Walk-off grand slam! Bobby Witt Jr. has special moment in Kansas City Royals win

Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. stood at second base in the sixth inning Friday night, surprised to hear fireworks overhead at Kauffman Stadium.

Witt thought he had just hit a double, but an umpire said it was a home run, setting off the explosions in the sky. Alas, a review confirmed it was a double.

The fireworks came four innings later after the Royals coughed up a two-run ninth inning lead. Witt crushed a grand slam in the 10th inning on a 3-2 pitch from Twins closer Jhoan Duran as the Royals rallied for an 8-5 victory.

It was Witt’s first career grand slam, and the ball traveled 414 feet.

“I’ve never done that before,” Witt said. “So it’s pretty cool, for sure. Really one of my most, I guess, memorable baseball moments. And doing it with a good crowd tonight, it was a lot of fun.”

Witt tied a career high with four hits and had his first six-RBI game.

“That’s a great win,” said Salvador Perez, who made his first start of 2023 at first base. “Junior had a tremendous day. I think he’ll never forget this day. It’s amazing what he did today.”

It was the biggest game in the career of Witt, who was the second overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.

“Bobby’s going to be one of the best,” Perez said. “He prepares himself every day. He never complains, he always plays hard. He plays for the guy next to him.”

The Royals led 4-2 in the ninth inning, but the Twins loaded the bases against closer Scott Barlow, who surrendered a two-run double to Jorge Polanco that tied the game.

In the 10th inning, Kyle Farmer’s two-out single scored Matt Wallner, who started the inning at second base, as Minnesota took a 5-4 lead.

Just when the Royals seemed doomed to suffer a 36th blown lead, they won the game in the bottom of the frame. Kyle Isbel, who started at second base, stole third with one out. Nicky Lopez and Maikel Garcia then followed with walks, loading the bases.

Witt crushed a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall and the Royals won for the first time this season following an off-day (now 1-12). That was just one of the oddities.

Perez made his first start since 2020 at first base and looked like a Gold Glove winner at that position.

The Twins scored a run on a double steal that included a theft of home.

And the Crown Vision board went blank in the sixth inning, staying that way for 15 minutes.

It came back to life just in time for the seventh-inning stretch, but the player stats and lineups never returned to the board, which mostly showed the City Connect logo.

And then there was this: The Royals got to longtime nemesis Sonny Gray, who entered the game with a 9-2 record and 1.54 ERA in 12 career starts against KC.

Add it up and the Royals improved to 30-75 in front of 23,022 fans.

“The crowd was incredible the whole night,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “And for them to get something like that from someone like Bobby to walk off, I think was really special for everybody: the organization, Bobby himself, the team, the fans. You can’t really draw it up much better than that.”

Crown Vision, fireworks & an almost-home run

The Royals, trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning, had no one on base with two out when they turned the tables on the Twins.

Garcia just missed a home run to right field but ended up with a triple. Witt followed with a blast to deep left-center field.

Umpires ruled it a home run and fireworks filled the air, although Witt soon returned to second after the review.

But Witt soon scored when MJ Melendez singled and gave the Royals a 3-2 lead. It was at that point, the scoreboard went blank.

Injury report

Starting pitcher Brad Keller returned to the Royals but he’ll remain on the injured list (right shoulder impingement syndrome).

“Brad’s been trying to work his way back through a whole bunch of different shoulder stuff and he’s coming back now to be seen again, not feeling great again,” Quatraro said. “So we have to see what’s going on there.”

Highlights and homers

This added to the strange night: Kyle Isbel hit a solo homer in the third inning. That was the first home run by a Royals player against Gray since Raúl Ibañez hit one on Aug. 1, 2014 at the Oakland Coliseum.

It was a plenty eventful day at The K, which even included a pregame media session with general manager J.J. Picollo in which he spoke about the upcoming trade deadline.

What’s next: The Royals will face the Twins two more times this weekend. Jordan Lyles (1-12) will be on the mound Saturday, facing Bailey Ober (6-4). Ryan Yarbrough (3-5) will close the series Sunday against Kenta Maeda (2-5).