Andres Gimenez, Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor each blasted solo home runs to help the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 win against the visiting Kansas City Royals in the opener of their four-game series on Thursday night.
Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee allowed one run and four hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked four.
Eli Morgan (4-1), Enyel De Los Santos, Trevor Stephan and Nick Sandlin followed with scoreless innings apiece for the Guardians, who have won four of six to remain within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Minnesota Twins in the AL Central.
Royals starter Jordan Lyles was aiming to win back-to-back starts after losing his first 11 decisions this season, but he departed after five innings with the score tied 1-1. He surrendered six hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
Drew Waters had two hits for Kansas City, which has lost four straight.
Amir Garrett (0-1) relieved Lyles to start the sixth and was immediately tagged for back-to-back home runs by Ramirez and Naylor to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead.
Cleveland wasn’t finished, as Gimenez walked, stole second and third and came home on a fielding error by second baseman Nicky Lopez with the infield drawn in to make it 4-1.
Bo Naylor came up with two outs in the inning and doubled into the right-field corner, scoring Will Brennan from first base to extend the lead to 5-1.
Guardians center fielder Myles Straw, who saved a run with a sliding catch to end the fourth, added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 6-1.
After rain delayed the start of the game 81 minutes, Bobby Witt Jr. singled with one out in the first and stole second before coming home on a single by Nick Pratto to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead.
Gimenez fouled off a pair of 0-2 pitches to lead off the second before lifting a home run over the right field fence to tie the score 1-1.
–Field Level Media
