KANSAS CITY — Earlier than the splash Drew Waters made with a monster 465-foot house run into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday afternoon got here a sprig.
Whereas the Royals waited out an hour-long rain delay earlier than their 8-4 win over the Rays, Bobby Witt Jr. let the teammates sitting close to his locker within the nook of the clubhouse learn about a superstition he rediscovered on Saturday.
Tommy Bahama cologne. Particularly, the darkish blue bottle.
The story goes, as informed by Waters, that Witt sprayed the cologne on himself earlier than a recreation that he hit a house run in final 12 months. He remembered it this weekend and tried once more — then hit a house run in Sport 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader. He let his teammates know concerning the hack on Sunday.
“So, earlier than the sport, I made positive to placed on the darkish blue bottle of Tommy Bahama cologne,” Waters mentioned.
The outfielder’s moonshot within the fifth inning was the longest of his profession and tied for third longest in Royals historical past with Jorge Soler, who did it on Aug. 3, 2019. An inning later, Witt adopted together with his team-leading sixteenth house run of the season.
Waters and Witt each additionally tripled as a part of the Royals’ four-run second inning towards Rays starter Zach Eflin, turning into the primary set of teammates in Royals historical past to every report a triple and residential run in the identical recreation.
“They completely torched me,” Eflin mentioned. “Hole to hole, getting balls via the infield. Hats off to these guys. They swung it rather well.”
After Witt’s house run, Waters discovered him within the dugout.
“I used to be like, ‘Hey, simply realized — odor my shirt,’” Waters mentioned. “We received snort out of that.”
Waters and Witt supplied the spark the Royals wanted after scoring simply three runs in 18 innings throughout Saturday’s doubleheader. After batting .221 via his first 48 video games this season, Witt is batting .303 with 20 extra-base hits and 32 RBIs in his final 45 video games since Could 23.
The outcomes are constructive, but it surely’s Witt’s course of that stands out; his homer Saturday was to straightaway middle area on an elevated fastball, he pulled a homer Sunday, and his triple was the results of an eight-pitch at-bat towards Eflin, fouling off 5 pitches to start the at-bat earlier than crushing a mistake in the course of the plate.
“Now you’re seeing the facility,” supervisor Matt Quatraro mentioned. “For some time there it was infield hits and stolen bases, now he’s displaying an entire different dimension.”
Waters hit simply .167 within the first 21 video games after he returned from an indirect damage, however he’s hit safely in 13 of his final 19 video games since June 22, a span by which he has eight multi-hit efforts.
“When you’re in a position to settle in and begin to get snug round guys, you additionally begin to carry out the best way you’re able to,” Waters mentioned. “I feel that’s when the arrogance actually begins to return.”
It rises a bit extra whenever you hit a baseball 465 toes with a 112 mph exit velocity. Waters’ homer landed with a splash in the back of the second deck of the right-field fountains — practically into the waterfall.
“That was one,” Witt mentioned. “I haven’t seen a ball go [there]. I knew he had some juice, didn’t understand it was like that. It was enjoyable.”
“While you hit one like that, there’s actually no feeling to it,” Waters added. “Everybody talks about that feeling of connecting so properly that it seems like nothing. And it was a type of.”
Waters’ lengthy ball was one in every of three from the Royals on Sunday, though it’s unclear if MJ Melendez had the odor of Tommy Bahama on him when he hit his sixth homer of the 12 months within the eighth inning — however Melendez’s 2-for-4 day was simply as constructive. It was his first homer since June 17, and he turned in his first multihit recreation since June 22.
The Royals’ five-run lead after two innings gave starter Brady Singer a pleasant cushion as he cruised via seven scoreless innings on 70 pitches. It wasn’t till the eighth that the Rays tagged him for 4 runs.
“That was big,” Singer mentioned of the early offense. “It set me up to have the ability to go in and keep within the zone extra. I used to be in a position to have much more confidence within the zone with that lead.”
As for whether or not the clubhouse could have an overwhelming perfume as Tommy Bahama cologne makes its manner via place gamers on Monday, properly, Waters can solely communicate for himself.
“I do know I’m,” Waters mentioned, grinning.
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Revealed : 2023-07-17 00:11:01
