Kansas City Royals pitcher Michael Wacha addressed his teammates after Sunday’s victory over the Minnesota Twins.

It was a special moment for the 12-year veteran right-hander. He had just earned his 100th career win after throwing seven shutout innings at Kauffman Stadium.

“We do a little postgame celebration-type stuff and the captain (Salvador Perez) had me talk a little bit,” Wacha said. “Just expressing to them, ‘Hey, the wins get put by my name, but there is a lot of people that contribute to those.’”

Obtained in the offseason, Wacha has spearheaded the Royals’ pitching resurgence in 2024. The club counts on him to provide a professional start every fifth day. Sunday was the third start in which he’s thrown seven or more scoreless innings.

The Twins were unable to break through offensively all afternoon. Wacha avoided trouble in the first inning thanks to a terrific relay and play at the plate — the Twins’ baserunner and would-be scorer was thrown out.

Wacha settled in after that and struck out seven as KC earned a three-game series sweep. He improved to 11-3 with a 2.62 ERA in his last 19 starts. He has allowed two runs or fewer in 15 of those outings.

“I feel like the ball has been coming out good this year,” he said. “Working with our staff here, talking with a bunch of our pitchers and developing new pitches as well. It’s been a lot of playing here.”

Wacha developed a slider and it’s proven to be an effective pitch. It has commanded a 40.3% whiff rate this season and its usage has helped him unlock other pitches.

Wacha’s full pitching arsenal was on display against the Twins. He used his changeup to get 23 swings and 12 whiffs Sunday afternoon.

“The effectiveness of his fastball had extra carry and his changeup was outstanding,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “… Credit to him, he’s had a great career.”

Wacha is the 20th active pitcher to reach 100 career wins.

“It’s super special, especially for him,” Perez said. “We know what kind of pitcher he is. He likes to compete and he likes to play hard. And he does everything to try to help the team to win.”

The Royals concluded their six-game homestand with four wins. Wacha is in line to pitch next weekend against the Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh after a series in New York against the Yankees.

Week 2 was a huge matchup for the Tulane Green Wave, as they hosted the Kansas State Wildcats out of the Big 12 at Yulman Stadium.

Looking to cement their status as one of the best G5 teams in the nation, this was the Green Wave’s chance to do that. Ultimately, they fell just short of pulling off the upset.

Tulane led by 10 at halftime, but a scoreless third quarter led to the Wildcats climbing back into the game and tying it up. An early touchdown in the fourth quarter from Darian Mensah to tight end Alex Bauman gave them a seven-point lead once again.

Kansas State responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive of their own to tie it up. They took the lead for good just over three minutes later.

At the Wildcats’ 25-yard line, a fumble occurred that was returned by the defense for a touchdown, giving the visitors a 34-27 lead, which would end up being the final score of the game.

The No. 17 ranked team got all they could handle in their visit to Yulman Stadium, but it wasn’t enough for Tulane to leave victorious. After the game, head coach Jon Sumrall did not hold back when expressing his frustrations with the job the referees did.

“I didn’t get very many good explanations in the second half with the officiating,” Sumrall said, via Guerry Smith of NOLA.com. “It left a lot to be desired. That’s probably about all I want to say. Big 12 crew, in case you were wondering.”

The biggest call of the game came with 17 seconds remaining. Mensah hit Yulkeith Brown for a touchdown, needing just the extra point to tie the game.

But, the play was nullified as Dontae Fleming drew a pass interference penalty for blocking in the end zone as Brown made the reception in the corner. Two plays later, the game was essentially over when Mensah threw an interception.

“There’s not much I can do,” Mensah said. “If they call it, they call it.”

Overall, the Green Wave were flagged nine times for 80 yards and the Wildcats were hit seven times for 55. As is customary in college football, the referee crew for an out-of-conference game is from the road team’s conference.

The loss drops Tulane’s record all-time at Yulman Stadium against power conferences to 0-5. They have another huge game next week as they will travel to Norman to face off against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Kansas State’s football team lost its share of battles against Tulane, but ultimately it was the Wildcats who won the culture war.

At least that was K-State coach Chris Klieman’s explanation after the Wildcats were outplayed for most of the game Saturday before rallying for an improbable 34-27 victory over the Green Wave at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.

“Great resolve by our guys,” Klieman said after the Wildcats came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to take the lead and then stopped sealed it with an end zone interception to end the game. “I told the guys at the end of the game, that was a culture win.

“Discipline, toughness, commitment, be selfless, and that’s what that was today. And we beat a good Tulane team, dang good Tulane team on the road. So happy to escape with a win.”

Culture clearly was the word of the day, because through the first half especially, Tulane (1-1) had its way with the Wildcats. The Green Wave made K-State look silly on defense, racking up 291 yards before intermission against a defense that allowed just 134 for the whole game to Tennessee-Martin the week prior.

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“We made some changes. It was really we were just beating ourselves,” said super-senior defensive end and team captain Brendan Mott. “K-State was beating K-State, and if we don’t make those errors and everybody does their job, we’re a really tough team to beat, and that’s something that we were preaching about at halftime.

“And man, we had a bunch of leaders on the whole team — o-line, safeties, d-line, linebacker everywhere. It wasn’t just one guy in that locker room at halftime that was saying something. And that really shows to our culture, and I think we came out in that second half and really made some changes and got after it.”

The defense, which didn’t keep Tulane on its own side of the field once in six first-half possessions, got three straight stops in the third quarter that allowed the Wildcats to come back and tie it at 20-20. It also created the two fourth-quarter turnovers that produced the game-winning touchdown with Austin Romaine’s strip sack and Jack Fabris’ 60-yard fumble return, and then iced it on VJ Payne’s end zone interception with five seconds remaining.

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The offense had 200 yards, two touchdowns and a field goal after intermission, with Avery Johnson completing 7 of 8 passes for 119 of his 181 yards. It was his 45-yard completion to running back DJ Giddens on a fourth down that finally got it tied at 20-20 late in the third quarter.

“We had a lot of guys step up and be vocal in the locker room and just challenge the rest of our team, and some guys stepped up and made bit plays and ultimately got us the win today,” Johnson said.

Giddens, who had another big game with 114 rushing yards and four catches for 63, said safety Marques Sigle and linebacker Austin Moore, both team captains, were particularly vocal during halftime.

“Marques Sigle, he was in my ear even before halftime,” Giddens said. “After halftime, he was pushing me to my limit. Austin Moore, when we first came in here, he got everybody’s mind right.”

And that, Klieman agreed, made all the difference. Especially with a team that did not fare well in close games last year, going 1-4 in one-possession contests.

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“I challenged the guys at halftime,” Kileman said. I’m not upset or anything, I just said we can play better. We can play better on both sides.

“And Marques Sigle, Avery, Hadley (Panzer), Austin Moore, some of the older guys and captains, they stepped up and it was player led.”

The fact that the players took control meant everything.

“Culture is holding each other accountable,” Klieman added. “And one of our awards we gave to Avery, and Avery gave it to Marques Sigle, because Marques Sigle challenged Avery and challenged his leadership.

“That’s awesome to see, because we have kids that are holding each other to the standard that they expect. That’s a culture.”

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.