Yandy Diaz and the Indians hit their way past the Royals

I’ll be honest, I had to miss most of this one, but after scrolling through the MLB At Bat app and Twitter, I see that a lot of good did not go on. Early deficit, injuries, larger deficit (mostly thanks to Yandy Diaz), and an overall lack of offense.

Well... it was a short one for Danny Duffy tonight. He only made it two outs into his outing, allowing four hits and three runs along the way. Already on his way to a terrible outing, he left early with shoulder tightness. Burch Smith came in for the long mop up outing, but had troubles of his own in 2 ¹⁄₃ frames, tacking three runs to his name.

The biggest threat to get back into this contest came in the top of the second, when the Royals got two on after a Hunter Dozier double and Ryan O’Hearn walk. But Mike Clevinger went bananas with his offspeed, striking out Brian Goodwin, Alcides Escobar, and Brett Phillips to end the threat. The Indians took advantage of the Royals missed opportunity, adding another three runs in the bottom of the second.

The Royals got on the board in the top of the fourth when Alex Gordon knocked out his 11th home run of the year. The Royals would lose their progress in the bottom half of the inning though, with Jason Kipnis bringing in the Indians seventh run off new pitcher Jake Newberry.

Jerry Vasto made his Royals debut in the sixth inning, pitching a scoreless inning with a strikeout. Brandon Maurer followed, allowed another run, and Jason Hammel finished the day for the Royals pitching staff, striking out the side in the eighth.

The Royals added a pair of runs late in this one, via a Jorge Bonifacio force out and Hunter Dozier double, his second of the game.

Day game for the rubber match of the series tomorrow. Brad Keller and his 3.26 ERA will face Corey Kluber.