The Royals’ ability to put together late-inning rallies carried over from 2024 to at least one day into 2025.

But the result?

Not so much.

The Guardians sidestepped Kansas City’s ninth-inning rally to beat the Royals 7-4 in extra innings on opening day.

Here are five observations from immediately after Thursday afternoon’s game at Kauffman Stadium:

1. The blunder of all blunders

The lineup produced seven hits, though none between the fourth and eighth innings.

The bullpen gave up the lead on the first pitch, and then three more in the deciding 10th inning.

The defense turned a double into a triple, which prompted a run.

But the worst moment of this opening day loss?

A baserunning error.

And it’s not even debatable.

The Royals had men on first and third in the eighth inning, top of the order at the plate. Jonathan India bounced a ball to third base, and runner Dairon Blanco broke on contact.

That prompted a rundown, but the trail runner, Kyle Isbel apparently anticipated that rundown would last longer than it did. He broke for third as Blanco was tagged out, and the Guardians then had him hung up in another rundown.

Kansas City Royals outfielder Dairon Blanco (44) gets put out on a run down between 3rd base and home plate by Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez (11) in the 8th inning during the opening day game Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com

Another out, too.

If the Royals were going to put together a go-ahead rally — an eventual game-winning rally — this is what killed it. They don’t hit for enough power to make these kinds of mistakes on the bases.

Well, let’s re-phrase that: No one in the major leagues should be making these kinds of mistakes on the bases.

2. The bullpen

For starters, there will probably be some questions about manager Matt Quatraro’s decision to yank Cole Ragans in favor of Angel Zerpa in the sixth inning — particularly after Kyle Manzardo sent Zerpa’s first pitch into the fountain deck to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans (55) throws to a Cleveland Guardians batter during the opening day game Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com

But there shouldn’t be.

Ragans struggled against left-handers last year — they hit .276 against him, while righties hit under .200. And Zerpa did not allow a home run to a left-handed batter all 2024. And he faced 99 of them

Zerpa also drew the best reviews among the Royals pitchers of literally any arm in spring.

Right move.

Wrong result.

But it was an up-and-down day for the bullpen.

It was interesting to see Quatraro go to Lucas Erceg in the seventh inning. He obviously wanted Erceg to face the Guardians’ best hitters, rather than save him for a potential save.

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) couldn’t get the tag on Cleveland Guardians first baseman Kyle Manzardo (9) while he scored on a sacrifice fly in the 4th inning by Cleveland Guardians outfielder Jhonkensy Noel (43) during the opening day game Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com

The Royals don’t have a true closer, but it would appear as though they’ll move Erceg around and leave most of the early-season opportunities to newcomer Carlos Estevez.

Erceg and Estevez had clean outings, as did Hunter Harvey.

Sam Long? Not so much.

Long came within one strike of keeping the extra-inning deficit at just one — and keep in mind the ghost runner at second — but Manzardo delivered a two-out, two-strike double for a three-run lead.

3. A ninth-inning comeback

Emmanuel Clase allowed 5 earned runs in 74 1/3 innings last year, a 0.65 earned run average, the fourth best in history (minimum of 50 innings).

The Royals put one on him on opening day.

Kansas City’s ability to pester the game’s best relievers became a defining trait of the 2024 team.

Vinnie Pasquantino, who insisted on finding his way into the lineup less than a week after a hamstring strain, began the rally with a double. A good start for him. A better start than 2025.

It ignited a game-tying rally.

But they couldn’t push across the game-winner.

4. The Vinnie Pasquantino bomb

Two weeks into spring training, I sat down with Vinnie Pasquantino and opened with the most vague of questions.

What did you think of your 2024 season?

“Well,” he said, “I didn’t live up to my end of the bargain.”

Kansas City Royals first base Vinnie Pasquantino (9) rounds the bases after hitting a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning against the Cleveland Guardians during the opening day game Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com

The injuries were part of the reference, but not all of it. He got stuck midway into the year, he said, swinging for the fences.

“When the home run comes,” he said, “is when it comes.”

It came early.

Pasquantino sent a three-run home run into bullpen in the third inning, the first scoring in the game. The least surprising part: He hit it with men on base.

See, there was an element of his game that Pasquantino was indeed quite pleased with a year ago.

His ability to hit with guys on base.

He was at .341 with at least one baserunner, and .360 with runners in scoring position.

5. The Bobby Witt Jr. Effect

Pasquantino delivered the blast.

Bobby Witt Jr. set it up.

With his legs.

Witt beat out a ground ball — by not even half a step — to extend the inning, and give Pasquantino a plate appearance with two on.

It seems like just a run-of-the-mill occurrence for one of the fastest players in baseball.

But not entirely.

Witt reached first base in 3.96 seconds, per Statcast data, the sixth fastest home-to-first time of his entire career. It’s just the 13th time he’s broken 4 seconds.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) takes the field for introductions during the opening day game Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Kauffman Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com

He spent time this offseason working to get faster, and that’s coming off a year in which he was the seventh quickest to first of any players in the bigs. His average home-to-first speed a year ago sat at 4.10 seconds, a time that would have resulted in an inning-ending groundout.

Instead, it set up a 3-run jack.

It wasn’t a great day for Witt otherwise. He struck out three times and made the final out of the game.

This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 6:05 PM.