After Zack Greinke labored round a two-out single for a scoreless first, the Royals offense obtained proper to work within the backside of the body. Maikel Garcia laced Lucas Giolito’s first pitch into left discipline for a single, the place a Will Brennan misplay allowed Garcia to succeed in second base. Bobby Witt Jr. adopted with a grounder to brief that he reached on due to a shoddy throw from José Tena, which additionally allowed Garcia to maneuver as much as third. After MJ Melendez popped out, Nelson Velázquez obtained forward within the depend 3-0 earlier than crushing a meatball of a heater for his fifteenth residence run of the season and twelfth as a Royal.
Kansas Metropolis saved the stress on in subsequent innings however missed out on a number of scoring alternatives. Nick Loftin and Drew Waters began the second with consecutive singles however had been each stranded. Melendez and Edward Olivares had been each in scoring place within the third and didn’t rating.
In the meantime, Greinke was gutting it out in opposition to a smooth Cleveland lineup, surrendering loads of site visitors however conserving them quiet by way of three innings. He struck out Kole Calhoun within the fourth inning to maneuver to fourth place on the all-time franchise strikeout leaderboard. Greinke wouldn’t full the inning, nevertheless, as that punchout proceeded a double and preceded a pair extra knocks and a sac fly that minimize Kansas Metropolis’s result in 3-2. After the sac fly, Greinke walked off the mound for maybe the final time at Kauffman Stadium.
Angel Zerpa entered to pitch and proceeded to have certainly one of his finest outings of the season, setting down the primary 9 batters he confronted earlier than permitting a two-out double within the seventh. Within the interim, Kansas Metropolis obtained their lead again as much as three with an RBI single from Witt within the fourth and an Olivares RBI groundout within the seventh. They tacked on an insurance coverage run within the eighth thanks partially to one more Guardians error to make the rating 6-2. Zerpa got here again out for the ninth and completed out the win and the collection sweep with a scoreless inning.
The win strikes the Royals to 51-102. That is their seventh win previously eight video games, which ties the most effective eight recreation stretch that Kansas Metropolis has had this season. They are going to get tomorrow off earlier than heading to Houston for a three-game weekend collection.
Zack Greinke: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 Ok, 0 HR
Lucas Giolito: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 Ok, 1 HR
Drew Waters: 2-3, 2B, BB, R, 2 SB
Josh Naylor: 2-4, 2B, R
