KC Royals drop contest against Boston, gain no ground On Cleveland

Chris Sale dominated the KC Royals for most of the night on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, as the Royals drop game 2 of the 3-game set 8-3.

Mike Moustakas hit his 19th HR, giving him 100 for his career, with 2 outs in the 2nd inning to open the scoring and give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Alcides Escobar lead off the 3rd inning with a single, and Chris Sale began to look human…then he retired 19 in a row.

Sale went into “Dominate Mode” Tuesday night and the Red Sox offense was too much for Matt Strahm, who was making his 2nd career big league start. The Red Sox scored 4 runs in the 4th inning and 3 more in the 6th, which proved to be far more than Chris Sale was going to allow.

Sale was chased from the game with one out in the 9th after Jorge Bonifacio hit a fairly well-placed slider to the Sonic Seats in left-center field. The homer was 10th of the year for Bonifacio, who has been a pleasant surprise in right field for the KC Royals.

In accordance with the KC Royals Devil Magic, the Cleveland Indians also lost tonight, 6-5, at the hands of Chris Tillman and the Baltimore Orioles. Kansas City remains 3.5 back of Cleveland in the AL Central.

The KC Royals have been hotter than any team in the American League over the last week or so. This loss is nothing to be worried about. Let’s try the “Say-It-Out-Loud” test. “Chris Sale vs. rookie making his second career start.”

You can’t win them all, but now the pressure is on for Ian Kennedy and the Boys in Blue tomorrow afternoon against Drew Pomeranz. If the KC Royals win, they win the series against the Boston Red Sox and will move back within one game of .500.

Next: An interview with Elliot Johnson

Cleveland will trot out Carlos Carrasco (7-3, 3.21), who has been fantastic this year, against Baltimore and Kevin Gausman (3-6, 6.60), who has been less than fantastic this year.