Loftin's 9th-Inning Blast Steals It From Detroit
Nick Loftin hit a 397-foot home run to left in the ninth inning, swinging Detroit's win probability from 61% to 22% and handing Kansas City a 3-2 road win on July 25. The Royals needed every inch of it — they'd been trailing since the fourth.
Kansas City drew first blood in the second inning when Massey hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Pasquantino to make it 1-0. Detroit answered immediately in the same frame — Hao-Yu Lee doubled to right, scoring Riley Greene to tie it at one. Then Lee went a step further in the fourth, launching a 402-foot home run to left that put Detroit up 2-1. At that point, it looked like Lee had single-handedly taken the game over: 2-for-4, a double, a homer, and both Detroit runs driven in.
Michael Wacha kept Kansas City in it the hard way. He worked 7.0 innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs while walking 2 and striking out 3 — not dominant, but durable enough to give his offense a chance. Casey Mize was sharper for Detroit: 6.0 innings, just 3 hits, 1 earned run, no walks, 3 strikeouts. On paper, Mize outpitched Wacha. The problem for Detroit is that baseball doesn't end at six innings. Salvador Perez tied the game in the seventh with a 401-foot shot to left — his solo homer made it 2-2 and kept the Royals alive heading into the late innings. Alex Lange then threw a clean eighth for Kansas City, striking out 2 in 1.0 scoreless innings, and Daniel Lynch IV handled the ninth for Detroit — or tried to.
Loftin's homer in the top of the ninth is the story of this game, full stop. With Detroit holding a 61% win probability and three outs away from a win, Loftin sent a 397-foot drive to left that flipped the scoreboard and the odds in one swing — Detroit's win probability cratered to 22%. Vinnie Pasquantino went 3-for-4 and scored a run, and Carter Jensen added 2 hits, so the Royals' lineup was grinding all night. But it was Loftin's one swing that made all of it matter. Kansas City appears to be a team that refuses to let a deficit become a verdict, and on this Saturday afternoon, that stubbornness paid off.