The Royals took game one of the their doubleheader against the Guardians 4-3. Kansas City’s MVP candidate, Bobby Witt Jr. loomed large in the decision. The Guardians tied the game at three in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Bobby Witt Jr. homered leading off the eighth inning to break a tie as the Kansas City Royals pulled closer to Cleveland in the AL Central with a 4-3 victory over the Guardians in the opener of a day-night doubleheader Monday.

Witt connected on a 0-1 pitch from rookie Hunter Gaddis (4-3), driving it 413 feet into the left-field bleachers for his 27th homer of the season — and his 11th in 34 games since the All-Star break.

He came in batting .417 since the break, the fourth-highest average (with at least 125 at-bats) in the second half since World War II. Only Ted Williams (.454 in 1957), Ichiro Suzuki (.429, 2004) and George Brett (.421, 1980) have hit higher.

Chron.com

With that swing, Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central is down to two games. We’ll see if Witt can lead the Royals in the night-cap as well. Coming into today, Aaron Judge led Witt in fWAR 9.6 to 9.0. Baseball Reference has Judge up 9.4 to 8.4. There’s something to be said for Witt producing those numbers as a shortstop, although that should be baked into WAR. If Judge sets another home run record, or wins the triple crown, he will win MVP. There is going to be a pretty good case if the Royals win the division for Witt. He doesn’t have a seven WAR player helping him out.