Jeremy Guthrie’s status in limbo after Indians crush Royals in 12-1 blowout

The tenure of Jeremy Guthrie as a member of the Kansas City starting rotation began on July 20, 2012, when the Royals rescued Guthrie from the horrors of Coors Field and resuscitated his career. The era may have ended on Wednesday afternoon, as Guthrie yielded eight runs and could not complete the sixth inning in a 12-1 loss to the Indians.

The most crushing blows fell in a six-run, sixth inning. He had held the line up to that point. Then he crumbled.

“I did not have my best stuff, by any stretch of the imagination today,” Guthrie said. “Made it work for five. And it all kind of fell apart in the sixth.”

Guthrie served up a three-run shot to Indians rookie Francisco Lindor. The home run did not prompt any movement in the Kansas City dugout. The Royals had put up little defense against Cleveland starter Corey Kluber, and the game appeared out of reach.

So manager Ned Yost stuck with Guthrie. What followed prompted Yost’s exit from the dugout and Guthrie’s departure from the game with one out. It was another home run, his third allowed that inning, this one a solo shot by outfielder Michael Brantley. The blast expanded Cleveland’s lead to eight runs, as Guthrie could not provide a quality outing as Kansas City, 61-39, missed a chance at a sweep.

It is unclear if excellence from Guthrie, 7-7, 5.65 ERA, would have been enough. The Royals mounted few challenges to Kluber. Their first hit did not fall until the fifth inning. Kansas City pushed a run across in the ninth, but Kluber struck out six in a complete game.

“You get a guy up there that gets comfortable on the mound, the way he’s very capable of throwing the ball, it’s a tough day,” third baseman Mike Moustakas said. “He threw the ball fantastic. It was just a tough day for us offensively.”

But any chance frittered away in the sixth. Guthrie hit three batters in the first five innings. In the sixth, he gave up three home runs. One of the runs he allowed was ruled unearned. In the eighth, Luke Hochevar surrendered four more runs.

The performance from Guthrie leaves Yost with a quandary. The acquisition of Johnny Cueto gave Kansas City a surplus of six starters. Barring an organizational shift, the two candidates to depart are Guthrie and Chris Young, who gave up one run but only lasted 4 2/3 innings in Tuesday’svictory. Yost must decide by next week.

Yost found a way to portray Guthrie’s outing in a positive light. He pointed to the resilience Guthrie displayed in the face of early-game adversity.

“He was kind of classic Guthrie for the first five innings,” Yost said. “Had a lot of traffic in the first two innings, but made big pitches and limited the damage really well. Gave up two runs there, then really settled in the third, fourth and fifth.

“Then, it just kind of came apart there in the sixth.”

Young has logged only 59 innings in his last 11 outings, with a 4.42 ERA and 11 home runs allowed. Young also excelled as a long reliever in April. Guthrie has never thrived in that type of role. But he also holds a 5.65 ERA on a club with World Series hopes.

Guthrie suggested the source of his ugly ERA is his one-inning, 11-run disaster against the Yankees on May 25 at Yankee Stadium. But even removing that day from the equation, his ERA is 4.82.

On Wednesday, Guthrie looked shaky from the start, found a brief rhythm, but collapsed in his final inning of work. He had held the Indians to only two runs heading into the sixth. But then he came undone.

Rookie Giovanny Urshela started the collapse by bashing a hanging slider over the left-field fence. A trio of singles led to another run. Then Lindor and Brantley did their damage. At last, Yost emerged from the dugout to save Guthrie.

Why didn’t Yost remove him earlier? After the game, Yost indicated he felt Guthrie was a better option against Lindor than lefty Franklin Morales, who was warming in the bullpen. Lindor entered the day hitting .240 against righties and .278 against lefties.

Yost did not want to use right-hander Kris Medlen in that situation, because he needs Medlen on the ready for Thursday, when southpaw Danny Duffy faces the dangerous right-handed hitters of the Blue Jays.

“You’ve got to pay attention to what’s going on tomorrow, too,” Yost said. “There was no way I was going to use Medlen in that game. Not down that far.”

Guthrie waded through heavy traffic in the first inning. Cleveland loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. With his 29th pitch of the frame, Guthrie hit catcher Yan Gomes to drive in a run.

“I was wild,” Guthrie said. “I yanked a lot of pitches, especially early, when I was pulling balls.”

An inning later, Guthrie lost his control once again. He surrendered a leadoff double to Michael Bourn, and dealt with a fielding mishap after a bunt by outfielder Tyler Holt. Guthrie recovered the sacrifice attempt and threw to Mike Moustakas, who had Bourn hung up in a run down. But Moustakas accidentally bumped into Bourn after releasing the ball, and the umpires awarded Bourn third base.

Three pitches later, Guthrie drilled second baseman Jason Kipnis with an 0-2 cutter. Kipnis looked aggravated. Umpire Tom Woodring warned both benches. Guthrie escaped after only allowing a sacrifice fly to shortstop Lindor.

With the warnings in place, Guthrie hit his third batter of the game in the fifth. He connected with the right leg of outfielder Brantley. He was not ejected.

Guthrie stressed after the game he had not spent much time worrying about the aftershocks of Cueto’s arrival. But his place in the rotation is in jeopardy, especially after Wednesday’s outing.

“All I can do is try to go out there and do the best that I can every five days,” Guthrie said. “I’ve had good times, and I’ve obviously had rough times. For me, I feel I can be healthy, I can be consistent. Today I was on my way to one of those type of outings. But unfortunately it just unraveled.”

Indians 12, Royals 1

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1-ran for Infante in the 7th.

E: Moustakas (9). LOB: Kansas City 5, Cleveland 11. 2B: Hosmer 2 (21), Kipnis (31), Santana (19), Bourn (11). HR: Urshela (3), off Guthrie; Lindor (5), off Guthrie; Brantley (8), off Guthrie; Y.Gomes (5), off Hochevar. RBIs: Rios (16), Kipnis (39), Lindor 4 (19), Brantley (56), Moss 2 (50), Gomes 3 (18), Urshela (10). SF: Lindor.

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 2 (Butera, Cuthbert); Cleveland 6 (Urshela 2, Brantley, Lindor 3). RISP: Kansas City 1 for 6; Cleveland 3 for 12. Runners moved up: Rios.

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HBP: by Guthrie (Y.Gomes, Kipnis, Brantley).

Umpires: Home, Tom Woodring; First, Eric Cooper; Second, Lance Barksdale; Third, Gary Cederstrom. Time: 2:55. Att: 19,767.

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Jeremy Guthrie’s status in limbo after Indians crush Royals in 12-1 blowout."