San Francisco Giants at Kansas City Royals

Josh Rojas had one more sprint in him. He was exhausted. The Royals third baseman had led off the bottom of the ninth with an opposite-field single, going hard out of the box in hopes of a double but putting on the brakes when Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos fielded the ball quickly. Then, Rojas hustled to second base on Tyler Tolbert’s fielder’s choice bunt. Moments after that, Rojas sprinted to third on Carter Jensen’s flyout. This all happened in a span of five pitches. When Nick Loftin stepped to the plate, Rojas knew what his job was with the bunt sign on: He had to score. “First safety squeeze goes foul, and at that point, I’m like, ‘OK, I just got to get my breath here for one more run at this thing,’” Rojas said. “He got it down, and that was the last gas I had right there. I don’t know what would have happened after that one.” Loftin’s safety squeeze and Rojas’ mad dash gave the Royals a 4-3 walk-off win over the Giants on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium, salvaging an inning and game that could have been one of their worst after closer Alex Lange allowed a two-run game-tying homer with two outs to Willy Adames in the top of the ninth. Instead, the resilient Royals were celebrating in the bottom of the frame … all the way out in center field because Loftin just kept running after his fourth career walk-off RBI. Meeting his teammates out there was *actually* Rojas’ final mad dash. “It didn’t help that Loftin decided to run out to center field on the walk-off,” Rojas said. “That was even more running there. I’m good now, but that bottom of the ninth, I was toast.” Monday marked the Royals’ third win in four games since the All-Star break, and their second walk-off win after Friday’s wild one against the Padres. Playing on the hottest day in a stretch of oppressive Midwest summer heat, starter Michael Wacha made his first start since the All-Star Game and delivered six strong innings of one-run ball. With his 13th quality start over his 20 overall outings this season, Wacha departed with the lead after Salvador Perez’s two-run homer -- the 316th of his career, bringing him just one shy of George Brett’s club record (317) -- and Isaac Collins’ RBI single in the fourth.