Wacha, bullpen stifle Cleveland bats in 2-1 win

The offense did just enough late

It has been a long month for the Royals. Just 1.5 games back of Cleveland in the AL Central month ago, they entered this weekend’s four-game series 9.0 games back of the Guardians. Tonight, they got one of those games back thanks to a strong night from Michael Wacha and the bullpen. The Kansas City offense got two late runs and steal a series-opening 2-1 win.

The Royals improve to 45-38 while Cleveland falls to 51-28.

Both offenses were quiet to start, and Wacha was solid in his second start back from the IL. He got into a little trouble in the 2nd inning, loading up to bases with two walks and a hit batter, but got out of the inning by inducing a Steven Kwan groundout.

The Guardians finally got to him in the 5th. Tyler Freeman led off with a single and moved to 3rd on a Kwan double. Daniel Schneemann drove in Freeman with a sacrifice fly, giving Cleveland their first lead of the night, 1-0. Wacha was able to escape the jam without further damage, though.

Kansas City responded with a threat of their own. Nick Loftin drew a one-out walk and stole second, but was stranded there on a controversial play.

With two outs, Hunter Renfroe hit a soft ground ball to Jose Ramirez, who attempted to tag Loftin out. Loftin evaded to his right, and avoided the tag, but was called out of the baseline. Matt Quatraro was ejected arguing the call.

The Royals offense continued to struggle. Ben Lively sliced through Kansas City’s order, retiring 15 of the first 19 batters he faced.

Wacha got himself back in trouble the next half inning, when Andres Gimenez doubled with one out and moved to 3rd on Gabriel Arias’ single.

Sam Long replaced Wacha to face Bo Naylor, getting a much-needed strikeout to bring up Tyler Freeman at the bottom of the order. After recording the big strikeout, he issued a bad walk to Freeman to bring Kwan to the plate with the bases loaded. Fortunately, Long got Kwan to strikeout and keep it a 1-0 game.

Wacha exited after going into the 6th, giving up just the single run on seven hits, striking out six Guardians.

The Royals responded to Long’s effort with their first runs of the game. Back-to-back triples from Kyle Isbel and Maikel Garcia tied the game at 1-1 before Vinnie Pasquantino gave Kansas City their first lead of the night on a sac fly, making it 2-1.

The Royals needed nine outs from their bullpen to seal the deal and they didn’t disappoint, giving one of their strongest efforts of the season.

Long delivered a shutdown 1-2-3 7th inning after escaping trouble in the 6th, before John Schreiber sat the Guardians down in order in the 8th.

Facing the 8-9-1 hitters, James McArthur eight pitches to put Cleveland away. Kansas City ended the night retiring 10 straight batters for a much needed stress-free performance from the bullpen.

Up Next: Royals v. Guardians, Friday, June 28, 7:10 PM CDT, Kauffman Stadium. RHP Alec Marsh (5-5, 4.40 ERA) v. RHP Triston McKenzie (3-4, 4.66 ERA)