There were many heroes for the Kansas City Royals during the team’s epic comeback win over the Seattle Mariners. Royals third-base coach Vance Wilson was arguably the biggest one of them all.
The Royals allowed the Mariners to score seven runs in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Mariners tacked on one more in the top of the 4th to take an 8-0 lead.
But the home team stormed back late. The Royals tied the game 9-9 on an RBI triple from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. The clutch hit went viral on social media — but so did Wilson.
The Royals’ third-base coach put on an absolute clinic on how to fulfill his role as Witt charged toward third.
Vance Wilson just put on a third base coach clinic.
1.) Crawls, pounds ground to tell runner to slide
2.) Tells runner to stay on bag
3.) Asks umpire for timeout for runner
4.) Looks to dugout for sign/assesses situation
5.) Covers mouth to relay strategy to runner pic.twitter.com/ZOphkPxwuA— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) June 8, 2024
Wilson got on all fours to remind Witt to slide head-first. Wilson pointed to the bag and called for time. The veteran coach then covertly relayed instructions to Witt after checking in with the Royals’ dugout.
The Mariners ended up intentionally walking the next two batters to set up a potential double play. But Witt was eventually able to score on a fielder’s choice out to seal a wild 10-9 comeback win for the Royals.
