By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals could not put much together, struggling both offensively on and on the mound, as the Cleveland Guardians closed out the series with a 10-2 win over the Royals at Progressive Field.
Cleveland began to pour runs on early, scoring four runs through the first two innings. Chase DeLauter's first double of the season drove in Jose Ramirez and David Fry for the first two runs of the game in the first inning, and DeLauter later scored on a double from Rhys Hoskins after starting pitcher Cole Ragans was replaced on the mound by Luinder Avila, after Ragans was hit in the hand by a line drive from Ramirez. In the second inning, Ramirez hit a double, driving in Steven Kwan who singled earlier in the inning.
Trailing 4-0, the Royals cut into the lead in the fourth inning, a Bobby Witt Jr double driving in Maikel Garcia, and then cut the lead in half in the fifth inning on a Starling Marte double that scored Lane Thomas after his leadoff walk. That would be all Kansas City managed though, and in the bottom half the Guardians scored another run off back to back doubles from Hoskins and Juan Brito, Brito's double bringing home Hoskins for the 5-2 lead.
Cleveland added the final five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Three consecutive singles scored the first run, Bryan Rocchio driving in Brito. A walk to Kwan loaded the bases, and on an 0-2 count, reliever Steven Cruz left a slider up in the zone, and Angel Martínez hit his first home run of the year, a grand slam with no outs, to give the Guardians the 10-2 lead. Cruz struck out Ramirez and was replaced on the mound by Tyler Tolbert, who gave up a single to Kyle Manzardo, but then forced DeLauter to ground into a double play ending the inning.
Ragans took the loss, falling to 0-3 on the season, giving up three runs on two hits in 0.2 innings, walking one while striking out two. At the plate, Witt Jr led the way going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Three other Royals had one hit each.
The Royals return to Kauffman Stadium next as Kansas City will host the Chicago White Sox. Seth Lugo (1-0, 1.59 ERA, 10K's) takes the mound for the Royals against Anthony Kay (0-0, 4.00 ER, 5K's) for the White Sox. First pitch will be at 6:40pm, pregame will air at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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