Three Observations From Guardians Loss To Royals, 10-3
The Cleveland Guardians have now lost the first two games of their four-game set with the Kansas City Royals after a blowout loss on Friday night, 10-3.
Here are three observations and takeaways from Cleveland’s loss.
Guardians Have A Decision To Make With Triston McKenzie
For a third straight game, Triston McKenzie failed to make it past the third inning. He gave up five earned runs on five hits, gave up back-to-back home runs, and walked three batters. The Royals never looked back after this and ended up scoring five runs in the game.
At this point, the Guardians have a decision to make.
Gavin Williams should be back from his rehab shortly and the team reportedly has signed veteran Matthew Boyd to a major league deal. It wouldn’t be surprising if either of them replaced McKenzie in the rotation.
Multi-Hit Game For David Fry
In a game where the Guardians' offense struggled, David Fry came away with a multi-hit game. Yes, that’s something he’s done in the past but the situation around this performance means
Fry has been dealing with some elbow inflammation which even forced him to leave last Sunday’s game. It was mentioned on the Bally Sports broadcast that Stephen Vogt is avoiding playing him in the field while he works through this minor injury.
At least this three-hit performance (two of those being doubles) proves that his elbow soreness isn’t affecting his production at the plate.
Another Night Of Strikeouts
The Guardians have built their reputation on contact and timely hitting for the past two seasons. That hasn’t been their last two games against their division rival. Cleveland struck out 11 times in the series opener and then 10 times in game two.
The Guardians need to figure out a way to limit the swing and miss if they want to come back and split this four-game set.
TOMMY WILD