By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals gained some ground in the division on Thursday night, scoring a big series opening win over an AL Central Rival, and beating the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium.
Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha continued a strong string of starts by the Royals rotation, giving up just one run over 5.1 innings and striking out six batters. Over the last four games, Royals starters have surrendered just three runs through 24.2 innings.
The Guardians took the lead off Wacha in the fifth inning. A Tyler Freeman single and Steven Kwan double put two in scoring position with no outs before Daniel Schneemann flew out to right field bringing Freeman across to score on the sacrifice fly.
The Royals would grab the lead in the bottom of the sixth though, back to back triples by Kyle Isbel and Maikel Garcia to open the inning tying the score. Salvador Perez later in the inning would single to score Garcia.
Kansas City's bullpen looked sharp after Sam Long replaced Wacha in the sixth inning, giving up no hits over the remainder of the game and striking out five.
Long earned the win, striking out four of the five batters, and walking one over 1.2 innings. John Schreiber recorded his 17th hold before James McArthur would come in and closed the door for his 14th save of the season.
The Royals will look to extend their win streak to three games against the Guardians on Friday. Alec Marsh is scheduled to start for the Royals against Triston McKenzie for Cleveland. First pitch is at 7:10pm with pregame at 6:30pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).