NEW YORK — It started with a Royal Mess. It ended with a toast fit for a king.
The Kansas City Royals’ 16-12 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday at Citi Field was nobody’s idea of a crisp baseball game. It looked, as it indeed was, like a matchup between the second-worst team in each league.
But afterward, the Royals set out a tray of champagne flutes for a noisy toast to an unlikely bit of history: With hits in each of his first five at-bats Tuesday night, Tyler Tolbert tied a major-league record by collecting 12 consecutive hits over the last three days.
Tolbert had gone 2-for-2 on Sunday, 5-for-5 on Monday and finished 5-for-6 (with a ninth-inning flyout) on Tuesday. The 12 consecutive hits tied a record held by Johnny Kling (1902), Pinky Higgins (1938), Walt Dropo (1952) and José Miranda (2024). In the process, the outfielder raised his batting average from .200 to .396.
His bat is on its way to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
“When I get older I can tell my kids and take them to Cooperstown because I’ve never been,” Tolbert said. “And I have something there, a piece of history that will be there forever.”
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Tolbert’s last three hits were all to the left side of the Mets’ infield. They carried expected batting averages of .180, .060 and .050.
“Some of them were luck — I had to leg some out — but it was just really cool,” Tolbert said. “It was a ride, it was a journey, but I know this game has its ups and downs, and we’ve just got to continue to ride the wave.”
Tolbert’s offense helped Kansas City overcome the worst defensive play of the major-league season. In the first inning, the Royals committed three errors on one Carson Benge comebacker, turning a ball that traveled maybe 50 feet into three New York runs.
Carson Benge celebrates with his teammates Tuesday. (Adam Hunger / AP Photo)
With two on and two outs in the first inning, Benge tapped a ball between the pitcher’s mound and the third-base line. Starter Seth Lugo pounced on it, but his rushed throw against the speedy Benge skipped past Jac Caglianone’s glove and into foul territory, allowing the first run to score.
The runners had already stopped at second and third when Caglianone uncorked as wild a throw home as you’ll see, with the ball nearly entering the visiting dugout up the third-base line, allowing Bo Bichette to scoot home and Benge to move to third.
Nick Loftin recovered the ball and tried to get Bichette at the plate, but his throw was late and slid past Carter Jensen, permitting Benge to finish his circuit of the bases.
The play was scored a single with an E1, E3 and E5 on Kansas City’s throws.
(The third throw is cut off here, but was also wild.)
— Tim Britton (he/him) (@timbritton.bsky.social) July 7, 2026 at 7:34 PM
“Even in pregame, the ball was wet,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s just a really unfortunate play.”
This is just the second time in the last decade that a team has committed three errors on a play, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Last September, the Miami Marlins achieved the ignominious feat in the second inning of a 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
The Royals scored 15-plus runs in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. Conversely, the Mets lost a home game in which they scored at least 11 runs for the first time in their history.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Quatraro said. “The more I do it, the less I think I have this thing figured out.”
— Tyler Kepner contributed to this report.