Kansas City Royals Bobby Witt Jr smashes a three run home run in the top tenth to help defeat the Sacramento A’s at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Tue Apr 28, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Mauricio Segura

WEST SACRAMENTO–For nine innings Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park, the Sacramento Athletics and Kansas City Royals played the kind of game that makes every pitch feel like it is carrying a piano on its back. There were stranded runners, stolen bases, replay challenges, defensive gems, and enough missed chances to fill a clubhouse laundry cart. In the end, Kansas City landed the one clean uppercut that mattered most, as Bobby Witt Jr.’s three-run homer in the 10th inning sent the Royals to a 4-1 win over the Green and Gold.

The A’s had entered the night riding one of their best early-season stretches in years, sitting 15-13 and holding first place in the AL West after a 4-2 road trip. They had also been living well in tight games, already piling up seven one-run wins. For most of Tuesday, it looked like another grind-it-out Sacramento special might be brewing. Instead, the game turned into a reminder that extra innings can be cruel, especially when one swing changes the whole room.

The A’s struck first in the second inning with a clean, simple rally. Zack Gelof opened the frame with a ground-ball single, moved to second on Jeff McNeil’s groundout, and came home when Jacob Wilson lined a single into center. Wilson, who came in swinging a hot bat after a strong road trip, gave the A’s a 1-0 lead and kept his early-season rebound moving in the right direction.

Aaron Civale made that run stand for a while. He worked around Vinnie Pasquantino’s first-inning double, Lane Thomas’ second-inning single and stolen base, and Bobby Witt Jr.’s stolen base in the third. Civale did not dominate with much hoopla, but he pitched like a man carefully defusing small bombs. He kept Kansas City scoreless through five innings, mixing contact, timely outs, and help from catcher Shea Langeliers, who threw behind Witt at third to kill a threat in the third.

The Royals finally got him in the sixth. Salvador Perez, who had a strong history against Civale entering the night, launched a solo homer to center to tie the game 1-1. That was the only run charged in Civale’s outing, and it was also another example of Perez being a long-running nuisance for him. Civale had allowed three career homers to Perez before the game, matching his most against any hitter, and Perez added another painful chapter here.

The A’s had chances to take the game back, but the big hit kept hiding like it owed somebody money. In the first, Langeliers singled, Nick Kurtz walked, and Colby Thomas walked to load the bases, but Tyler Soderstrom struck out to end the inning. In the fourth, Gelof walked and stole second, and McNeil walked, but Wilson grounded into a forceout. In the seventh, Langeliers doubled with two outs, only for Kurtz to ground out. Then came the eighth, the inning that may sting the most. Colby Thomas singled, Carlos Cortes followed with a single, and Darell Hernaiz walked to load the bases. Jeff McNeil flew out to left, and the game stayed tied.

Cortes still gave the A’s a spark. The newly named American League Player of the Week entered the game on a seven-game hitting streak after tearing through Seattle and Texas, and he kept finding ways into the middle of things. He was hit by a pitch in the sixth, singled in the eighth, and walked in the tenth. It was not the thunderous show he had put on during the road trip, but even on a quieter night, his fingerprints were on the A’s best rallies.

The bullpens carried the game into extras. Scott Barlow escaped the sixth by catching Lane Thomas stealing third. Mark Leiter Jr. worked a clean eighth, and Jack Perkins handled the ninth with three quick outs. But in the 10th, the automatic runner changed the math. Nick Loftin began at second, Kyle Isbel reached on a bunt single, and after Maikel Garcia popped up a bunt, Witt crushed a fly ball to right-center. Just like that, a tense 1-1 game became a 4-1 Royals lead.

The A’s still made Kansas City sweat in the bottom of the tenth. Nick Kurtz started at second, Carlos Cortes drew a walk after an overturned ABS challenge, and Gelof reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs. But Hernaiz lined out to Michael Massey at second, ending the game and leaving the Athletics with the kind of loss that makes a dugout stare quietly at the grass.

This was not a disaster for the A’s, but it was a missed opportunity. They pitched well enough to win, defended well enough to win, and created enough traffic to win. They simply could not cash in when the registers were open. Against a Royals team that waited all night for one clean shot, that proved costly. Baseball can be beautifully unfair that way. For nine innings, the A’s held the door. In the 10th, Witt kicked it open.

With Tuesday night’s loss, the A’s are 1.5 games in front of second-place Seattle. Tomorrow, they will match up Luis Severino (1-2 ERA 5.17) against Michael Wacha (2-1 ERA 2.51) for a 6:40 p.m PDT. Game 2 start.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.