Royals offense never broke out in Guardians loss. These self-inflicted errors hurt too
The Kansas City Royals’ offensive cold spells continued against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.
It was a chilly Friday night for both teams. The Royals, however, struggled to find warmth within their starting lineup. KC managed five hits and committed three errors in a 7-0 loss to the Guardians.
The Royals (7-7) have been inconsistent this season. There are some nights the offense clicks and rolls on all cylinders. Other nights, the Royals are stuck spinning their wheels and looking for a spark.
Friday’s game can be filed in the latter column. KC didn’t mount much offense against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee as he didn’t allow a run in 4 2/3 innings.
“You know, we were getting his pitch count up in the 40s I think after two innings,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “You get a couple of guys on, you need to try to take advantage of the walks. And, we weren’t able to do that.”
When the Royals did generate offense, there were uncharacteristic mistakes that thwarted a potential rally.
In the fourth inning, Royals outfielder Drew Waters was thrown out attempting to steal second base with two outs. It was a 2-1 count for Royals catcher Freddy Fermin at the plate.
Waters was assertive looking to get into scoring position. It just didn’t work out in the Royals’ favor.
“It’s not too aggressive as they made a perfect throw,” Quatraro said. “He got a pretty good jump and guy makes a perfect throw. We’ve got to try to force the issue a little bit.”
Two innings later, the Royals were forced out of another scoring chance. After team captain Salvador Perez singled, he drifted too far away from the first-base bag during Vinnie Pasquantino’s at-bat.
Pasquantino hit a short pop-up to right field. Guardians second baseman Gabriel Arias raced to corral the baseball. He made the play and threw back to first base to catch Perez still between the bases. Perez was doubled off the base paths.
Next, Royals outfielder Hunter Renfroe flew out and the inning was over.
“I’m not a speed guy, you know, so to see that ball drop, I’m going to do my best to get to second base,” Perez said. “I was kind of too much to the second-base side. And Arias had a pretty good run. I think he made a pretty good play and good throw.”
KC squandered two big opportunities.
And the Guardians took advantage when Arias hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning and Cleveland (7-6) added four insurance runs in the eighth.
KC finished 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. This season, the Royals have scored four runs or fewer in 12 of 14 games.
In their last five contests, the Royals have hit .100 (2 for 20) with runners in scoring position and plated just five runs.
“I think it’s early in the year and we are all trying to get our feet under ourselves and have good at-bats,” Royals infielder Jonathan India said. “It’s a long season. We can’t think about it, and we’ve just got to keep going.”
The Royals have now been shut out for the second time in three games. However, Perez still has confidence the team can rebound against the Guardians.
“I believe in my teammates and, you know, even in myself,” Perez said. “We need to figure it out. We just hit the ball hard and continue to do that. Things are going to change in our way.”
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Here are more notable aspects of Friday’s game:
Kris Bubic logs another quality start
The Royals didn’t give Kris Bubic enough offense on Friday night.
Bubic logged his third quality start but suffered his first loss of the 2025 season. He relied on his defense to avoid early trouble, thanks in part to a couple of double plays.
“It was a battle,” Bubic said. “Obviously, that’s a team we’ve seen a lot and a team I saw twice in spring training. So they have some good hitters over there. I thought we got ahead in some counts well, outside of the walks, we avoided a lot of three-ball counts.”
Bubic made one key mistake pitch to Arias in the fourth inning. Arias hit a 91.8 mph fastball over the right-field wall that gave the Guardians a 3-0 lead.
“Didn’t do a good job elevating the fastball, especially in two-strike scenarios,” Bubic said. “I know the homer came on a fastball that was more down and in. You know, the life was still good on it.”
Bubic allowed six hits, three runs (two earned) and struck out five batters in the outing. He now sports a 0.96 ERA in 18 2/3 innings on the season.
What’s next: The Royals will continue their series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen (1-1, 3.18 ERA) draws the start against Luis Ortiz (0-2, 8.44 ERA).
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM.
