I guess let’s go ahead and talk about the first game first.
Both pitchers were seemingly on their game early, but at least as much of the run prevention was just bad hitting by both sides. The Guardians wasted a lead-off double from Kyle Manzardo in the second inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Royals wasted a leadoff walk from Maikel Garcia followed by a Salvador Perez single. Jac Caglianone grounded into a double play and then exited the game with left hamstring tightness. He later went on the injured
list.
In the fourth inning, the Royals finally got on the board. Bobby Witt Jr. reached on a groundball single to Brayan Rocchio at second - funnily enough, Bobby was thrown out on a pair of grounders deep in the hole at short at other times. Vinnie Pasquantino got under a pitch to center and made an out, but Maikel Garcia managed to barrel the pitch he saw and hit a two-run home run.
Maikel mashes his ninth of the season!
— Kansas City Royals (@royals.com) 2025-07-26T19:39:25.356Z
For a while, it looked like that might stand up as both teams continued wasting scoring opportunities. The Guardians manufactured a run in the top of the fifth off a Daniel Schneeman double and a pair of flyballs, including the sacrifice fly from Bo Naylor. Angel Zerpa relieved Michael Wacha in the sixth inning and got his revenge against Kyle Manzardo by inducing a deep flyball to help escape a possible jam in that inning.
John Schreiber was tasked with pitching the seventh inning and started things off with a nice strikeout, but the next three batters reached, including Schneeman scoring on a Naylor double. Fortunately, Kyle Isbel and Witt combined to gun down Brayan Rocchio, trying to score from first, keeping the game tied.
The Royals had a particularly bad sequence in the bottom of the seventh. Adam Frazier walked to lead off the inning. Tyler Tolbert pinch ran for him and stole second base - without one of those terrible challenges we’ve all grown to hate, even. John Rave tried to bunt him to third, but popped it out to Ramírez in foul territory. Freddy Fermin pinch hit for Kyle Isbel and foul popped to first. Jonathan India grounded out on an awful pitch to swing out to finish the inning. India, who started the day as the DH, was forced to come in to play second and the nine-spot became the pitcher’s spot in the order.
Things stayed even from there until Steven Cruz was tasked with getting the team to the bottom of the tenth. He struggled with the strike zone, allowing a leadoff single to Steven Kwan before walking Angel Martínez to load the bases. Jose Ramírez grounded out to Pasquantino, but Manzardo hit an RBI single to center. Steven Cruz buckled down to get out of the inning with no further damage.
In the bottom of the ninth, things got a bit crazy.
Emmanuel Clase came on to try for the save. Tyler Tolbert started the inning at second with no outs - same situation as the seventh. John Rave took four straight pitches called for balls. Two of them looked like strikes, but the strike zone had - as has become traditional - looked awful all day. With runners at first and second, the Royals pinch-hit Luke Maile, their last remaining position player, for the pitcher spot. He was thinking about bunting the runners over, but Tolbert was thinking about a double steal. Unfortunately, the Guardians were on to him and picked him off. Things seemed dire.
Maile gave up bunting and ended up taking a walk. Jonathan India came to bat again, 0-4 on the day. He took a ball and two strikes, swung at a pitch well below the strike zone and fouled it off. Then Clase left a slider in the middle of the zone. India didn’t miss it.
Indy gets his payback! #HEYHEYHEYHEY
— Kansas City Royals (@royals.com) 2025-07-26T21:31:21.093Z
The last time India saw Clase, Clase had hit him in the face. Jonny knows how to get his revenge.
Game two started off very horribly. Kris Bubic couldn’t throw a strike and walked each of the first four hitters he faced. Then he got a ground out and a strikeout, but gave up a two-run double to put the Royals in an early three-run hole. He gave up an unearned run before being pulled after only 2,2 innings. Hopefully, he’s OK.
Freddy Fermin mashed a two-run home run in the bottom of the second to get the Royals back in the game. Bobby Witt Jr. added another two-run homer in the fifth, but Jonathan Bowlan had given up a two-run dinger to Steven Kwan in the fourth, so that only pulled them to within two.
From there both bullpens pitched effectively and the game ended uneventfully.
The Twins and Tigers lost, so the Royals made up ground on them. Unfortunately, the Red Sox won. The Angels and Mariners had just started when the second game concluded.
The Royals will conclude the series at 1:10 CDT tomorrow afternoon. Joey Cantillo will face off against Noah Cameron. Considering Cantillo is a lefty, it would be nice if new Royal Randal Grichuk could make it to Kansas City in time to start and potentially give the Royals’ offense a boost as they try to take the series from their division rivals.
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