Cole defeats Corbin's Camden team, with Kansas City winning 1-0 early in the contest

In their first postseason game since winning the World Series in 2015, the Kansas City Royals managed just enough offense in a pitchers' duel to win the Wild Card opener 1-0 over the Baltimore Orioles.

Corbin Burnes started the game by pounding the zone with cutters, and the Royals came out swinging, with Michael Massey hitting a ball the other way on Burnes' second pitch for a leadoff single. However, he would initially be stranded as the next three batters were retired in order, including Ramón Urías, who worked a hot shot off the bat of Salvador Perez to record the final out. Cole Ragans had to do a little work at the bottom of the field, but he retired okay.

The teams traded zeroes for a while before Baltimore had its first chance to score in the bottom of the third inning. Cedric Mullins led off the frame with a huge fly ball off the right field wall and marched into second base with a double. James McCann then battled Ragans for eight pitches before hitting a high fastball. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg both got the first pitches they could handle but couldn't do anything with it, with Henderson grounding out to first and Westburg flying to the warning track in left field to strand Mullins at second.

Within an hour, four innings had already been completed as Burnes and Ragans dominated. The two starters combined for 67 strikes on 89 pitches and only allowed three baserunners. Yuli Gurriel led off with a single to center in the fifth inning, ending a streak of 12 consecutive batters retired by Burnes. But the Royals caught a terrible break when MJ Melendez struck out on the first pitch and hit a liner toward first base. Ryan Mountcastle made a diving move to snatch him out of the air, and the dive took him toward the sack, allowing him to easily double Gurriel.

At the end of the inning, Urías was fooled by Ragans on a changeup and literally threw his bat at it, sending the ball into left-center. Melendez pushed into the gap to play the ball, but overran him and jumped back helplessly to his right as the ball fell out of reach. Urías moved into second place with a brace. Mullins then took a first pitch cutter and placed it up the middle for his second hit of the game, giving the Baltimore runners an out on the corners. Needing a big out, Ragans struck out McCann in three pitches. That led Henderson to face Ragans for the third time. Henderson took the lead in the count, but Ragans fought back with fastballs before taking him out with a nasty slider to end the threat.

Kansas City finally had some success against Burnes with some small ball in the sixth. With one out, Maikel Garcia fouled a couple of difficult boundary throws from Burnes before drawing a walk. After nearly being denied, Garcia charged to second on the next pitch and beat McCann's throw with ease. Massey prevailed 4-3, moving Garcia to third and giving Bobby Witt Jr. the lead. He didn't wait long and hit a first-pitch cutter through the 5-6 hole to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. With Vinnie Pasquantino at the plate, Witt coaxed a few pickoff throws from Burnes before attempting to steal. McCann threw a dart at second and Henderson had a field day, with Witt being thrown out for a bang-bang play. The Royals challenged and it looked like Witt had put his hand in play before the changeup, but the call stood and the inning was over.

With a lead in tow, Ragans entered the bottom of the sixth looking for a shutdown inning. And he did that, attacking with fastballs at the top of the zone and breaking things deep to set Baltimore's 2-3-4 hitters in order. After embarrassing Mountcastle with a strikeout, Ragans left the mound after throwing six shutout innings on just 80 pitches.

Matt Quatraro elected to turn to the bullpen in the seventh to protect a one-run lead as Ragans was reportedly dealing with left calf cramps. Sam Long was the first to be relieved. He encountered little resistance, eliciting routine flyouts from Adleyrutschman and Colton Cowser before Urías struck out, 6-3, to end the inning.

After a quick attack in the eighth, Kris Bubic was called upon to continue Kansas City's left-handed parade. He retired the first two batters and turned the lineup back over to Henderson. Henderson knocked off some nasty sliders with two shots to give Westburg the lead. After making a nasty 2-0 switch, Bubic doubled down the field and it went up just a bit, allowing Westburg to blast a single up the middle. As Quatraro gave the go-ahead run on base, he turned to his fireman. Lucas Erceg rushed from the bullpen to Anthony Santander. He needed just two throws to put out the fire, and Santander rolled over on a changeup for a 6-3 groundout.

Burnes returned in the ninth for the Orioles. With just 83 pitches, he had a very real chance to pitch in the first full postseason game since 2017. Unfortunately, Garcia hit a first-pitch curveball to left field for a leadoff single. Out came Brandon Hyde, who didn't want to put his starter at the helm of the Royals for a fourth time. Keegan Akin was called in to try and limit the game to one shot. He was successful, striking out Pasquantino with two outs but striking out Salvador Perez to send the game to the bottom of the ninth as the Royals clung to a 1-0 lead.

Erceg stayed in the game while Baltimore's 4-5-6 hitters were due. The first time a right-handed pitcher was on the mound, Mountcastle was narrowly hit by Ryan O'Hearn. O'Hearn took a 3-1 lead before taking advantage of a nasty substitution to end the countdown. Erceg threw 99 right at the edge of the plate. The strike zone had been large all day, but home plate umpire Ryan Additon saw fit to give O'Hearn first base. That broughtrutschman to the plate to hit from the left side for the first time today. rutschman took a 2-0 lead, prompting a visit to the mound. Erceg got back into the game after the visit with a couple of triple-digit hits for strikes before sendingrutschman back to the dugout with a low changeup that called for strike three. Next up was Cowser – he had been killing right-handed pitching all year, but couldn't do any damage here, hitting a routine flyout up the middle. Down until their last outing, Baltimore sent Heston Kjerstad to score. He quickly fell behind 0-2 and saved a few shots, but Erceg beat him on a substitution to secure a 1-0 win.

This was the first away postseason shutout in Royals history. It was a dominant performance from Ragans and the bullpen, with the Orioles producing a meager .120 xBA as a team. Kansas City now has two chances to secure a spot in the ALDS. The first of those opportunities comes tomorrow afternoon with Seth Lugo on the mound in Baltimore.

Cole Ragans: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 0 HR

Corbin Burnes: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR

Maikel Garcia: 1-2, R, BB, 2 SB

Cedric Mullins: 2-3, 2B