By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Called on to start in place of the injured Cole Ragans, St Joseph’s Noah Cameron looked like a star in the making on Wednesday night, taking a no hit bid into the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in his MLB debut as the Kansas City Royals won 3-0 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The Royals helped Cameron settle in early with some early run support, getting on the board in the first inning. Bobby Witt Jr singled, extending his hit streak to 21 games, before Vinnie Pasqantino hit a two run home run to right field, his fourth homer of the year, to put Kansas City up 2-0 before Cameron even took the mound.
Vinnie pounces on the first pitch! pic.twitter.com/zOstDVmFLX
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 30, 2025
When Cameron did get on the mound, he worked quick in the first inning, getting the first out on one pitch as Chandler Simpson popped out on a bunt to first base. Cameron needed just four more pitches to get through the inning, the most exciting coming when Yandy Díaz hit a deep fly fall to right field, which Hunter Renfroe went over the wall to save.
Cameron struggled with command some in the second inning, issuing back to back walks to Brandon Lowe and Danny Jansen, but forced Curtis Mead to ground into a double play to end the inning. In the third inning, Cameron saw another fantastic defensive play behind him as Witt Jr snagged a ball out of the air in the gap for an out, before ending the inning with his first career strikeout.
The Royals added their final run of the game in the fifth inning to extend their lead after Cavan Biggio walked. A single from Jonathan India advanced Biggio to second base before a single from Witt Jr brought Biggio all the way home to score.
Cameron recorded two more strikeouts to end the sixth inning and opened the seventh inning getting Lowe to ground out before Mead singled down the third base line, which ended the night for the Central alum, Royals manager Matt Quatraro coming out and applauding his performance as he pulled him from the game for John Schreiber.
How about that for a first impression?
Noah Cameron took a no-hitter into the 7th inning of his Major League debut 👏 pic.twitter.com/MTgoKAA17i
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2025
Schreiber and Lucas Erceg both recorded holds, Erceg giving up one hit, before closing pitcher Carlos Estévez came on and recorded his ninth save of the season, giving up two hits but striking out one.
Cameron earned his first career win, pitching 6.1 innings giving up one hit, striking out three and walking five batters. Witt Jr (2-4, 1 RBI), Salvador Perez (2-4), Maikel Garcia (2-4), and Kyle Isbel (2-4) led the way hitting for the Royals.
Kansas City and Tampa Bay wrap up their series tomorrow. The Royals will send Seth Lugo to the mound against Shane Baz for the Rays. KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM) will join first pitch at 12:10pm.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
