Michael A. Taylor’s walk-off single in the 10th lifts Kansas City Royals to victory

Michael A. Taylor is a big league ballplayer, but a lot of little kid came out of him Wednesday night, in the bottom of the 10th inning with two outs and the game on the line.

Taylor, the Kansas City Royals’ center fielder, hit an 0-2 pitch from Chicago White Sox reliever Ryan Burr up the middle for a walk-off RBI single in extra innings as the Royals completed a comeback win over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, 3-2, in the third game of a four-game series in front of an announced 13,626 at Kauffman Stadium.

The win set off a joyous on-field celebration and assured the Royals (44-56) at worst a series split. They’ll conclude the series on Thursday afternoon.

The Royals have now won seven of their last eight games, and improved to an MLB-best 8-3 since the All-Star break.

“I definitely like those situations,” Taylor said. “As a kid when you’re in the backyard growing up, those are the situations you dream about. Whether it’s baseball or basketball, hitting the game-winning shot or a walk-off. Those are the big moments that most people live for.”

The Royals trailed by two runs going into the seventh inning, but they forced the game into extra innings, where they scratched out their 26th come-from-behind win of the season.

Their 44-56 record marks their best start through 100 games since 2017 when they were 53-47.

The Royals also bounced back from a gut-wrenching loss on Tuesday night in which they gave up four runs in the eighth inning to lose by two.

“Not many teams after a swing loss like last night stay with the belief in themselves like this time does,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s just rare to be able to pull off what we did after experiencing what happened (Tuesday) night in such a tough loss.”

White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito held the Royals without a hit through the first 4 2/3 innings. Their first hit came on a swinging bunt by Ryan O’Hearn with two outs in the fifth. O’Hearn legged out an infield single on a ball Giolito fielded.

The real breakthrough against Giolito came in the seventh inning when Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez doubled on a ball down the right-field line that Leury Garcia appeared to have a good read on, but Garcia whiffed on the catch.

The next batter, Jorge Soler, ripped a double off the top of the wall in left field. Perez scored and Soler advanced to third on an errant throw from left fielder Andrew Vaughn. However, the Royals stranded Soler on third.

That left the White Sox (60-42) with a one-run lead until the bottom of the ninth.

Perez crushed a 98 mph fastball up and over the middle of the plate from White Sox closer Liam Hendriks 438 feet for his 24th homer of the season.

Perez’s moonshot tied the score with one out in the ninth inning, and set the stage for extra innings.

“When guys throw that hard and the slider is pretty good too, I think you’ve got to go in between,” Perez said. “Like be ready for the fastball, but put it in the back of your head that he maybe will throw a slider. I was 50/50, maybe fastball or slider, just try to swing at a good pitch, try to put the barrel on a good pitch, try to put it in play and see what happens.”

Royals reliever Scott Barlow struck out two in a scoreless 10th inning to keep the score tied 2-2.

In the bottom of the 10th, Andrew Benintendi started the inning at second base per MLB’s extra-inning rules. Hanser Alberto’s expertly executed sacrifice bunt moved Benintendi to third base with one out.

Benintendi ran on contact when the next batter, Hunter Dozier, hit a grounder to shortstop. Benintendi was tagged in a rundown, though the initial call by the umpiring crew was “safe” after Benintendi dropped to the ground in an effort to avoid the tag by catcher Seby Zavala.

The Royals began celebrating a walk-off, but stopped midstream with the review pending. All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield held onto a Gatorade jug of ice water, poised to dump it on his teammate.

“He called him safe, so we celebrated a little bit,” Taylor said. “But then we knew they were going to challenge it. So you kind of have to wait before you start dumping water and ice everywhere. It’s a little weird when you think it’s over and then you still have to wait for the review.”

Upon review, Benintend was rightfully called out. Dozier alertly advanced to second base during the rundown to put himself in scoring position for Taylor.

“Just looking for a good pitch to hit, trying to force him in the zone,” Taylor said of his approach. “I know with bases empty right there, he wasn’t going to come right after me.”

MLB Statcast data registered all three pitches from Burr to Taylor as cutters.

“Two for sure,” a smiling Taylor said when asked if all three pitches were cutters. “Honestly, with two strikes I’m not even sure what I hit right there.”

Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic tossed six full innings, and he faced one batter in the seventh. He allowed two runs on five hits and one walk. The walk came against the last batter he faced. He also struck out three.

The left-hander gave the Royals their seven quality starts in their past eight games. They’ve gone 7-1 during that span.