KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Michael Wacha said he had plenty left if needed.
Wacha had the fourth-longest no-hit bid of his career Saturday before yielding a one-out hit to Colt Keith in the seventh inning of the Kansas City Royals' 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Wacha did not factor in the decision, but he had his best outing of his two seasons with the Royals.
“It's the best change-up he’s had all year,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “He used his curveball more effectively. It’s hard to pick anything apart. There was so much soft contact.”
When asked if he would have given Wacha a chance to complete the game if the no-hitter was intact, Quatraro said, “I was hoping he would do it. He had six days off between his last outing and this one. He’s got some extra rest before the next one, if everything stays the way it is. So I was hoping we’d get to go for it.”
Before Keith's hit, Wacha allowed only one baserunner on a fourth-inning walk to Gleyber Torres. He did not allow a runner to reach second base in seven innings.
“Obviously, I knew what was going on,” Wacha said of his no-hit bid. “I was just continuing to try to keep taking it to another level and keep making my pitches, and keep executing like I had been pretty much all day. I was just try to push it to the back of my mind and keep making quality pitches.”
Quatraro said he allowed himself to enjoy the effort of both pitchers, in spite of the scoreless game.
“You can appreciate the game, right?” he said. “I mean, you've got two really good pitchers out there, two good teams, and that’s a fun game. Sure, I would have rather been up 7-0 and not had to worry about it, but I did appreciate what was going on.”
Vinnie Pasquantino's eighth-inning single drove in Nick Loftin from second for the game's only run, as Wacha and Detroit's Tarik Skubal both spun gems.
Loftin one-hopped the wall with what he originally thought was a homer.
“I just probably one of my better balls that I’ve hit here,” said Loftin, who had two of Kansas City's four hits. “Quite frankly, I didn’t realize how big that ballpark was.”
Wacha has never thrown a no-hitter in his professional career, but he was ready to give it a try if he still had a chance.
“Absolutely," he said. "I would not want to leave a game like that for sure. But unfortunately, I gave up a hit. That made it a little easier for Q.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in his country's eventual victory in the nearly four-year war against its neighbor.
Four apartment buildings were damaged in the Odesa bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. The DTEK power provider said two of its energy facilities had significant damage. The company said 10 substations that distribute electricity in the region have been damaged in December.
Russia has escalated attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. As its invasion approaches a four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.
Between January and November, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier in December. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.
There are renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with European leaders supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.
Despite progress in peace negotiations, which he didn't mention, Putin reaffirmed his belief in Russia’s eventual success in its invasion during his traditional New Year’s address.
He gave special praise to Russian troops deployed in Ukraine, describing them as heroes “fighting for your native land, truth and justice.”
“We believe in you and our victory,” Putin said, as cited by Russian state news agency Tass.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.
Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video of a downed drone that it said was one of 91 Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack this week on a Putin residence in northwestern Russia, a claim Kyiv has denied as a “lie.”
The nighttime video showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing near a damaged drone lying in snow. The man, his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Defense Ministry provided any location or date.
The video and claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations of an attack on Putin’s lakeside country residence and called them a ruse to derail progress in peace negotiations.
Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they allegedly were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the Russian allegations “a deliberate distraction” from peace talks.
Zelenskyy said Romania and Croatia are the latest countries to join a fund that buys weapons for Ukraine from the United States.
The financial arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase U.S. weapons, munitions and equipment.
Since it was established in August, 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, according to Zelenskyy. The fund has received $4.3 billion, with almost $1.5 billion coming in December, he said on social media.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone strike on a major Russian fuel storage facility in the northwestern Yaroslavl region early Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian security official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Long-range drones struck the Temp oil depot in the city of Rybinsk, part of Russia’s state fuel reserve system, the official told The Associated Press. Rybinsk is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
A previous version of this story was corrected to give the timing of the alleged attack on Putin's residence as late Sunday and early Monday.
Katie Marie Davies in Leicester, England, contributed to this story.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a man in camouflage standing by a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
