Consistent Offense Secures a Second Victory Over Cleveland in a Crucial AL Central Series

Kansas City managed 13 hits and four home runs to stay on top of the Guardians and claim the Royals third win in a row.

Jun 28, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Alec Marsh (48) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Cleveland Guardians to take game two in a four-game weekend series 10-3. Kansas City's victory was propelled by consistent offense and strong starting pitching as the Royals tallied 13 hits with four home runs, while Alec Marsh turned in six innings of one-run baseball. Marsh gave up a solo home run in the first inning of the game but settled in to strike out five batters and give the offense plenty of breathing room to swing freely.

The Royals mashed back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning from Salvador Perez and Hunter Renfroe to erase a 1-0 deficit, and from there never looked back. Vinny Pasquantino extended his RBI streak to five games in a row with a third-inning single, but it was his eighth-inning two-run home run that served as the cherry on top for Kansas City.

The Royals bullpen was able to take advantage of Marsh's strong start by turning in single inning outings from Chris Stratton, Nick Anderson and Carlos Hernandez to close out the game and take the second victory in a row in the series.

Kansas City's win brings them to 46-38 on the year and now are seven-games behind the Guardians for first place in the AL Central. The Royals have two more games against Cleveland to close out the month of June with Saturday's game starting at 3:10 p.m. CT.

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The Kansas City Royals got a crucial game-one win over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday. The victory started off the series strong, however, the Royals still find themselves eight games behind the AL Central-leading Guardians, making each game of this four-game home series important as Kansas City looks to close out the challenging month of June.

Alec Marsh is on the mound and scheduled to face Triston McKenzie for the Guardians. Marsh is 2-3 in his last five outings and sports a 4.4 ERA for the season. McKenzie is 3-4 on the season with a 4.66 ERA. In McKenzie's only start against the Royals on June 4 he pitched 5.1 innings and allowed five runs on nine hits allowing three home runs, however, the Guardians were able to get the win 8-5. Friday will be Marsh's first appearance facing Cleveland this season due to missing time with an arm injury he sustained after being hit by a line drive in April.

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Top of the 9th

• Carlos Hernandez enters the game to close the game for the Royals but his first pitch is sent to the wall by David Fry for a double.
• Andres Gimenez grounds out to the first baseman and Fry advances to third.
• Hernandez strikes out Tyler Freeman swinging and now the Royals are one out away from winning.
• Hernandez strikes out Brayan Rocchio to end the game and give Kansas City the 10-3 victory.

Bottom of the 8th Inning

• Kyle Isbell gets his second hit of the night leading off with a single over the first base side of the infield.
• Isbell steals second base for his fifth steal of the year. He's now on second with no outs in the inning and Maikel Garcia at the plate. The Guardians are challenging the call of safe at second as Isbell may have slid over the bag.
• Isbell is ruled out on the challenge, clearing the bases, but Maikel Garcia gets right back to second base by ripping a ball down the left-field line.
• Garcia stays aggressive by stealing third base. He offers the Royals a chance at insurance in the late stages of the game.
• Bobby Witt Jr. draws his second walk of the game and now Kansas City has runners on the corners with just one out. He then takes his 22nd stolen base of the year by stealing second.
• A wild pitch gives Garcia the opening to come home and score as McCaughan seems to be sputtering. The Royals lead 8-3.
• The gas tank looks empty for McCaughan, Vinny Pasquantino sends a ball deep over the right-field fence for a two-run home run. The Royals extend the lead to 10-3 and now have four home runs on the night. Pasquantino has three RBIs on the night and the Royals appear to be on their way to the third win in a row.
• Salvador Perez draws a walk and gets pulled for CJ Alexander pinch running.
• Hunter Renfroe grounds into a double-play to end the inning but the Royals extend the lead to 10-3.

Top of the 8th Inning

• Nick Anderson enters the game in relief for the Royals replacing Chris Stratton after just one scoreless inning. He gives up a leadoff double to Austin Hedges as Cleveland is trailing by five runs.
• Kyle Isbel flies out to deep center and Hedges advances to third base on the out.
• Daniel Schneemann flies out to centerfield and Hedges scores on the sacrifice fly. Kansas City leads 7-3 with two outs.
• Jhonkensy Noel rips a hit down the left-field line for a double. It's his first at-bat in the game after entering in the sixth inning.
• Josh Naylor is struck out looking. Anderson gets out of the inning after allowing one run on two hits.

Bottom of the 7th Inning

• MJ Melendez opens the seventh by flying out to Daniel Schneeman who's now in right field.
• Nick Loftin grounds out to Brayan Rocchio as McCaughan has settled into his appearance behind some strong defense.
• Freddy Fermin strikes out to end the inning McCaughan has retired eight in a row after his initial struggles. The Royals lead 7-2.

Top of the 7th Inning

• Chris Stratton enters the game in relief for Kansas City. Alec Marsh ends his night with 6 innings pitched, one earned run allowed on four hits and two walks while striking out five. A strong outing takes pressure off the Royals bullpen that's been shaky in the month of July. Marsh is in line for the win if the Royals can close the game strong.
• Josh Naylor gets on base safely after Maikel Garcia is unable to field a ground ball cleanly. The scorekeeper charges Garcia with an error.
• David Fry doubles on a ball into the left-field corner and now the Guardians have runners on second and third with no outs in the inning.
• Stratton strikes out Andres Gimenez for the first out in the inning. Will that at-bat settle Stratton into this outing?
• Tyler Freeman grounds out, but Josh Naylor comes in to score for Cleveland. 7-2 Kansas City now with two outs in the inning.
• Stratton gets out of the inning by striking out Brayan Rocchio on a curveball. He gives up the one unearned run and the Royals head into the bottom half of the inning with a 7-2 lead.

Bottom of the 6th Inning

• Vinny Pasquantino opens the sixth inning for the Royals and Cleveland sends out several changes in the field. Could the Guardians be punting on the Friday night matchup with two more games to play in the series?
• Pasquantino, Salvador Perez and Hunter Renfroe all fly out for a quick three-up, three-down inning as McCaughan has a much better second inning of work.

Top of the 6th Inning

• Marsh continues his outing into the sixth inning and opens up facing Steven Kwan.
• Kwan flies out in the left field foul territory.
• Marsh walks Daniel Schneemann for just the Guardians second walk of the game.
• Jose Ramirez grounds into a double-play to first base to end the inning. After the first inning home run, Ramirez has struck out and grounded out as Marsh battles back. The infield rotated well and executed the double-play to get out of the inning.

Bottom of the 5th Inning

• Darren McCaughan enters to pitch for the Guardians. It's his third appearance this year in the MLB. He's pitched 6.2 innings giving up 10 runs on 13 hits in his first two appearances.
• Hunter Renfroe opens the fifth inning and singles into right field. He's reached base safely in all three plate appearances so far.
• MJ Melendez singles through the infield to build more momentum for the Royals. Kansas City has runners on first and second with no outs. The Royals are now up to 10 hits on Friday.
• Nick Loftin draws his second walk of the night. He hasn't had a hit but reaches base safely for the second time tonight to load the bases.
• Freddy Fermin drives a ball deep into left field for a sacrifice fly. All the base runners advanced a base and the Royals extended the lead to 7-1.
• Kyle Isbel draws a walk and reloads the bases. McCaughan's third MLB appearance is not going well and the Royals are doing a good job taking advantage of his inexperience.
• Maikel Garcia works a 10-pitch at bat, but flies out to the shortstop for the second out of the inning. Not a single McCaughan pitch in the at-bat reached 90 mph.
• Bobby Witt Jr. sent a ball into the outfield down the right-field line but Daniel Schneemann makes a sliding catch into the wall that surely saved three runs and ended the inning. The Royals lead 7-1 after five inning of play in Kauffman Stadium.

Top of the 5th Inning

• Alec Marsh is up to 65 pitches but looks to keep going in order to save the Royals bullpen for later in the weekend.
• Tyler Freeman flies out to right field on two pitches.
• Brayan Rocchio strikes out looking on six pitches. It's Marsh's fourth strikeout of the night as he continues to deal.
• Marsh gets his fifth strikeout by retiring Austin Hedges swinging for a quick one, two, three inning. After getting touched up in the first few innings Marsh has really settled into this Friday night start and given the Royals a great start.

Bottom of the 4th Inning

• Freddy Fermin lines out to the shortstop to open the inning for the Royals.
• Kyle Isbel struck out in his first at-bat, but hits a solo home run in his second. He pulls the ball just barely over the right field wall to extend the Royals lead to 6-1.
• Maikel Garcia flies out for the second out of the inning.
• Bobby Witt Jr. barely beats out an infield ground ball. He was almost thrown out by Andres Gimenez who made a diving stop and throw but it was just a hair late.
• Vinny Pasquantino draws a walk but Salvador Perez grounds into a fielder's choice to end the inning. The Royals take a 6-1 lead into the fifth inning.

Top of the 4th Inning

• Alec Marsh stays in the game to pitch for Kansas City and now has a four-run cushion. A quick inning could go a long way to winning the game for the Royals by getting the Kansas City offense back to the plate.
• Marsh misses a curve ball inside to put Josh Naylor on first base with a leadoff walk. It's his first walk issued on the evening.
• David Fry grounds to third for a double-play to clear the bases. Marsh got ahead in the count and forced Fry to chase and leading to a routine play for Nick Loftin.
• Andres Gimenez flies out to center field on his second pitch ending the inning after a leadoff walk.

Bottom of the 3rd Inning

• Kyle Isbel strikes out looking to open the third inning. Triston McKenzie is up to 40 pitches and has three strikeouts thus far.
• Maikel Garcia singles through the middle of the infield to give the Royals a baserunner with just one out.
• Garcia steals second base to eliminate the threat of a double-play. It's his 20th stolen base of the season.
• Bobby Witt Jr. is intentionally walked after the steal and now the Royals have runners on first and second with just one out.
• Vinny Pasquantino singles through the right side of the infield to extend his RBI streak to five games in a row as Garcia comes around to score. The Royals take a 3-1 lead and now have runners on the corners with just one out and Salvador Perez at the plate.
• Salvador Perez reaches low in the zone to scoop a single into left field. Witt Jr. scores to extend the lead to 4-1 as Perez collects his second RBI of the night. The captain is 2-2 with two RBIs triggering a mound visit for Triston McKenzie.
• Hunter Renfroe draws a five-pitch walk to load the bases. McKenzie gets the hook from Cleveland management.
• Triston McKenzie's final line is 2.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, he struck out three batters and walked two. He's responsible for all three runners on base as Pedro Avila is brought on in relief.
• MJ Melendez hits it hard at the short-stop but the ball can't be corralled by Brayan Rocchio, scoring another run.
• Nick Loftin grounds into a double-play to end the inning. McKenzie ends his night with five earned runs allowed. The Kansas City Royals lead 5-1 after three innings in this huge divisional game.

Top of the 3rd Inning

• Brayan Rocchio opens the inning with a single into right field. The Guardians have four hits off Marsh so far, one home run and three outfield singles.
• Austin Hedges grounds into a fielder's choice, the Maikel Garcia was able to get the lead runner at second but the Royals were unable to turn two and the grounder sent everyone in the infield on the move.
• Hedges steals second after an early leadoff. It's the second Guardians attempt with an early jump, David Fry was caught, but Hedges converted his attempt. Guardians now have Hedges on second with just one out.
• Marsh hits Steven Kwan on the foot and now the Guardians have two runners on with just one out. Marsh hasn't quite settled into this Friday night game.
• Alec Marsh gets his second strikeout of the game as Daniel Schneemann swings and misses. Big second out of the inning as the Guardians look to retake a lead.
• After giving up a solo home run to Jose Ramirez in the first inning, Alec Marsh blows a 98 mph fastball past Ramirez for a strikeout. Marsh ends the inning on back-to-back strikeouts and the Guardians leave two men on base.

Bottom of the 2nd Inning

• Salvador Perez ties the game as he leads off the second inning with a monster home run. Perez took McKenzie's second pitch 448 feet into the left-center field stands. The score is tied 1-1.
• Back-to-Back! Hunter Renfroe takes his second pitch into the right-field stands for an opposite-field blast. 2-1 Royals. It's the second time during this home stand the Royals have had back-to-back blasts and it is Renfroe's second home run against McKenzie this season.
• MJ Melendez takes a called strike three. Melendez thought it may have been low on a full count and wanted the walk but the strikeout becomes the first out of the inning.
• Nick Loftin draws a walk and McKenzie's MLB-leading walk number grows to 47. The Royals now have a man on first with one out.
• Freddy Fermin chops a grounder to the short-stop and the Guardians get out of the inning with a double-play. The Royals take a 2-1 lead after two innings.

Top of the 2nd Inning

• David Fry jumps all over Marsh and the third pitch ropes into the left-center outfield for a single.
• Marsh catches Fry taking too big a lead and is able to pick him off. Vinny Pasquantino made an athletic play receiving the pickoff and tagging Fry off a 360-spin.
• Andrews Gimenez singles into the right field as the Guardians appear dialed into Marsh early.
• Tyler Freeman grounds a chopper to Nick Loftin at third base who begins a double-play to end the Guardians inning.

Bottom of the 1st Inning

• Triston McKenzie leads MLB in walks this season with 46.
• Maikel Garcia was able to work his first at-bat to a 3-1 count but flew out to center field.
• Bobby Witt Jr. strikes out on a check swing on a McKenzie curveball.
• Vinny Pasquantino flies out to left-center. as McKenzie wasn't worked too strenuously.

Top of the 1st Inning

• Alec Marsh spent the first inning on the low and away corner of the plate creating easy defensive plays for the first two outs of the inning.
• Jose Ramirez took the third pitch of his at-bat deep into the right field stands to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.
• Marsh responded by striking out Josh Naylor to end the inning but the Guardians got the game started by jumping into an early lead.

Pregame

The Royals are honoring Cedric Tallis and John Schuerholz in pregame as new members of the Royals Hall of Fame.

87 degrees with a 10 mph win in Kansas City for the Friday night forecast between the Guardians and Royals.

Marsh gave up three runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings in his last outing against the Texas Rangers in a 4-0 loss on June 23.