KC Royals Unable to Complete the Sweep; Lose to Indians 7-5

The KC Royals looked to sweep the Indians tonight after a late game comeback yesterday. They picked up where they left off in the first inning today when Kendrys Morales collected some more RBIs after Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas started the game with back-to-back singles. After Lorenzo Cain moved both runners with a groundout to third and Hosmer lined out, Morales poked a single up the middle to score two runs and make the score 2-0.

The Indians jumped all over Yordano Ventura in the bottom of the third inning. Roberto Perez and Michael Bourne hit back-to-back singles of their own before Jason Kipnis cleared the bases with his first home run of the year to put the Indians up 3-2.

The Royals answered with a power move in the top of the sixth inning as Eric Hosmer hit a blast after Lorenzo Cain led off with a single and the score was 4-3. Check the video. It was a shot.

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The Indians came right back in the bottom of the same inning and jacked three doubles off of Ventura before Ned Yost finally pulled him from the game and sent in Franklin Morales. The Indians proceeded to hit their fourth consecutive double of the inning courtesy of Michael Bourn and the Tribe was up 5-4. Morales threw a wild pitch that allowed Bourn to move to third before Kipnis grounded out to first to score him and increase the Indians lead to two runs.

Cleveland added an insurance run in the eighth inning when Roberto Perez hit a solo shot off of Ryan Madson to make the score 7-4.

The KC Royals tried to mount another late comeback in the ninth inning. Alex Gordon led off with a double and was able to advance to third on a fielding error by Brandon Moss. Omar Infante singled him home to make the count 7-5 but the rally sputtered and that was it.

The Royals begin their first series of the year against the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium tomorrow.

OF NOTE:

Alcides Escobar left the game in the fifth inning after getting hit in the head by a 96 mph fastball from Danny Salazar that (thankfully) caught the ear flap of Escobar’s helmet. Alcides was removed from the game and it was later reported that he had a left cheek contusion and would continue to be monitored. I don’t believe there was any intention behind Salazar’s pitch. It looked like it just got away from him and he immediately squatted down on the mound with a sickened expression after the pitch was thrown. Hopefully, (unless something unexpected is revealed) it appears that the situation is a lot less serious than it might have been.