Kansas City Royals (36-26, second in the AL Central) vs. Cleveland Guardians (40-20, first in the AL Central)
Cleveland; Wednesday, 5:40 p.m.
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Brady Singer (4-2, 2.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 64 strikeouts); Guardians: Nick Sandlin (4-0, 2.77 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 29 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Guardians -124, Royals +104; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians host the Kansas City Royals, leading the series 1-0.
Cleveland is 21-7 at home and 40-20 overall. The Guardians have the seventh-best team ERA in baseball at 3.50.
Kansas City has gone 14-16 on the road and 36-26 overall. The Royals are 28-6 in games when they out-hit their opponents.
The teams play Wednesday for the second time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Ramirez has 13 doubles, a triple and 16 home runs while hitting .272 for the Guardians. David Fry is 12-for-32 with a double and four home runs over the past 10 games.
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt’s Jr.'s throwing error led to Cleveland scoring three runs on an infield grounder in the seventh inning in the Guardians’ 8-5 win over the Royals on Tuesday night, the first matchup this season between the AL Central’s top two teams.
The Guardians trailed 5-0 in the fourth before storming back to win the three-game series opener and push their division lead to five over the Royals.
Witt clobbered a pair of two-run homers totaling nearly 1,000 feet, but his errant throw in the seventh swung the game to Cleveland.
“I made a mistake,” Witt said. “It cost us the game.”
After Tyler Freeman’s homer tied it 5-5 for the Guardians and chased Royals starter Seth Lugo, Cleveland loaded the bases on a fielder’s choice and two walks — one by Sam Long (0-1) — with two outs when David Fry hit a grounder up the middle.
Witt gloved it to the right of the base and initially tried to beat Josh Naylor to second for a force. When Witt realized he couldn’t get the sliding Naylor, he unleashed a wild throw that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino had no chance of getting.
The ball wound up in the photographer’s pit, and because Naylor had already gotten to second base, he was awarded third and home.
Witt wished he could have a do-over.
“I should have just thrown the ball to first and made the play,” he said. “I just kind of slow played it and should have just made the decision to throw it to first. You learn from it and you try not to make those mistakes and do the little things right and tonight I didn’t.
“I’ve got to move on and learn from it,” he said while there was little conversation taking place in Kansas City’s subdued clubhouse following a tough loss.
Over in Cleveland’s side, it was a familiar scene — music and card games following the club’s 15th come-from-behind win.
“Our guys truly believe we’re one rally, one hit away from starting a rally to come back and we don’t quit,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “These guys don’t quit. And it’s just a testament to who they are. That’s who they’ve always been. And it’s just that belief that we’re going to come back.”
Rookie Cade Smith (3-0) came on for Triston McKenzie, and Emmanuel Clase worked the ninth for his AL-leading 19th save. Clase has given up just one earned run in 2024.
Naylor hit a two-run homer for the Guardians, who reached 40 wins in 60 games for just the fourth time in club history. They also did it in 1954 (42-18), 1995 (42-18) and 1999 (40-20).
Witt connected in the third and fourth innings off Cleveland starter McKenzie, who has given up eight homers in his last three starts.
Down 5-0 in the fourth after Witt’s second homer, the Guardians got Naylor’s 16th homer while scoring three in the fourth off Lugo, who came in leading the AL in wins (9) and was 6-0 in six road starts.