Royals fall to the Guardians 7-4 in extra innings

Final Score: KC 4 | CLE 7

Overall Record: 0-1

Winning/Losing Pitcher

W: Emmanuel Clase (1-0 | 9.00 ERA)

L: Sam Long (0-1 | 18.00 ERA)

Royals’ Player of the Game

Vinnie Pasquantino

2 for 4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI

Vinnie stepped to the plate with two on and two outs in the bottom of the 3^rd inning, hitting an absolute bomb into the Royal’s bullpen in right field. The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead, though that lead would be lost by the 6^th inning.

With the Royals on the verge of defeat, Vinnie kicked off the bottom of the 9^th inning with a standup double, leading to the Royals tying the game on a Michael Massey sac fly. Vinnie was the engine that drove the Royals’ offense today.

Key highlights

Cole Ragans had a shaky start to the game, which was not completely his fault. The Guardians got two hits on a swinging bunt and bloop single, followed by a Ragans walk to load the bases. He was able to get out of the inning with a 97 MPH strikeout. With two outs in the bottom of the 3^rd, Bobby Witt Jr legged out an infield single to extend the inning and bring Vinnie to the plate, leading to his 3-run home run.

The Guardians took the lead on Angel Zerpa’s first pitch in the 6^th inning, a two-run homer off the bat of Kyle Manzardo. The trio of Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg, and Carlos Estévez made quick work of the Guardians in their respective innings. All three allowed zero baserunners. These three will be integral to the Royals’ success this season, and it was great to see them get off to a good start.

The Royals had a prime opportunity to at least tie the game in the bottom of the 8^th with runners on 1^st and 3^rd and nobody out, but they had some very questionable baserunning that led to both Dairon Blanco and Kyle Isbel being caught in rundowns for a double play. That seemed to be the nail in the coffin, but the Royals rallied to score a run on a Michael Massey sac fly in the bottom of the 9^th to send the game to extras. Unfortunately, the rally was all for naught, as the Guardians plated three in the top of the 10^th and went on to win the game 7-4.

Summary of the next game

Cleveland Guardians @ Kansas City Royals

Saturday, March 29^th @ 3:10 pm CT

Pitchers: RHP Seth Lugo vs. TBD (Tanner Bibee’s illness may have adjusted Cleveland’s pitching plans)

The Royals will look to bounce back after a tough loss to the Guardians in game one of the series. Ragans was a little shaky in his first start of the year, and we’ll see if Lugo can avoid the same. Look for Maikal Garcia to get his first start of the season, after somewhat surprisingly not getting the start on opening day. The Royals battled to the end today, and we’ll see if they can use that fight to be on the winning side come Saturday.

_{Image credit: AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann}