KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The night he was hit by a pitch, he shot teammates, Bobby Witt Jr. he hit a shortstop, Salvador Perez and Hunter Renfroe also homered, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-4 on Monday for their fourth straight win.
Witt tripled in the first inning, doubled in the third and blasted a three-run homer to left-center in the fourth to get the stretch out of the way.
The crowd rose to their feet chanting “Bobby! Bobby!” when Witt came to the plate in the sixth with a single and the Kansas City hitter’s first in 34 years, but Arizona reliever Humberto Castellanos struck out Witt on his first pitch, drawing the high.
It also fired Perez, who was on the top step of the dugout yelling at the Diamondbacks, and the drama continued from there.
“I don’t like the way it looks, to be honest with you guys,” Perez told reporters after the game. “Three out of three, they’re trying to get a goal in the cycle. …
“I’ll have Junior’s back.”
In the seventh, Royals shortstop John Schreiber hit Gabriel Moreno, and at that point, both benches were cautioned, and Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was ejected for arguing with shortstop Jordan Baker. after being arrested. Perez appeared to exchange words with Lovullo during a scrum near the plate, too.
“What I said is: ‘If you think in your right mind that I would ask our team to beat the future of Major League Baseball, one of the best players in Major League Baseball, you are crazy,'” Lovullo said. . “And you’ve lost control of this situation. And you’re wrong. That’s what I told Jordan Baker, and I wanted Salvy to hear that.
“I wanted him to take it back to their dugout and make sure he understood that’s how I felt. And that’s how I feel about Bobby Witt Jr. He’s an unbelievable player.”
Witt appreciated the support from his teammates, especially the 6-foot-3 Perez.
“That’s why he’s the captain,” Witt said. “He’s protective of all the boys, he’s with all the people. … I don’t know if I’d want to mess with him.”
Witt got one more chance in the eighth but was retired on a fly ball to right field. The last Royals player to hit for the cycle was Hall of Famer George Brett of Toronto on July 25, 1990.
Witt joined Brett, Willie Wilson, Carlos Beltran and Johnny Damon as the only Kansas City players with 10 hits in multiple seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“I’m just having fun, we’re trying to prepare as much as we can to try to put together a win, and just take it day by day,” Witt said in his post-game, on-field interview at Bally Sports.
Witt, who was named American League Player of the Week earlier Monday, is 12-15 years from making his first All-Star game and finishing as the runner-up in the Home Run Derby. , raising his average to .341. It was Witt’s fourth straight triple-hit game, tying Damon in 2000 for the second-best streak in franchise history, behind only Brett’s six-game hitting streak in 1976.
The Royals (56-45), in the wild-card playoff spot, matched their win total from last season.
Cole Ragans (7-6) escaped a shaky third inning to record his second straight win and his eighth straight start in nine. He allowed 6 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs in six innings.
The Diamondbacks took a 3-1 lead in the third when Kevin Newman and Alek Thomas hit back-to-back doubles and Ketel Marte followed with his 20th homer, a two-run shot to left field.
The Royals responded in the bottom half with Witt’s double, Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI single and Perez’s two-run homer in first base to make it 4-3.
Witt’s three-point shot past reliever Miguel Castro in the fourth made it 8-3.
Renfroe homered in the sixth, Kyle Isbel had a triple and two RBIs, and Pasquantino tripled for the Royals.
After giving up just one run in six innings in each of his two major league starts, Arizona’s Yilber Diaz allowed seven runs and an inning nine to three and three.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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