Royals rally with seven-run eighth inning to beat A's, 9-7

Pete Grathoff, The Kansas City Star on Aug 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An ancient proverb notes that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

For the Royals, who entered play Wednesday just 9 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot, any journey toward the playoff race — or even respectability — will begin with a simple metaphorical step: beat the few teams below them in the standings.

The Royals did that again Wednesday, rallying from a four-run deficit to defeat the Athletics, 9-7, in front of 11,579 fans at Kauffman Stadium. It was the Royals’ third straight win against the A’s, who are the only team in the majors who have yet to reach 50 wins this season.

That comes after taking two of three from the Angels, the only other team in the American League with a worse record than the Royals.

Wednesday’s win followed a familiar script as the Royals got their 31st comeback victory of the season, trailing only Rays and White Sox. The Royals, who got to 20 games under .500 at 54-74, have won 57% of their games in comeback fashion.

This time, the Royals used a seven-run eighth inning to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Down 5-1 in the sixth inning, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino got the rally started with a 427-foot home run to right field.

Seven in the eighth

The Royals sent 11 to the plate in the eighth inning and Pasquantino got the frame started with a hit that hit the padding on the right-field fence and left the indention of the ball.

Salvador Perez followed with a walk, and after Carter Jensen lined out to center, Tyler Tolbert drew a walk, loading the bases. Kyle Isbel’s single scored Pasquantino and made it 5-4 — and kept the bases juiced.

Isaac Collins’ sacrifice fly tied the game as all three runners moved up a base. The Athletics walked Bobby Witt Jr. to load them again and John Rave, in the game for the injured Jac Caglianone, doubled home all three runs to make it 8-5.

Maikel Garcia, who opened the frame with a triple, then closed the scoring with an RBI single that scored Rave.

The Athletics got a two-run homer from Max Muncy off Steven Cruz in the ninth inning to close out the scoring.

Injury update

Relief pitcher Carlos Estévez, who is on the 60-day injured list because of a right rotator cuff strain, is making progress.

“He threw a live BP (batting practice) today in Arizona, so all reports were good,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said before Wednesday’s game. “He felt good about it. We’ll see how he comes in tomorrow, but if that goes well, he will pitch again later this week. I’m not exactly sure where yet. Could be in Arizona.”

Right-handed pitcher Tony Gonsolin is expected to throw live batting practice on Thursday. Gonsolin, who is coming back from an elbow injury, signed a free-agent deal with the Royals last week. He had a 5.00 ERA in seven starts with the Dodgers in 2025.

Up next?

The Royals will go for the four-game sweep of the Athletics on Thursday afternoon. Randy Dobnak will get the start for KC, while lefty Gage Jump is scheduled to start for the Athletics. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.