San Diego Padres at Kansas City Royals

Hometown kid, meet walk-off hero. Royals rookie Carter Jensen will never say he’s gotten *used* to playing for his favorite team at the ballpark located about 30 minutes from where he grew up in Kansas City, because he’s never going to take any of this for granted. But there are fewer “pinch-me” moments now that he’s gotten into the rhythm of a Major League season. Until Friday night, of course. That one had “pinch-me” written all over it. Jensen was the hero in the Royals’ 7-6 walk-off win in 10 innings over the Padres at Kauffman Stadium, kicking off the post-All Star break schedule with a bang when his opposite-field single snuck through the gap to score the winning two runs in a wild, back-and-forth affair. It was Jensen’s first career walk-off hit, and it helped the Royals snap a five-game losing streak that followed them into the break. All it took for them to do so was take the lead in the eighth, blow the game in the ninth, allow three runs in the top of the 10th and score four in the bottom of the frame. “It’s surreal,” Jensen said on the field right after the game, motioning to the large crowd still gathered. “I used to be sitting up there in the stands. To be a part of this and follow in the footsteps of guys who played before, it means a lot.” In the clubhouse later on, Jensen explained his approach at the plate for the left-on-left matchup against reliever Kyle Hart. The Royals had already scored two on Michael Massey’s RBI single and Isaac Collins' RBI groundout to cut their deficit to one in the bottom of the 10th. Jensen took strike one against Hart, and then poked the next sinker into left field. “Honestly, he attacked me a little bit different than I thought \[he would\