Bobby Witt Jr. hits clutch double in MLB debut to key Kansas City Royals win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. capped his highly anticipated big league debut with a go-ahead double with two outs in the eighth inning to send the Kansas City Royals to a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday.

Andrew Benintendi drove in Witt, giving Royals reliever Scott Barlow (1-0) a cushion. And after a perfect eighth, Barlow struck out Myles Straw with runners on the corners in the ninth to end it.

The hit was Witt's first in the majors. The 21-year-old finished the game 1 of 4 with an RBI.

«You couldn't have scripted that any better,'' Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Witt's debut. „This isn't one he's going to forget, and I probably won't, either.''

In a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners, Cleveland ace Shane Bieber and Royals star Zack Greinke dueled to a 1-all stalemate before turning the game over to the bullpens on a cold day at Kauffman Stadium.

It remained tied until the eighth, when the Royals' Michael Taylor worked a walk off Triston McKenzie (0-1) and then took second on Nicky Lopez's sacrifice bunt. McKenzie struck out Whit Merrifield before Witt, regarded by many as the No. 1 prospect in the game, roped a double down the left-field line to give Kansas City its first lead.

“I could kind of see it coming a little bit with the way the game was going,'' said Greinke, who signed a one-year deal to return to the club that drafted him 20 years ago. „It felt like it was going to be a special day.''

Lopez also drove in a run for Kansas City. Jose Ramirez had an RBI double for the Guardians a day after agreeing to a $124 million, five-year deal to stay with Cleveland.

Plenty of famous fans braved wintry weather to enjoy opening day.

Several members of the Kansas City Chiefs, including