The Royals benefit from a generous strike call on Adleyrutschman to win Game 1 against Orioles

The Kansas City Royals narrowly secured a 1-0 shutout win over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday. But if a borderline decision late in the game had gone differently, it could have changed everything.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, with no outs and Ryan O'Hearn on first, Orioles slugger Adleyrutschman came to the plate to face Royals reliever Lucas Erceg. With the decisive run on base,rutschman managed to make it 2-2. Then Erceg unleashed the put-away pitch – a 93 mph changeup that caughtrutschman looking.

rutschman wasn't pleased, and admittedly it's easy to see why. According to the graphic on the ESPN broadcast, the pitch appeared to be about a foot below the strike zone, andrutschman was clearly looking for ball three and made the right decision not to swing.

Instead, he was called for strikes and appeared visibly frustrated as he slowly walked back to the Orioles dugout.

The Royals capitalize on a crucial edge to win Game 1 against Orioles

It may well have been a bad decision, but one could also argue that taking that pitch with two strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth inning of a critical postseason game wasn't exactly inrutschman's best interest. He has to swing at that pitch. He has to protect the plate.

However, thanks largely torutschman's overly cautious plate approach, the Orioles only got the final two outs. Rookie Colton Cowser came to the plate next and flew to center before pinch hitter Heston Kjerstad swung to end the game. Bobby Witt Jr.'s RBI single in the sixth inning made the difference in this game. Cole Ragans and the bullpen were brilliant.

Baltimore's loss is Kansas City's win, and the Royals' win gave them a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series against the Orioles. With All-Star starter Seth Lugo on the mound, Kansas City can advance to the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees by winning Game 2 in Baltimore on Wednesday. In the event that Baltimore wins Game 2, the teams will face off in a win or go home Game 3 on Thursday.

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