Kansas City Royals offense sputters again as Indians complete the series sweep
The Cleveland Indians probably couldn’t leave fast enough for the liking of the Kansas City Royals and their fans following Thursday night’s AL Central Division clash.
Ryan O’Hearn’s fly ball to center field did not produce a game-tying home run in the bottom of ninth; instead it served as the final out in the Royals’ 4-2 loss in front of an announced 10,042 in attendance for the finale of the three-game series at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals have now lost four in a row.
The Indians completed a series sweep and have now won 11 in a row over the Royals (59-74) this season.
The one-sidedness is reminiscent of the Royals’ struggles with the division-rival Chicago White Sox last season, when the Royals went 1-9 against them in the pandemic-shortened season.
“I hadn’t really thought about that,” Royals shortstop Nicky Lopez said. “Yeah, last year Chicago had our number. This year, it seems like Cleveland has our number a little bit. We play them again shortly. We’ll look to finish the season strong. We’ve just got to look forward, not backward.”
Hunter Dozier went 2 for 4 with an RBI. He had two of the Royals’ six hits.
Edward Olivares went 1 for 4 with an RBI for KC. Carlos Santana went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez also had hits.
Royals starting pitcher Mike Minor allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits, including a home run, in five innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out four. Four of the five hits Minor allowed came in the fifth inning.
“I thought I had good stuff tonight,” Minor said. “I feel like I got a lot of swing-and-misses, a lot of weak contact. Obviously, I only gave up a couple hits, but the same old song and dance for me. I gave up the long ball, and that kind of killed us right there.”
The Royals manufactured a run in the second inning to take a slim early lead. Michael A. Taylor walked, advanced to second on a groundout, was awarded third on a balk and scored on a two-out single by Dozier.
However, Indians starter Triston McKenzie (4-5) squelched the Royals offense for the majority of the night. He allowed just the one run on two hits and that lone walk in six innings.
In four appearances (three starts, 21 2/3 innings) against the Royals this season, McKenzie has an 0.83 ERA and .099 opponents’ average.
The Indians (67-64) took control of the game with a three-run fifth inning. All three runs scored with no outs. Harold Ramirez reached on Emmanuel Rivera’s throwing error, and Yu Chang singled to put two runners on base in front of Owen Miller.
Miller hooked a 1-0 slider down the left-field line for a three-run home run. Minor had allowed just one hit in four innings prior to Rivera’s error to start the fifth. The fourth batter of that inning, Ryan Lavarnway, doubled and prompted stirring in the Royals’ bullpen.
After the first four batters of the inning reached base, including one error, Minor gave up a single to Amed Rosario but retired three of the final four batters he faced and stranded two men on base to keep the score 3-1.
Minor downplayed the significance of the error on his overall outing.
“I don’t think that did anything because the next guy that got a hit was a jam shot,” Minor said. “Then he gets on and the home run was a decent pitch down and in, a slider, and he put a good swing on it and kept it fair.
“The double was down and in. I wanted it up and in. It was a decent pitch, but it was kind of where his swing path is. Same thing with Rosario, I threw it in where I wanted to and he put a good swing on it. So I think after throwing in all day maybe he was looking for it or quick to it. I still made quality pitches.”
Minor said he wanted to go out for the sixth inning after having thrown 93 pitches, but the Royals went to Joel Payamps in the sixth, and then starter Kris Bubic pitched two innings in relief.
Chang’s two-out RBI single off of left-hander Bubic to right field in the eighth inning gave the Indians a little more breathing room with a 4-1 advantage.
Olivares’ RBI groundout in the ninth drove in the Royals’ only other run.
“We’ve had trouble with (McKenzie) for a while,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We’re just having trouble getting anything going off of him at all, any momentum. We got the big two-out hit by Doz to give a little bit of a head start, but a lot of clean innings after that without much traffic.
“That’s really been part of our success when we’re playing well, figuring out ways to get guys on and create some pressure, but not a lot of opportunities today.”
The Royals open a three-game weekend set at home against the White Sox on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The scheduled pitching match-up will feature Royals right-hander Carlos Hernández (4-1, 3.62) against White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel (8-7, 5.00).
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 10:29 PM.
