Bobby Witt Jr. smacked the tie-breaking double in the bottom of the seventh inning to help the Kansas City Royals notch a 4-3 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Saturday.
Maikel Garcia hit a tying homer off Paul Sewald (0-1) to start the seventh as the Royals evened the series at one game apiece. Salvador Perez drove in two runs for Kansas City.
Steven Kwan homered and scored twice for Cleveland.
Guardians star Jose Ramirez left after 5 1/2 innings due to a sprained right wrist after sliding into second on a steal attempt. Ramirez initially stayed in the game before exiting.
Daniel Lynch IV (1-0) pitched two perfect innings of relief for the Royals.
Kansas City trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the sixth before Kyle Isbel singled and Jonathan India walked to finish the outing of Cleveland’s Gavin Williams.
Cade Smith entered and retired the next two batters before Perez singled to left to bring Kansas City within one.
After Garcia homered off the left-field foul pole to tie it in the seventh, Cavin Biggio singled and Dairon Blanco came in as a pinch-runner and stole second. Sewald retired the next two hitters before Hunter Gaddis came on and allowed Witt’s go-ahead double.
In the ninth, Kyle Manzardo walked for the Guardians before Carlos Estevez retired the next three hitters. Estevez struck out Lane Thomas looking to end it and record his first save.
Kansas City’s Seth Lugo allowed three runs and four hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked three.
Williams gave up two runs and four hits in five-plus innings for the Guardians. He struck out two and walked one.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the second when Nolan Jones led off with a double, moved to third on Thomas’ single and scored on Bo Naylor’s single to center.
The Guardians pushed across another run in the third without the benefit of a hit. Lugo walked both Kwan and Ramirez to start the inning and Manzardo’s fly to right moved Kwan to third before Carlos Santana’s fly-out to center scored Kwan.
The Royals got one run back in the bottom of the fourth. India singled and moved to second on a wild pitch by Williams. Two outs later, India was on third when Perez hit a bloop single to center to put Kansas City on the board.
Kwan homered with two outs in the fifth to give Cleveland a 3-1 lead, smacking a 2-0 cutter from Lugo 406 feet over the fence in right-center.
–Field Level Media
