Cleveland Guardians at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Cleveland Guardians

51-28, 25-19 Away

Final
1 - 2

Kansas City Royals

45-38, 28-15 Home

Pasquantino hits go-ahead sacrifice fly as Royals rally to beat AL Central-rival Guardians, 2-1

Sam Long (2-1) earned the win in relief, wiggling his way out of Michael Wacha's jam in the sixth and then retiring the side in the seventh. John Schreiber handled the eighth before James McArthur worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save.

Kansas City is eight games behind Cleveland but can make up some ground during this four-game series.

“There's some expectations in this division right now,” Long said. “We're right there with them.”

Ben Lively (7-4) got some help against one of his former teams from a Cleveland defense that turned a pair of double plays to wipe away leadoff singles. The right-hander wound up allowing two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings.

“He was outstanding. Just attacking the zone, efficient with his pitches. Unfortunate there in the sixth, but still got through six,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I thought he was great.”

Wacha permitted one run on seven hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings while striking out six.

“I mean, we know the pro he is,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Just for him to keep pounding the zone — they made him work. I mean, his pitch count got up there. But he just works extremely hard.”

Quatraro watched the go-ahead rally from the clubhouse after he was ejected by third base umpire Tripp Gibson for arguing a call during the fifth inning. Nick Loftin appeared to evade a tag on a grounder by Hunter Renfroe, but Gibson said Loftin went out of the basepath — even though he was never farther outside than if he were rounding third and heading home.

Quatraro argued for a minute, then had turned to walk back to the dugout when Gibson threw him out.

It sure seemed to ignite Kansas City.

The Guardians were clinging to a 1-0 lead Daniel Schneemann provided with his sacrifice fly in the fifth when Isbel led off the sixth with a triple to right field, narrowly beating Schneemann's throw to third. Garcia followed with his own triple to right field, sliding in just ahead of Schneemann's throw again and tying the game.

Pasquantino followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly to send Kansas City to its third win in four games.

Both teams squandered plenty of chances. The Guardians left the bases loaded in the second inning and again in the sixth, and stranded nine runners in all. And the Royals had leadoff singles in three straight innings but nothing to show for them.

“We should have scored more runs tonight. Wish we could have,” Vogt said, “but these nights happen.”

HELP ON THE WAY

The Matthew Boyd, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the 33-year-old Boyd, who underwent reconstructive elbow surgery last year, must still pass a physical. He went 5-5 with a 5.45 ERA in 15 starts for Detroit last season.

ROSTER MOVES

The Guardians placed OF Will Brennan (rib inflammation) on the injured list, retroactive to Tuesday. They recalled INF José Tena and RHP Darren McCaughan from Triple-A Columbus. RHP Xzavion Curry was optioned to the same club Wednesday night.

Cleveland RHP Triston McKenzie (3-4, 4.66 ERA) faces Kansas City RHP Alec Marsh (5-5, 4.40) on Friday night.

How can I watch Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Guardians at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on FS1.
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Matchup Prediction

Royals: 47.8%

Guardians: 52.2%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Kwan grounded out to pitcher.
	9th Inning	Freeman popped out to second.
	9th Inning	Bo Naylor grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	McArthur relieved Schreiber
	8th Inning	Pasquantino grounded out to second.
	8th Inning	Witt Jr. popped out to first.

Statistics

CLE		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	1
10	Ground Balls	9
11	Strikeouts	8
1	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	6
0	Stolen Bases	1
3	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	2
1	Sacrifice Flies	1
32	At Bats	27
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	11
0	Triples	2
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	0
12	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
146	Pitches	98
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
9	Total Bases	10
37	Plate Appearances	30
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	2
3.0	Runs Created	2.3
.219	Batting Average	.222
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.281	Slugging Percentage	.370
.156	Secondary Average	.222
.297	On Base Percentage	.267
.579	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.637
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.8
3.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	2.6
15.0	Batter Rating	20.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.95	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.27
.063	Isolated Power	.148
0.27	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.13
.081	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.033
-.063	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.000
2.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
69.3	MLB Rating	72.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0