KANSAS CITY, Mon – Triston McKenzie narrowed Kansas City to one run and two hits over six innings, and Cleveland beat the Royals 4-2 on Thursday night.
Owen Miller hit a triple homer in the fifth inning, which is a great help to McKenzie, who has dominated the Royals throughout his young career.
One day after being activated from the injury list, McKenzie (4-5) showed no adverse effects from recent shoulder fatigue and improved to 3-0 with an ERA of 1.57 in six games against Kansas City. He hit six on Thursday and has 38 punchouts over 28⅔ innings against the AL Central enemy.
Cleveland has won eleven games in a row against the Royals, the longest winning streak over Kansas City in the club’s history.
Emmanuel Clase threw the ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.
Mike Minor (8-12) dominated the first four innings, allowing only one hit. In the fifth it went quickly south. He finished with three runs (two earned) on five hits in five innings.
Hunter Dozier scored a two-man single in the second run to give the Royals their first run.
Harold Ramirez led the fifth achievement through a mistake by third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. Yu Chang then went single before Miller hit a drive 390 feet into the left field seats for his fourth home run of the season.
Chang drove into Jose Ramirez on his second single in the eighth inning. Ramirez started with one step and moved up to second place with a groundout. Chang hit the shift with a sharp single to the right.
The Royals had runners in first and second places with an out in the eighth game, only for the second time in the game had they hit two runners in an inning, but Salvador Perez was kicked out and Andrew Benintendi landed on the floor.
The Royals got Clase thrown off the track in ninth because of an RBI groundout from Edward Olivares.
Exercise room
Royal INF Adalberto Mondesi was not on the line-up after returning from the injured list on Wednesday, and manager Mike Matheny said it was a planned rest day. Mondesi played for the first time since June 20 on Wednesday due to a left skew. He has only played 11 games this season and was the designated hitter on Wednesday. He’ll likely have time at third base when he’s in the field.
Next
Cleveland travels to Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox. RHP Cal Quantrill (4-2, 2.93 ERA) will face RHP Nathan Eovaldi (10-8, 3.71 ERA).
The Royals continue the homestand with a three-game series against the first-placed White Sox. Matheny has yet to name a starter to take on Chicago’s LHP Dallas Keuchel (8-7, 5.00 ERA).
