The Guardians needed every ounce of offense they could squeeze out of Friday night, because the pitching wasn’t exactly handing out favors at Kauffman Stadium.
Still, Cleveland found a way to keep its grip on the AL Central, outlasting the Royals 12-9 after a ninth-inning burst that turned a tied game into a runaway. With the White Sox beating the Rockies 6-1 earlier in the evening, the Guardians couldn’t afford a slip. They didn’t take one.
José Ramírez, Chase DeLauter and Petey Halpin each drew bases-loaded walks in the ninth to push Cleveland in front, and Angel Martinez finished the job with a two-run double that gave him four RBI on the night. The Guardians drew 13 walks overall, six of them in the ninth, and turned four of those free passes into runs.
A fifth walk led to a force at the plate. It was Cleveland’s highest walk total in a game since it drew 13 against Toronto on Sept.
9, 1979.
The late damage came after Hunter Gaddis had already seen a lead disappear. Carter Jensen tied the game with a two-out homer in the eighth, and the Guardians were left leaning on an offense that kept answering back.
Gavin Williams never found his footing in this one. The Guardians’ emerging ace lasted just 3 1/3 innings, and Kansas City kept forcing him into traffic.
The Royals sent seven batters to the plate in the first, and Williams walked three while giving up two hits in the inning. His control never really settled down from there.
Cleveland jumped ahead 2-0 in the first on Martinez’s one-out single against Royals starter Mark Cameron, but Maikel Garcia answered with an RBI single in the bottom half to trim the margin to 2-1.
Austin Hedges gave the Guardians a 3-1 edge in the second with his sixth homer of the season, a leadoff shot to left that was his first since Aug. 24 against the Angels.
Kansas City kept punching back. In the third, John Rave opened with a bunt single and moved to second when Ramírez committed an error on the play. Jensen then crushed a two-run homer to right, his 26th of the year, to tie it at 3-3.
Cleveland briefly nudged back in front in the fourth. Hedges walked, Brayan Rocchio singled, and Steven Kwan advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt before Ramírez lifted a sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead. But the Royals answered again with two runs in their half of the inning to go ahead 5-4.
That frame started with Williams walking Rave, and after Kyle Isbel’s bunt moved him to second, Tim Herrin came on. Rave stole third and scored on Jensen’s sacrifice fly, which gave him three RBI on the night and 78 for the season.
Then Bobby Witt Jr., Jac Caglianone and Garcia strung together three straight singles. Witt stole second and scored on Caglianone’s hit, and Garcia’s slow roller to Ramírez ended with Caglianone caught in a rundown between second and third.
Caglianone had already been tagged out in a 9-3-4-5 rundown earlier while trying to score from second on Garcia’s single to right.
The Guardians finally seized control in the fifth. David Fry launched a two-run homer, Rocchio added an RBI grounder, and Cleveland moved ahead 7-5.
That edge didn’t last through the eighth, when Jensen’s homer off Gaddis tied things up again. But the Guardians kept stacking walks in the ninth and made Kansas City pay. By the time Martinez doubled, Cleveland had turned a tight game into a three-run cushion.
Salvador Perez added the Royals’ final damage with a two-run homer in the ninth off Matt Festa.
The game began 40 minutes late because of rain, but Cleveland still walked away with the kind of win that keeps the division race in its hands. The Guardians’ magic number to clinch is two with two games left.
Gaddis (6-4) got the win, and Pearson (2-4) took the loss.
Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (6-15, 4.35) will face Royals RHP Michael Wacha (9-9, 3.33) Saturday at 7:10 p.m.
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For a club that has leaned on run prevention all season, the formula held up again in Boston. Clevelands pitching staff blanked the Red Sox from start to finish, and the kind of slim-margin win that can define October left the Guardians with both a playoff berth secured and a division race still very much alive. [Read more 🡒]