Melendez plays late-inning hero in 'great team win'

KANSAS CITY -- With the game on the line, the Royals finally proved they could handle business when it mattered most.

With two strikes in a tie game in the bottom of the 8th inning, MJ Melendez erased early-season heartbreak with one swing. He sent a game-winning RBI single to the opposite field in the Royals’ 2-1 Friday night victory over the White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals have only trailed once this year when entering the 8th inning but have four losses. Each time the defeat came when the Royals were one win under .500. But on Friday night, Melendez delivered the Royals’ most clutch hit of the early season to finally get over the hump.

“It feels a lot better [to win] that way than the other way, I can guarantee you that,” manager Matt Quatraro said.

And for a young core with high expectations that won just seven times over the first 30 games last season, a 4-4 start isn’t lost in a clubhouse that hasn't been .500 this late in a season since April 20, 2022.

“It feels incredible,” said Brady Singer, who tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. "Games like that are games we need to win and went out there and won. It was really good. I love these guys. It’s really fun and it’s a great team and obviously we look to get more.

These guys are incredible. They fight each and every game.”

Melendez has been one of the biggest catalysts for the Royals’ offense this season. The 25-year-old left fielder, who blasted his first homer on April 4, 421 feet, is hitting .333 with a 1.032 OPS. Melendez hit just .206 in the first half last season before turning it on for a .273 average in the second half, and he hasn’t slowed down since.

“I was able to have a couple adjustments that I made in the second half last year, and I was able to work on those in the offseason,” Melendez said. “I’m just trying to play with confidence. It’s fun, especially when we are in every single game. Pitchers are doing a great job and it helps us to have an inning like we had in the eighth where we only need to squeak across one [run] to help us win a ballgame.”

For most of the season before Friday, the Royals had been on the other end of that. Kansas City has erupted for 10-plus runs twice but lost two games on walk-offs. Those skewed numbers led to the Royals entering Friday as the only team in the Majors with a losing record but a positive run differential.

Kansas City still ranks 23rd in the Majors with a 6.10 reliever ERA, but James McArthur was able to seal the Royals’ first win of less than three runs. Will Smith entered with a chance for the save, but he gave up a double and walked a batter in the ninth, and Quatraro went to McArthur. Two pitches later, McArthur rolled a game-ending double play to earn his first save of 2024.

“[The pitch] was supposed to go down and away, ended up missing a little bit arm side, but I was able to get it on his hands a little bit, and [we] couldn’t draw it up any better,” McArthur said. “Bobby [Witt Jr.] and [Adam] Frazier out there make a really good duo.

"It’s big for us going forward. We know we are a good team, a good ballclub and really talented. It’s just a matter of everything coming together. We are excited to keep going on and take it one game at a time.”

Singer delivered the Royals’ seventh quality start in eight games by setting down 15 straight batters between the second and seventh innings. Salvador Perez reached four times, including a walk in the 8th to set up the eventual game-winning run.

And the dugout erupted when Melendez slapped his opposite-field single to left in the 8th inning, changing the early-season fortune. April hasn’t gone to plan in recent years, but the Royals have the pieces to write a different story in 2024.

“Unbelievable game, these guys fought the entire time,” Singer said. “That was incredible. Battled back and forth the whole day and the offense stayed into it. The defense was great and the ground ball there [to end it], that’s just exactly what you need right there.

"Huge fight. It was a great team win.”