Kansas City Royals

5thin AL Central · 67-89

Ugh, no.

Kansas City Royals lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates

67-89 3 – 4

79-77

Final · Sun, Sep 20

Game Details

PNC Park (Pittsburgh) · 14,979 fans · MLB.TV, Royals.TV

Recap

Flores Jr. hits go-ahead, 2-run homer in 8th as Pirates rally for 4-3 win and series sweep of Royals

Rafael Flores Jr. hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning to help the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday and complete a series sweep.

Recap via ESPN

PNC Park · Pittsburgh

Line Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
KC	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	9	1
PIT	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2		4	8	1

Win Probability · Kansas City Royals

first pitchnow: 0%

Game Leaders

Kansas City Royals

Vinnie Pasquantino · 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, 1 RBatting
Nate Pearson · 0.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 K (L, 2-3, B, 2)Pitching

Pittsburgh Pirates

Rafael Flores Jr. · 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, 1 RBatting
Carmen Mlodzinski · 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 1 K (W, 8-7)Pitching

2026 American League Central Standings

Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Strk
Cleveland	85	77	.525	-	L1
Chicago	84	78	.519	1	W1
Minnesota	77	85	.475	8	W1
Detroit	76	86	.469	9	L1
Kansas City	69	93	.426	16	W1

2026 National League Central Standings

Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Strk
Milwaukee	103	59	.636	-	W5
Chicago	89	73	.549	14	W1
Pittsburgh	82	80	.506	21	W1
St. Louis	77	85	.475	26	L4
Cincinnati	75	87	.463	28	L1

Scoring

Bot 8th

HR Flores Jr. homered to left (426 feet), Simon scored.3–4

Top 7th

HR Pasquantino homered to right center (390 feet), Rave scored.3–2

Bot 6th

1B Horwitz singled to center, O'Hearn scored, Flores Jr. to second.1–2

Bot 4th

HR Cruz homered to center (420 feet).1–1

Top 1st

1B Perez singled to center, Witt Jr. scored, Caglianone to second.1–0

Team Stats

Kansas City RoyalsPittsburgh Pirates

Batting

9 Hits 8

1 Home Runs 2

1 Walks 5

8 Strikeouts 9

1 Stolen Bases 0

12 Left on Base 18

Pitching & Fielding

182 Pitches Thrown 138

1 Errors 1

0 Double Plays 3

Box Score

Kansas City Royals ▾

Batting

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	BB	K	AVG	#P	OBP	SLG
M. Garcia3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.258	14	.313	.371
B. Witt Jr.SS	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	.279	13	.359	.440
J. CaglianoneDH	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	.282	12	.335	.486
S. Perez1B	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	.227	13	.271	.374
M. Massey2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.274	18	.307	.436
N. LoftinRF	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.240	11	.324	.380
J. RaveLF	4	1	1	0	0	0	2	.228	18	.315	.441
L. MaileC	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.171	19	.244	.293
T. TolbertCF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.288	12	.353	.400
V. PasquantinoPH	1	1	1	2	1	0	0	.244	4	.330	.406
K. IsbelCF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.218	0	.263	.321
I. CollinsPH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.217	4	.323	.329
Team	35	3	9	3	1	1	8		138

Pitching

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PC-ST	ERA
M. Wacha	5.2	4	2	2	4	5	1	113-78	3.33
N. Hoffman	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	5-3	3.86
C. Thomas(H, 4)	0.2	1	0	0	1	1	0	26-15	8.85
J. Cuas(H, 5)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	7-4	2.21
N. Pearson(L, 2-3, B, 2)	0.2	3	2	2	0	1	1	25-18	3.43
A. Gose	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6-5	0.00
Team	8.0	8	4	4	5	9	2	182-123

Pittsburgh Pirates ▾

Batting

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	BB	K	AVG	#P	OBP	SLG
K. GriffinSS	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	.267	19	.322	.389
B. Lowe2B	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.262	30	.332	.492
B. ReynoldsLF	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.262	16	.365	.423
O. CruzCF	4	1	1	1	1	0	0	.280	14	.367	.490
N. Gonzales3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.302	20	.365	.389
J. Triolo3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.241	0	.311	.307
R. O'HearnDH	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	.264	20	.331	.443
R. SimonDH	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.313	0	.353	.438
R. Flores Jr.C	3	1	2	2	1	1	1	.286	17	.354	.556
S. Horwitz1B	4	0	1	1	0	0	2	.248	21	.346	.367
J. MangumRF	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.279	25	.336	.370
Team	33	4	8	4	2	5	9		182

Pitching

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PC-ST	ERA
L. Bachar	1.0	3	1	1	0	1	0	20-14	3.56
Y. Ramirez	2.0	1	0	0	0	4	0	30-19	2.93
W. Dotel	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	32-21	4.58
C. Mlodzinski(W, 8-7)	3.0	3	2	2	1	1	1	45-26	3.95
M. Montgomery(S, 16)	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	11-8	2.59
Team	9.0	9	3	3	1	8	1	138-88