JESSE NEWELL The Kansas City Star Drew Waters believes he’s found a new hitting approach in the Royals’ system — a worldview that immediately paid dividends in his first Major League game Monday.

Waters delivered the gamewinning RBI in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded walk, helping to push the Royals to a 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.

Before the game, Waters spoke to reporters about the changes he’d made hittingwise since getting traded from the Atlanta Braves to the Royals’ organization last month. He credited the Royals’ minor-league coaches for helping him focus on simply trying to connect solidly with vulnerable pitches.

When those didn’t come in the eighth, Waters simply took his base. He took a 3-1 curve from Joe Kelly just below the zone, forcing in Michael A. Taylor for the go-ahead run.

“I was just looking for a pitch that I could at least get out to the outfield for that run to be able to come in. I got ahead in the count, so I knew that he had to come at me,” Waters said. “I was looking to do damage, and I was able to draw a walk out of it.”

MJ Melendez later added a sacrifice fly, and Scott Barlow closed the ninth for the save.

The biggest story, though, was Waters, the hero during a whirlwind day when he scrambled to get to the ballpark Monday morning after he says a miscommunication led to him jumping in a rushed Uber to Kauffman Stadium.

His clutch plate appearance late was after a sub-optimal start. During his first at-bat in the first inning, Waters swung at the first pitch, grounding into a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded.

Though he finished 0-for-3 with the walk, Waters stayed with a patient mindset in the eighth when he was up with the bases full again.

“That, I imagine, will go down as one of the best days in his baseball life,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said.

Daniel Lynch, meanwhile, had one of his least-effective outings of 2022, going 4 2/3 innings while allowing three runs and walking four. It also was the first start all season that he failed to strike out a batter; his previous low was two.

Matheny commented that Lynch looked “a little heavy” Monday.

“Just didn’t have that life, didn’t have the location. And usually, that means that they’re grinding a little bit,” Matheny said. “So we’ll see how he responds. Everything feels good, which is the good news. It’s just the location wasn’t sharp today.”

Lynch labeled his effort as “just not a very well-pitched game” while declining to use fatigue as an excuse.

“I’m kind of in the mindset that at some point, I’m going to have to figure out how to pitch 200 innings,” Lynch said. “So my mind is still towards the next start and just getting the best out of myself every time I go out.”

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino left the game after flying out in the third inning with right shoulder discomfort. Afterward, he described the injury to reporters as “just a little bit of pain in my shoulder.”

“We’re just gonna make sure it’s right and get back in there as soon as possible,” Pasquantino said.

Matheny said the team would get more imaging done and would further talk with doctors before deciding when Pasquantino might return.

Monday’s low attendance of 8,471 was likely to be expected because of the circumstances: a makeup afternoon game after school had started with the Royals as a non-contending team.

Still, according to Baseball Reference, it was the lowest Royals home attendance for a game (in non-pandemic seasons) since July 5, 1995.