American League Central foes, pay close attention to the “objects in mirror may be closer than they appear” note in your rear view mirror. After a less-than-stellar April, the Kansas City Royals have won all five of their games in May and are now half a game out of first place. Kansas City’s efficient 5-3 victory against the Guardians marks the second consecutive win against Cleveland and ensures a series split an minimum.
The Royals got their first runs on the board extremely quickly. Maikel Garcia
led off with a walk and a sassy little bat toss, and Bobby Witt Jr. followed that up with a line drive double. Though Vinnie Pasquantino hit a harmless infield popup, Salvador Perez knocked a line drive to right field to score Garcia and Witt. Royals lead, 2-0. Kansas City starting pitcher Stephen Kolek—throwing from the mound in place of Noah Cameron, who’s sidelined due to a back spasm—surely appreciated it.
After that, Carter Jensen struck out (as did Jac Caglianone). This would be a theme of the night.
Kansas City nearly scored again in the second inning, as an Isaac Collins single and Kyle Isbel walk put runners on first and second with one out and bring Garcia and Witt up to bat for the second time in two innings. Unfortunately, they couldn’t push a run across.
This loomed large two innings later. Kolek had largely trucked through the Guardians lineup, but Cleveland started to make some seriously hard contact in the fourth inning. Chase DeLauter led off with a single, after which Royals nemesis Kyle Manzardo singled. Rhys Hoskins then launched a line drive barely fair inside the left field foul pole for a three-run home run to put Cleveland ahead 3-2.
But that was really it for the Guardians offense against Kolek, who turned in a perfectly acceptable, even laudable, performance. Kolek pitched six full innings and didn’t walk anybody, striking out three and only giving up those three runs.
Cleveland wasn’t able to enjoy its meager lead very long. In the bottom of the same inning they scored three, the Royals roared back. Caglianone struck out (I told you, this was a theme), but then Collins notched his second hit of the night—a hustle double to the gap. Then, Cleveland starter Gavin Williams worked Michael Massey to a 1-2 count. Williams unleashed a pitch that was close but was called a ball, and the Guardians challenged. The ball stood, bringing the count even.
And the very next pitch, Massey turned into his alter ego MICHAEL MASHEY and crushed a no-doubter to right field for a two-run shot that put the Royals back on top, 4-3.
Once again, the Royals threatened in the fifth, but another Pasquantino popup and Salvy double play de-fanged the situation. And once again, a different Royals batter picked him up: Collins, whose solo home run in the sixth inning won someone $100 in the Sonic Slam Inning and gave the Royals some additional wiggle room. It was Collins’ third hit of the night.
Unfortunately, Collins wasn’t able to get a fourth at bat and chance for the cycle, because the rest of the game was relatively perfunctory. Lucas Erceg did walk a batter in the ninth, but it was with two outs and he managed to get a quick groundout. Lights Out Lucas did it again. Royals win, 5-3.
And that trend Jensen was on? He struck out four times, earning the ignominious (yet unofficial) ‘Golden Sombrero’ moniker. Fortunately him, tonight was Taco Tuesday Cinco de Mayo. Let’s just say that Jensen is a cultural ambassador and be pleased with it.
Quotes of the game
“Really good Major League pitcher.” – Matt Quatraro, on how he views Stephen Kolek
“That’ll be a great problem for us to have.” – Q again, on what will happen to the closer spot when Carlos Estevez returns
Look: there have been years in Royals history—multiple—many, even—where Kolek would have been the staff ace. But he’s the sixth pitcher. Quatraro was asked postgame what he thought of Kolek, who to date has delivered six solid starts for Kansas City dating back to last year. The Royals clearly like Kolek, and for good reason. I wonder if Cameron continues to scuffle if they will swap places eventually.
At the end of the presser, I asked Q the one burning question on my mind: what happens when Carlos Estevez is back? Will Erceg remain the closer? Quatraro thinks it’s a good problem to have, and didn’t give away the Royals’ thought process. On one hand, Erceg as a Wade Davis-type fireman might be the better usage of him. On the other, can the Royals really trust Estevez with the closer role when his underlying metrics are scary, to say the least?
Time will tell. We’ll figure it out later. For now, the Royals clubhouse bumps celebratory rap music as Kansas City continues to roll forward with momentum.
