener for Kansas City. He left the game with a respectable line, having limited the damage to one run after giving up a leadoff homer to AJ Ewing on a 2-0 pitch that he left over the middle of the plate. Cruz managed two strikeouts and kept his team in the game despite some rough spots.
Christian Scott took the mound for New York and provided a solid performance. In the first, Bobby Witt managed an infield single, but there wasn’t much threat to him thereafter. The second frame saw Nick Loftin walk and Isaac Collins single to move Loftin to third, creating the only real jam of the night for Scott; he maneuvered out of it and then rolled through three more clean innings. His pitch count climbed early, though, as the first two innings alone reached 49 pitches, a consequence of a long at-bat in the first and a walk plus a single in the second. Scott still looked sharp and finished after five innings, a testament to his effectiveness despite the early strain.
That mattered because New York’s bullpen was stretched thin, having to call up two arms from the minors earlier in the day. One of those call-ups, Tobias Myers, was tasked with work in the sixth and seventh innings. In the meantime, Jac Caglianone anchored a rally for the Royals with a loud triple—an estimated 113 mph shot off the wall in right-center for a double in the sixth. He then advanced to third on Lane Thomas’s groundout, which pulled Bichette into foul territory and opened a path for Caglianone to score on the play that followed. Salvador Perez battled Myers in a lengthy at-bat, eventually coaxing a ninth-pitch single that brought Caglianone home and tied the game at 1-1.
I want to acknowledge and apologize for the shade I cast toward Randy Dobnak in the game discussion writeup. He entered in the second inning to eat innings as the bulk reliever and delivered 5 2/3 innings of work. He received assistance from his defense, especially in the third when trouble mounted. With two outs, Juan Soto drew a walk, Bo Bichette followed with a single to center, and Francisco Lindor came to the plate with two on. He hit the ball well to right, but a running catch by Tyler Tolbert at the wall saved a hit. I intended to embed a particular clip for you, and MLB Film Room’s link is not correct—my apologies for the misdirection.
Dobnak’s line remained solid: 5 2/3 innings pitched, three hits allowed, three walks, two strikeouts, and zero earned runs. When his stint ended, Matt Strahm entered to finish the seventh, recording a strikeout that Ewing reviewed for a potential challenge. The Mets had already lost two challenges, and if they had not, Strahm might have lost this one as well. The game then evolved into a bullpen duel, with each side trying to tilt the balance in a high-leverage late frame.
In the eighth, Lane Thomas lined a double off Brooks Raley to give the Royals a spark and a window of opportunity to reclaim the lead. But the rally stalled, and the Mets managed to avert defeat. The late stages shuffled the lineup in defensive and strategic ways, as managers weighed matchups and pinch-hitting possibilities. Starling Marte came on to pinch hit for Michael Massey with two outs in the eighth, a moment that underscored the tactical chess match playing out on the field. In the end, the Royals could not translate the eighth-inning threat into a lead, and the Mets stood firm to close out a 6-2 victory.