PITTSBURGH -- Bobby Witt Jr. not only met the century mark with his RBI total on Saturday afternoon but also surpassed it by driving in three of the Royals’ five runs in their 5-1 win over the Pirates.

A 111.5 mph rocket off Witt’s bat in the first inning was home run No. 31 and RBI No. 100 for the Royals shortstop, setting the tone Saturday as Kansas City clinched the series at PNC Park with a chance for a sweep on Sunday.

The Royals are trying to win every game they can in the final sprint of the season, but Saturday’s was significant as their 82nd of the year, guaranteeing a winning season for the first time since 2015, when the eventual World Series champions went 95-67 in the regular season.

In less than a year, the Royals went from matching a franchise record with 106 losses in 2023 to a winning season in ‘24. They don’t plan to stop here.

After all relevant games finished on Saturday night, they’ve got a 3 1/2-game lead on the Twins for the second American League Wild Card spot, trail the Orioles by two games for the top AL Wild Card spot and sit three games behind the Guardians for the AL Central lead.

“We knew we were capable of doing this,” Witt said. “We knew that this is what we were trying to do and what our ultimate goal is. So now we got to keep moving on. Try to win tomorrow, building days, stacking days and make them count.”

Witt has been the centerpiece of the Royals’ season with his MVP-caliber year, but he’s been in a mini-slump the past two weeks. In his past 14 games, Witt has hit just .193. His average had dropped from .346 to .322 over that span -- although that average still led MLB entering Saturday.

Witt shook that off Saturday.

“Facing him in the box, he's probably one of the most professional at-bats I've ever had to go against,” Pirates starter Mitch Keller said. “It just seemed like he was on everything. He's a really good hitter. Puts good swings on everything, even when he's quote-unquote, 'fooled.’”

Witt added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and a double in the seventh inning -- which was originally ruled an error on center fielder Oneil Cruz before being changed to a hit -- to give him a three-RBI day and 102 this season, joining teammate and Royals captain Salvador Perez (102) in the 100-RBI club in 2024. Witt had another chance to drive in more runs with runners on second and third in the ninth, but the Pirates opted to intentionally walk him after David Bednar threw him three balls.

“I set a lot of personal goals, but sometimes statistical goals are hard to set because you don’t know where you want to set them at,” Witt said. “So just really trying to take things day by day and playing the game and let that kind of happen on its own.”

It’s the first time the Royals have had multiple 100-RBI hitters since 2002 (Carlos Beltrán and Raúl Ibañez) -- and just the sixth time in franchise history that multiple Royals have reached that mark in a single season.

And there’s no question that the Royals offense is at its best when Witt and Perez are at their best, leading the way from the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively, in the order. Perez’s five-game hit streak was snapped Saturday, but getting Witt going again is as important as anything for the final stretch of the season and October baseball.

“If he heats up, that helps us out tremendously, right?” manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s the best player in the league. If he gets going like he did post All-Star break, that’ll be a massive boost for us.”

The offense backed up Michael Wacha’s solid start, with the right-hander working around three walks and lots of traffic on the bases to allow just one run in five innings.

The Royals bullpen didn’t allow a run in four innings, thanks in big part to Kris Bubic cleaning up a mess with two strikeouts after James McArthur loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning.

“It’s huge to keep the score there, keep the momentum in our dugout, to keep the multiple-run lead like that,” Bubic said. “We’re trucking ahead here the last couple weeks of the season, and we got bigger ideas, but we want to take it one day at a time and one win at a time.”