Michael Wacha reaches career milestone, but Royals fall to Guardians

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Sep 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals starter Michael Wacha reached a career milestone in his final start of the 2026 campaign on Saturday night.

Wacha eclipsed 200 innings pitched in a season for the first time in his 14-year career. He entered Saturday’s game at Kauffman Stadium needing 5 2/3 innings to reach the threshold.

And with 6 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Guardians, Wacha became the first Royals starter to toss 200 or more innings in a season since Seth Lugo in 2024.

Wacha gave up six runs — although only two were earned — in what turned out to be an 11-5 loss on Saturday to the Guardians.

“You know, he’s battled some things just like everybody does throughout the course of the year,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “And having your body go through the rigors of pitching this many innings. But, he’s never wavered, and he takes a lot of pride in it. And we’ve seen him continually evolve year after year.”

Wacha is the third MLB pitcher to reach 200 innings this season. He joined Miami Marlins star Sandy Alcantara (213 innings) and Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez (207).

Wacha will likely finish with the most innings pitched in the American League.

He is ahead of AL Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler (193.2) in the category. Schlittler last pitched on Sept. 24 and isn’t scheduled to pitch in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Baltimore Orioles.

And should Wacha finish atop the AL innings leaderboard, he will become the fourth Royals pitcher to accomplish the feat. He will join James Shields (2013), Brett Saberhagen (1989) and Dennis Leonard (1981).

Wacha finished with a 3.32 ERA in 32 starts this season. He also tied a career-high with 158 strikeouts.

The Royals squandered a three-run lead in Saturday’s loss. Jac Caglianone and Michael Massey each recorded RBIs while Carter Jensen remained hot at the plate.

Jensen recorded consecutive doubles in the game. He now has 64 extra-base hits and 35 doubles which rank first among all MLB rookies. This month, Jensen leads all AL players in multiple categories including slugging percentage, OPS and extra-base hits.

However, his offense wasn’t enough on Saturday night.

In the second inning, Cleveland scored four unearned runs after Bobby Witt Jr. made an uncharacteristic error at shortstop. Witt bobbled a ground ball as Jo Adell reached first base to begin the frame.

Adell later scored on a sacrifice fly. And a few batters later, Patrick Bailey hit a two-run homer and Steven Kwan added an RBI triple.

The Royals wouldn’t recover in the game. Cleveland added seven additional runs — multi-homer efforts from Bailey and Brayan Rocchio — as they are seeking to win the AL Central divisional crown.

Cleveland (85-76) will await the result of the Chicago White Sox home game against the Colorado Rockies. If the White Sox lose, the Guardians will be AL Central champions.

The Royals dropped to 68-93 this season. Kansas City has lost 18 of the last 24 games, dating back to Aug. 23.

What’s next

Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV (6-6, 4.13 ERA) will start Sunday’s regular-season finale. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. ET.

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