CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie C.J. Kayfus hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.
Cleveland (75-71) has won six of seven and took three of four in the series against its AL Central rival as it tries to stay in contention for the final AL wild card spot.
The Guardians trail Seattle by three games with 15 games remaining.
Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino became the fourth left-handed batter in Royals history to record 30 home runs in a season with a two-run drive in the first inning. The last Royals lefty batter to reach the mark was Mike Moustakas with 38 in 2017. The others were John Mayberry (34 in 1975) and Hall of Famer George Brett (30 in 1985).
The Royals (74-73) have gone 4-6 in their last 10 games and are 4 1/2 games back for the final wild card.
Guardians’ catcher Bo Naylor led off the eighth with a base hit to right field. Kayfus followed with a towering 425-foot drive to right-center on a low fastball on a 1-0 count from John Schreiber (3-3) for his third homer of the season.
Matt Festa (4-3) got the win with a scoreless eighth inning. Cade Smith hit Jonathan India with a fastball to lead off the ninth and then retired the next three batters for his 13th save.
Key moment
The Royals were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They had runners at the corners with two outs in the sixth, but Guardians starter Gavin Williams struck out India with a sweeper on a full count to end the frame.
Key stat
In 30 games since Aug. 10, Pasquatino leads the majors with 33 RBIs and is tied with the Mets’ Juan Soto at 11 home runs.
Up next
Royals: Open a three-game series at Philadelphia on Friday with RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-10, 4.63 ERA) on the mound.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source hayspost.com ’
