The Kansas City Royals claimed both former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham and former Texas Rangers outfielder Robbie Grossman off waivers on Saturday, per The Athletic's Katie Woo. After the two signings, the Royals hope it will help their offense amidst the AL Central divisional race.

“The Kansas City Royals have claimed Tommy Pham off waivers, per a source,” Woo posted to her X, formerly Twitter. “The Royals are fully in the AL Central race, trailing first-place Cleveland by 2 1/2 games. They'll pick up Pham as a veteran bat with ample postseason experience.”

Pham was a name attached to the Royals before the trade deadline, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

“The Kansas City Royals, who tried to trade for Tommy Pham at the deadline when he was with the Chicago White Sox, now claim him on waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals,” Nightengale said on his X, formerly Twitter. “And will have him for the pennant stretch.”

Splitting time between the Chicago White Sox and the Cardinals, Pham has seven home runs, 31 RBIs, a .254 batting average, and six stolen bases this year. Grossman has three home runs, 14 RBIs, a .227 batting average, and three stolen bases this season.

The Royals hope the two additions will help Kansas City catch the Cleveland Guardians atop the AL Central division. Kansas City (75-61) is in second place in the AL Wild Card race, trailing the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles (78-58) by four games.

Royals lose to the Astros 3-2 in walk-off fashion

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It was too little and too late for the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning of Friday night's 3-2 walk-off loss to the Houston Astros. After eight scoreless innings, the Royals tied the game with their first two runs of the night in the top of the ninth.

Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo threw seven strong innings, surrendering one run on six hits with nine strikeouts for Kansas City. It was the silver lining to the Royals' devastating loss in the bottom of the ninth.

“He was exceptional,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said, per MLB.com's Jeremy Rakes. “Spun the ball really well, located. He got his sinker in [threw] good changeups. He had it all working. Seven innings of one-run baseball against that team is a phenomenal effort.”

After Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez threw seven hitless innings, Royals' Kyle Isbel broke through in the eighth. But Paul DeJong's two-run homer in the top of the ninth evened the score, 2-2, before Astros All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve's walk-off double sealed the win for Houston.

The Royals, currently on a three-game skid, will look to turn it around when they take on the Astros on Saturday.