Pittsburgh Pirates at Kansas City Royals: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 |
| KC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
The Story
The Pittsburgh Pirates shut out the Kansas City Royals 5-0 at Kauffman Stadium on August 28, 2023, holding Kansas City to just two hits across nine innings while producing 12 of their own. The DiamondIQ model entered the game giving the home Royals a 39% chance of winning, a figure that eroded steadily before reaching 0% at the final out. Pittsburgh scored in the second, third, seventh, and eighth innings, with the seventh proving decisive as the Pirates broke the game open with a two-run frame.
The seventh inning was the turning point by every measurable standard. Andrew McCutchen's single off Taylor Hearn carried the single largest win-probability swing of the night at plus 9.1%, followed immediately by a Joshua Palacios single worth plus 7.7% and an Alfonso Rivas III double that added another plus 5.4%. Hearn absorbed all three of those blows as the Pirates pushed two runs across in that frame. Earlier, Ji Hwan Bae's double off Zack Greinke in the third inning had provided Pittsburgh with plus 5.9% in win probability, sustaining the steady pressure that characterized the Pirates' approach all evening. Kansas City's best chance to change the complexion of the game came in the bottom of the fifth, when Matt Duffy grounded into a double play off Johan Oviedo, a sequence that cost the Royals 7.1% in win probability and effectively ended their most threatening sequence.
Johan Oviedo was the story on the mound, generating plus 30.6% in win probability for Pittsburgh and limiting Kansas City to their meager two-hit total across his outing. Tucker Davidson contributed plus 6.4% in relief. Among position players, Palacios led with plus 7.7% WPA and plus 1.4 RE24, while Ke'Bryan Hayes added plus 6.3% WPA and plus 1.1 RE24. McCutchen posted plus 5.1% WPA despite finishing with a minus 0.9 RE24, reflecting the situational weight his seventh-inning single carried even as his overall run-environment contributions fell below zero.