BALTIMORE — Cole Ragans delivered an impressive performance with six shutout innings, throwing only 80 pitches, before leaving the Kansas City Royals’ first playoff game in nearly a decade due to a calf cramp. Despite being able to return for the seventh inning, Ragans was focused on future games.
“I plan on having quite a few more starts,” he stated.
The Royals added three more scoreless innings to Ragans’ outstanding outing, securing a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of their wild-card series against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, which drew a crowd of 41,506 on Tuesday. This marked the first playoff game for both Ragans and Bobby Witt Jr., and the first for the Royals since their World Series win in 2015. The team has shown significant improvement from their 106 losses in 2023, making them a formidable contender in the postseason.
If the Royals win another game in the best-of-three series against the higher-seeded Orioles, they will advance to face the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series on Saturday. Ragans confirmed he would be available for his next start, which is anticipated to take place on Monday in the second game of the division series.
On the other hand, the Orioles must win the next two games in the series to avoid another disappointing postseason after being swept last year by the Texas Rangers, who went on to become World Series champions. To bolster their pitching, the Orioles acquired ace Corbin Burnes, who performed nearly as well as Ragans in Tuesday’s matchup.
Burnes threw eight innings, giving up five hits and striking out three batters. He issued one walk, which led to the only run scored. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia drew a full-count cutter and stole second base, setting the stage for Bobby Witt’s game-winning hit, a ground ball that slipped through the infield.
“I’m letting Corbin Burnes, the way he’s throwing the baseball right there, determine who he wants to go get,” commented Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.
After the Royals scored, Ragans closed with a stellar inning, concluding an impressive outing in which he gave up just four hits, walked none, struck out eight, and threw 60 of his 80 pitches for strikes. This performance continued Ragans’ strong September, where he recorded a 1.08 ERA over four starts, and highlighted an impressive first full season in Major League Baseball where he was selected as an AL All-Star and struck out 223 batters over 186.1 innings.
“That’s Cole Ragans,” said Witt. “He just went out there and did what he normally does.”
Relievers Sammy Long, Kris Bubic, and Lucas Erceg secured the final nine outs, putting Kansas City in a great position. The Royals are now looking to continue their momentum with co-ace Seth Lugo set to pitch next, aiming to repeat their 2014 postseason success against the Orioles, who were favored in the AL Championship Series but were swept in that matchup.
“Any corner we’ve been backed into, we’ve come out on the right side of things,” noted Zach Eflin, Baltimore’s Game 2 starter. “Losing the first game hurts, but we still have two more opportunities to win the series and move forward. Nobody is hanging their head; we are looking forward to [Wednesday].”