KC Royals Lose 12-1 as Jeremy Guthrie Struggles

Jeremy Guthrie gave up 7 earned runs over 5 1/3 innings, including 6 in the 6th inning, as the KC Royals dropped the final game of a three-game set.

The Indians jumped on Guthrie quickly, loading the bases with one out in the 1st.

Guthrie looked poised to get out of the inning unscathed with a one-out strikeout of Brandon Moss before hitting Yan Gomes with an 0-2 fastball to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.

The Indians grabbed another run in the bottom of the 2nd on a Francisco Lindor sacrifice fly, driving in Michael Bourn, and making it a 2-0 game.

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Indians starter Corey Kluber cruised through four perfect innings before giving up a leadoff double to Eric Hosmer in the 5th.

An Omar Infante bunt single put runners on first and third with one out but the Royals failed to take advantage as Paulo Orlando struck out and Drew Butera grounded out to second to end the threat.

Guthrie, in what could be his last start as a Royal, found a groove after laboring through the first two innings, retiring 10 of his next 12 hitters, the last of which being a strikeout from Gomes to begin the 6th.

However, following the Gomes strikeout, the next six Indians reached base off of Guthrie, including a solo home run by Giovanny Urshela, three straight singles leading up to a three-run home run by Francisco Lindor, and finally, a solo home run from Michael Brantley to make it 8-0 Indians.

The last of the three singles was an RBI single by Kipnis, which was immediately followed by Lindor’s three-run shot and Brantley’s solo shot.

Wednesday marked the third instance in which Guthrie had given up three or more home runs in a given start and the second time he had given up three or more home runs in one inning.

The Indians added four more runs in the bottom of the 8th on Brandon Moss two-run single, driving in Brantley and Santana, followed by a two-run home run by Gomes to make it 12-0 Indians.

The Royals avoided the shutout in the ninth, after a Kendrys Morales walked and a Hosmer double lead to an Alex Rios RBI groundout to third, to make it a 12-1 game before Cheslor Cuthbert grounded out to end the game.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Royals, as well as snapping a six-game losing streak for the Indians.

Notables:

• The rough start by Jeremy Guthrie may very well decide whether he is moved to the bullpen instead of Chris Young. Guthrie is in the last year of his contract, with a $10 million mutual option for 2016 and a $3.2 million buyout, so this may be Guthrie’s final bow as a Royals starter.
• Eric Hosmer was 2-4 with two doubles on the afternoon, giving him an extra-base hit in four of his last five games, including two home runs this series. Hosmer’s OPS has jumped from .795 on July 21 to .857 after today’s game.
• Jason Kipnis went 3-5 with a double and an RBI on the afternoon. For the series, Kipnis was 9-13 with two doubles and a walk.
• Corey Kluber was fantastic for the Indians, throwing his fourth career complete game. Kluber struck out six while giving up only five hits over his nine innings of work.

Next: Kansas City Royals vs. Toronto Blue Jays; Thursday, July 29,  6:07 PM CT, at Rogers Centre; LHP Danny Duffy (4-4, 4:03 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (7-6, 3.55 ERA)

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