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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - AUGUST 05: Michael Massey #19 of the Kansas City Royals is congratulated by teammates after the Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 2-1 to win the game at Kauffman Stadium on August 05, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good evening, Royals fans.
It’s Thursday night, it’s been raining a lot today, but hey, at the time of this writing, there’s baseball to be played between the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins, the finale of a three-game series in which the Royals won the first two.
Tonight’s game is also the last of the season between the Royals and Twins.
On the mound for the Royals: Michael Wacha, still a Royal. Yes, many fans pined for Wacha to be moved at the deadline as he looked like the Royals’ best trade chip. And maybe he was. But he didn’t get moved, and takes the bump tonight looking to help the Royals sweep the Twins out of town.
Opposite Wacha is right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober, who is 7-3 on the year with a 4.45 ERA and 4.63 FIP. Not great numbers, but decent. In his last outing, he faced the Royals and limited them to three runs (two earned) over six innings while walking three, allowing four hits, and striking out three. He would’ve taken the loss had Kody Clemens not hit a walk-off Grand Slam.
Here’s who he’ll face this evening:
Kyle Isbel and Michael Massey drove in the Royals’ two runs in last night’s victory. Isbel tied the game at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the fifth. A few innings later, Massey, facing a lefty, scorched a homer to right to put the Royals up 2-1. The real story of the game was, of course, Noah Cameron, but, as I like to say, you can’t win if you don’t score. Thanks, at least in part, to Isbel and Massey, Kansas City prevailed, and in doing so improved their record to 48-67.
Still grisly, but not “20-games-under-.500” grisly.
And Wacha will face the following:
Last night’s loss pushes the Twins’ losing streak to four games as they currently sit 56-59 but only one game out of a Wild Card spot. Of course, this is the American League in 2026, so it’s a crowded field. Cleveland owns the last Wild Card with Seattle, Minnesota, and Baltimore all a game back, Detroit 1.5 games back, and Toronto three back. The Guardians themselves are only a half-game back of the Rangers for the second Wild Card. No, none of these teams mentioned having winning records.
Think about how much worse things would be for the Twins had Royce Lewis and Clemens not provided walk-off wins last week against the Royals.
First pitch tonight at 6:40. Let’s end the series on a high note, shall we?
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