Cleveland unleashes flurry of extra base hits to defeat Kowar and the Royals 8-3

Jackson Kowar has been inexplicably, horrifically bad this year at the big league level. Entering today, his ERA was 11.45 and his FIP was 7.12. Notably, he has made seven starts so far, and has given up less than four runs exactly once. Today, he continued this trend, giving up five runs in a mere 4.1 innings. The bullpen imploded behind him and the Royals offense just couldn’t keep up, gifting Cleveland a 8-3 win in their last home game ever as the Cleveland Racists.

The trouble started early for Kowar, who left his second pitch middle-middle for Myles Straw to hammer for a double. Amed Rosario, noted Royals killer, then crushed another fastball that stayed up for a ground rule double of his own, and was scored by a sac fly from Franmil Reyes.

That extra base train would continue to leave the station, as Bradley Zimmer and Andres Giminez both crushed doubles of their own in the second inning. Rosario—who else—would hit a home run in the third inning. Kowar managed a clean fourth inning, but after giving up a pair of singles in the fifth inning, his time was basically up. Gabe Speier did a nice job in mopping up a bases loaded mess while only allowing one more to score, but at that point Cleveland led 5-3.

The Royals, for their part, managed to score those three runs against Cal Quantrill, who has a 2.73 ERA for Cleveland since last year. Salvador Perez and Andrew Benintendi unleashed some extra base hits of their own, but unfortunately the Royals lineup also included five players (Whit Merrifield, Nicky Lopez, Carlos Santana, Hunter Dozier, and Ryan O’Hearn) to combine for two hits and no walks.

The other thing of note: Bradley Zimmer took Kyle Zimmer deep! The Zimmer-on-Zimmer crime further highlights how much better of a career Bradley has had over Kyle, but even so, it’s a fun thing to see.

Cleveland and the Royals are not done yet, as they will continue their last series of the season, but this time in Kansas City.

Barring an unforeseen circumstance in which I pick up a recap from someone else, this is the final recap you will read from me this year, as we’ve only got a week left in the season. Thank you to the readers who have stuck around to read these recaps in another season with the Royals adrift in mediocrity, and I hope we’ve provided some sort of levity and interest along the way.