By MATT PIKE
On a cold day in Cleveland, the temperature 33 degrees at first pitch, St. Joseph's Noah Cameron put together another efficient start for the Kansas City Royals, but the Guardians picked up a 2-1 walk off win at Progressive Field.
Despite the cold air making it hard to produce offense, the Royals took the lead first in the game on a big home run from Carter Jensen, his second home run of the season in a second consecutive game, the ball sailing 389 feet to right center field to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead at the end of two innings.
Cleveland got the tying run off Cameron in the fifth inning. Austin Hedges singled, and advanced to second base on a ground out by Brayan Rocchio. With two outs in the inning, Steven Kwan singled off of Cameron to score Hedges and tie the game up at one, and after surrendering another single to Angel Martínez, Cameron forced Jose Ramirez to fly out, ending the inning tied 1-1.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Cameron gave up a single to Juan Brito and was pulled from the game for reliever Daniel Lynch. Cameron exited the game pitching 5.2 innings and giving up one run on six hits, striking out five and walking one, his season ERA lowering to 1.69. Lynch struck out CJ Kayfus to end the inning.
Kansas City did threaten in the eighth inning after back-to-back walks to Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie Pasquantino. Witt Jr stole second base prior to the walk to Pasquantino, and after Lane Thomas pinch ran for the Royals first baseman, a double steal was executed and Witt Jr stole third while Thomas stole second with two outs. Jensen however struck out to end the threat and the game remained tied.
To start the bottom of the ninth, after a hitless top half for Kansas City, the Royals brought on John Schreiber in relief. Schreiber forced Brito to ground out for the first out, but then gave up a single to Kayfus, and followed that with a walk to pinch hitter Bo Naylor, putting the winning run at second base for Rocchio, who came to the plate 0-for-3. The Guardians shortstop came through in the situation though, singling into right field, and Thomas was unable to get enough behind his throw to home, allowing Kayfus to score the winning run.
Schreiber moved to 0-1 on the season, pitching 0.1 of an inning and giving up two hits and one run while walking one. At the plate, the Kansas City offense managed just one hit overall, with Jensen going 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and an RBI.
Kansas City wraps up the short road trip to Cleveland tomorrow. Cole Ragans (0-2, 3.60 ERA, 13K's) takes the mound for the Royals against Joey Cantillo (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 11K's) for the Guardians. First pitch will be joined at 12:10pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.