'Unreal player': Witt's glove, bat impress despite dropping set

DETROIT -- The Royals took a 1-0 lead at Comerica Park just two batters into Sunday’s game and elicited a handful of colorful exclamations from Tigers starter Tarik Skubal.

Unfortunately, it was all Kansas City would get out of Skubal or his successors. The Royals threatened in the ninth but ultimately came up empty-handed during a 4-1 loss.

It marked their fourth defeat in a rubber match in as many tries this season.

“You learn from all the stuff you do well, and then you wake up the next day and try to go win another ballgame,” Bobby Witt Jr. said. “That’s the mentality. We know we can show up to the field and win each and every day, and so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Even in defeat, Kansas City remained just one big play away from a different ending. It’s been the storyline more often than not so far this season.

“In the big leagues, I'm a firm believer that every night is like that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “It's one play that swings the game one way or the other most nights, and today, we just couldn't mount enough offense to overcome Skubal.”

Here are three positives from the Tigers series that the Royals will take with them to Toronto:

1) They’re pesky
Detroit earned two runs off starter Michael Wacha in the bottom of the first, but the Royals continued pecking away. The Tigers’ 21 errors entering the finale were tied for second most in baseball behind only Boston (24), and Kansas City knew if it continued to keep the pressure on, something was going to give.

It happened on Friday, when the Royals poured on seven runs in the ninth. Even though they didn’t capitalize on all of the four Tigers errors in Saturday’s loss, Kansas City continued to create opportunities to take control. Sunday, too, the Royals had the tying run at the plate in the ninth.

“What I respect the most about the Royals is their style of play,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “They are a contact-driven team, and they play to the finish line. Like, I love that. … They just play a pressure-oriented [style]. …

“Hat tip to them for that style of play they've instilled, and they have the athletes to match, which helps."

2) The big dogs are still hitting
Salvador Perez and Witt boosted the club’s offense in a big way to start the season, and the weekend set in Detroit was no different. Perez walked to lead off the ninth and extend his on-base streak to a career-high 18 games. He collected three hits during the weekend set, including a run-scoring single on Saturday that marked the 838th career RBI.

That knock moved him into fifth place on the Royals’ all-time RBI list, behind just George Brett (1,596), Hal McRae (1,012), Amos Otis (992) and Frank White (886).

Witt, meanwhile, drove in the Royals’ lone run on Sunday for his fifth RBI in the series and eighth in his past six games. He entered the finale with an American League-leading 16 extra-base hits that trailed only the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (22) and Mookie Betts (17).

Witt also nearly missed out on an inside-the-park home run on Friday but settled for a two-run triple.

3) The defense is poppin’
Nothing is more fun than watching great plays. The Royals have had a bunch lately, with Kyle Isbel’s snag during a monsoon against the Blue Jays inspiring a home run-robbing leap from Adam Frazier in the Detroit series opener.

Witt added an over-the-shoulder basket catch on Sunday that even Tigers batter Colt Keith -- from whom Witt had just stolen the hit -- slowed his jog to doff his helmet in appreciation.

“[Witt is] an unreal player,” said Wacha, who took the loss after allowing four earned runs over 5 2/3 innings. “He kind of almost does something every night that you haven't seen on the baseball field.”

Catcher Freddy Fermin then picked off a sleeping Zach McKinstry at first, taking a lot of the sting out of Jake Rogers’ home run on the next play and keeping the Royals within striking distance at 4-1 in the sixth.

“The margin of victory is very small in this league,” Garrett Hampson said. “I think everybody understands that, and if we just keep doing little things right, we'll be on the right side of the board.”