KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals (5) have won the 2024 AL Wild Card series in a sweep against the Baltimore Orioles (4). KC will travel to New York's Yankee Stadium on Saturday to face the Yankees in the 2024 ALDS. Here's how it happened: First Inning Michael Massey hit a leadoff double down the first base line. Bobby Witt Jr. then hit a grounder to Orioles' second-basemen Jordan Westburg, sending Massey to third. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a single which scored Massey putting the Royals on the board first. Vinnie punches one through! pic.twitter.com/uuTxnbamXk— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) October 2, 2024 Seth Lugo struggled a bit in the beginning of the bottom of the first inning, seeing a deep fly ball into centerfield caught by Kyle Isbel for the first out, and then hitting 2B Jordan Westburg in the hand, sending him to first. However, Lugo got it together quickly, striking out the next two batters. Inning over, Royals up 1-0. Second Inning The top of the second saw LF MJ Melendez strike out on a foul tip. Hunter Renfroe then came back from down in the count to record a walk, but Kyle Isbel hit a grounder to Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson, and Renfroe was out running to second. Isbel was safe at first with Garcia up to bat, who hit another grounder to Henderson who threw to first for the third out. The bottom of the second saw another deep flyout to CF Kyle Isbel from Orioles catcher Adely Rutschman. Former Royal Ryan O'Hearn recorded the first hit for Baltimore with a 1B grounder to CF. Lugo was then, again attempting to dial up the double-play ball with a runner on first, but the O's kept swinging and missing, Lugo struck out the next two Orioles again. Inning over, Royals up 1-0. Third Inning Michael Massey was the first batter of the third inning, hitting a grounder to second base for out number one. Witt Jr. was then up to bat, hitting a ground ball single to left field. Vinnie Pasquantino came up to bat after Witt Jr., striking out on a high four-seamer. With two outs, Salvador Perez was up to bat, hitting a blooper to left center field sending Witt Jr. to third base. With a good chance to add to the Royals' early lead, Yuli Gurriel stepped in and popped one up for the third out. With Lugo back on the mound, the first batter of the bottom of the third was Ramón Urías, who hit a drive to left field. MJ Melendez made a great play on the ball, saving a definite multi-base run. Lugo struck out the second batter, Gunnar Henderson for the second out. Westburg then hit a grounder to Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop for the third and final out. Inning over, Royals up 1-0. Fourth Inning LF MJ Melendez was up first for the Royals in the fourth. He hit a high pop-up for the first out. Renfroe then came up to bat, hitting an almost identical pop-up for out number two. The Royals were making Orioles' pitcher Zach Eflin work, Kyle Isbel avoided the one-two-three inning, getting hit by the 10th pitch. Eflin finished the fourth inning with a flyout from 3B Maikel Garcia on his 75th pitch in just four innings. Lugo was back on the mound for the bottom of the fourth, giving up a leadoff single to right field from Orioles' RF Anthony Santander. Lugo struck out the next batter with a beautiful breaking ball, but then immediately gave up another grounder for a hit to right field. Santander at second, Rutschman at first with one out. Michael Massey saved a run with a diving stop and throw to first from second base. The Orioles' baserunners did advance to second and third though. Lugo got out of the jam with a fly out to right field from Ryan Mountcastle. Inning over, Royals up 1-0. Fifth Inning The Orioles swapped pitchers to start the fifth inning, subbing Danny Coulombe for the struggling Eflin. Michael Massey stepped in for his third at-bat. Coulombe struck him out in a full count on a breaking ball outside the zone. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a grounder to Orioles' SS Gunnar Henderson, who made a great throw to first for the out. Vinnie Pasquantino got his second hit of the game with a two-out single crushed to right field. This caused the Orioles to look to their bullpen again, subbing out Coulombe for Jacob Webb, who immediately hit Salvador Perez, and walked Yuli Gurriel, loading the bases as Melendez came up to bat. Melendez squandered yet another chance to break the game open, a recurring problem for the Royals in the last month or so, with a four-pitch strikeout. Lugo came back out for the fifth inning, giving up a solo home run on the first batter, Cedric Mullens and a single on the next batter, Ramón Urías. Lugo walked the next batter, Gunnar Henderson, and then gave up a single, committing an error on a ball hit right back to him. Bases loaded with Santander up to bat, who hit a high pop-up for the first out. Lugo came out of the game after the first out. The 34-year-old veteran pitched four innings, giving up five hits and one run. Lugo struck out six and walked one. Lefty Angel Zerpa replaced Lugo. Zerpa somehow managed to hit Colton Cowser and strike him out on the same pitch. The ball hit Cowser in the hand as he was mid-swing for the second out of the inning. Rutschman then hit a grounder to Bobby Witt Jr., who threw to first for a much-needed third out. Inning over, Royals and O's tied 1-1. Sixth Inning Hunter Renfroe struck out to start the third inning. Jacob Webb was subbed out for Cionel Pérez following the strikeout. Kyle Isbel was the first batter Pérez saw, who hit a high-bouncing ball to SS for a single. Maikel Garcia then came up to bat looking for his first hit of the day. He didn't get it, striking out on a fourth-pitch slider. The lineup then flipped over, and Massey was back up, and he hit a fly ball to right-center field for a single which sent Isbel to third. Bobby Witt Jr. came up to bat, and the O's made yet another pitching change, putting in Yennier Cano for Pérez. Cano was the fifth pitcher of the game for Baltimore. Bobby Witt Jr. smoked a grounder 109 mph off the bat right up the middle for an RBI single. Royals back up 2-1 with Pasquantino up to bat, looking for his third hit of the day. Cano walked Pasquantino, which seemed intentional, to load the bases with two outs. The Royals stranded three again though, with Cano striking out Perez for the final out. Angel Zerpa was back on the mound to start the bottom of the sixth, striking out Austin Slater with a tricky slider for the first out. Zerpa was then replaced by right-hander John Schreiber with Mountcastle up to bat, who he struck out in four pitches. Cedric Mullens came back up to bat and went down on a fly ball to LF MJ Melendez for a one-two-three inning. Inning over, Royals up 2-1. Seventh Inning Yuli Gurriel grounded out to start the seventh inning with Cano remaining on the mound. Melendez got his first postseason hit, and the one fans would've wanted him to have in the fifth right after, with a grounder that slipped past SS for a single. Garrett Hampson came in to pinch run for Melendez and was thrown out trying to steal second with Hunter Renfroe in the box. Renfroe hit a grounder right back to Cano, who threw to first for the last out of the top of the seventh. Garrett Hampson remained in the game, subbing out Melendez at left field. Scheiber remained on the mound to start the bottom half of the inning, striking out the first Orioles batter before coming out of the game. Lefty Sam Long then came into the game, looking for the last two outs of the seventh. He got the first one striking out Gunnar Henderson with an up-and-in slider, but then walked Jordan Westburg. Santander then came up to bat with two outs and hit a routine fly-out to CF Kyle Isbel. Inning over, Royals up 2-1. Eighth Inning The O's relieved Cano to start the eighth, subbing in Gregory Soto who walked his first batter, Kyle Isbel. Maikel Garcia then struck out on a horrid two-strike bunt attempt. Surprisingly, Quatraro opted to pinch-hit Tommy Pham after Garcia's strikeout, subbing out Massey who had two hits and some good defensive plays. Pham hit a single, and Isbel was out at second on a fielder's choice from Gunnar Henderson. KC challenged the play but the call was upheld. Pinch runner and speedster came in for Pham at first. Baltimore then made another pitching change, Soto was out and Seranthony Domínguez stepped up on the mound, allowing Blanco to steal second with Witt Jr. up to bat. The steal ended up not mattering, as Witt Jr. struck out on an out-of-the-zone slider to end the inning. Kris Bubic came into the game for Long in the bottom of the eighth. He got LF Heston Kjerstad out on a line drive to SS Bobby Witt Jr. The next batter hit a grounder to Witt Jr., who threw him out at first. The O's pinch-hitter, Austin Slater, jumped on the first pitch he saw, hitting a single past shortstop before Ryan Mountcastle grounded to Witt Jr. for a force out at second. Inning over, Royals up 2-1 and three outs will get the team to New York for the ALDS. Ninth Inning Domínguez remained in the game to start the ninth, Pasquantino was the first batter he saw in the inning. Kansas City challenged that Pasquantino was not hit by a pitch, which was confirmed and Pasquantino was able to continue his at-bat. Pasquantino ended up popping out to SS Gunnar Henderson, and Perez followed up by hitting a line out to left field. Gurriel flew out, and Erceg entered the game to try and seal a Kansas City sweep. With three outs to go, Erceg immediately started using his velocity to the Royals' advantage, Cedric Mullens' broken bat was the first out of the ninth. Two to go. Ramón Urías grounded out to Maikel Garcia right after. One out to go. Gunnar Henderson, the O's best player came up to bat next, swinging a 99 mph fastball and then again on a 91 mph changeup and then again a third and final time on another changeup. Erceg goes one-two-three to win the game 2-1. They're now the first team in MLB history to lose 100 games in a season and win a playoff series the next year. We'll see you in New York!#HEYHEYHEYHEY pic.twitter.com/SXirZ3X0ob— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) October 2, 2024 Royals sweep the O's and will play the New York Yankees in the 2024 American League Divisional Series.