How’s this for a rain delay reward? Two kids leave with Bobby Witt Jr.’s home run ball

His left knee showed some blood, the kind of scrape that will leave a mark for a few days.

Oh, well.

Ford Lamb, 11 years old, had hustled for a Rays home run ball late Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, or maybe it was Wednesday by then. But anyway, he came up short.

You remember the feeling, right? Just a kid chasing after a baseball in the stands on a hot summer night, not a care in the world other than getting your hands on a souvenir that would make for a pretty good story for your friends at school.

Alas.

Almost.

You probably wouldn’t know Ford, who rode with a buddy and their fathers from Lawrence to celebrate their birthdays. Maybe you can relate, though.

Well, to that part of his night.

Probably not the next.

See, Ford missed out on that ball, but he tucked three others into his body as he departed Kauffman Stadium after midnight — or, shall we say, after his bedtime — following a Rays 5-1 win sandwiched around a 2 1/2-hour thunderstorm delay that swept through Kansas City.

He locked those baseballs, each of them blemished in their own beautiful way, into his left palm and right hand, with the last nestled between his elbow and gut. That’s how we crossed paths, actually — so concentrated on gripping each of them to ensure he didn’t drop any, Ford walked with his head down, eyes fixated on them, but nearly bumped into me.

Couldn’t help but notice what he was holding, you know?

They were stories, each of them. The foul ball from Hunter Renfroe. A ball boy tossed him that one. The next came from the Rays bullpen; the other from the Royals dugout.

Oh, and one more good one.

One more lifelong story.

Ford came to the ballpark with his friend, Owen Jurgensen. They enjoy birthdays on back-to-back days. By the time Royals designated hitter Michael Massey sent a ground ball to second base for the final out of the game, the calendar had flipped to Ford’s 11th birthday. A day later, Jurgensen will turn 11.

“Pretty cool birthday,” Ford said.

For both of them.

Jurgensen returned to Lawrence with a baseball of his own — the one Bobby Witt Jr. sent into the left-field stands for the Royals’ lone run of the game.

It’s a reward shared by a few late Tuesday — these are the benefits of sticking it through a 2 1/2-hour delay of pouring rain at The K. The baseball-to-fan ratio completely changes. The strategy, too.

The kids spent most of the delay standing in the rain, initially huddled over the Rays bullpen, hoping for one, just one, baseball before the night was through. Three of their four keepsakes came after the delay.

“We weren’t going to just go home,” said Shawn Jurgensen, Owen’s dad. “They were having too much fun. So we just stuck it out.”

They returned to the Rays bullpen shortly after the delay. That’s where Witt sent his home run into orbit.

It always takes a stroke of luck, right?

Owen later secured another, he said, but gave that away. Didn’t want to get greedy.

He kept the Witt ball, though.

“I have to buy a case for it,” Owen said.

He plans to put it in his room. His dad had a fitting suggestion: He could place it next to another baseball he’s already collected — that one’s signed by Buck O’Neil.

It’s a ball that allows his father to share a story or two about its origin.

Owen now has one of those, too.