Royals drop Game 2 to Cleveland, 5-1

After winning the night before, the Royals returned to their ugly ways in a 5-1 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night. The loss drops Kansas City to 45 games under .500.

Going into the game, the odds were stacked against Royals right-hander Zack Greinke. His 1-10 record was put up against one of the top arms for the Guardians in Aaron Civale. Despite that, Greinke went toe-to-toe with him for the first two innings.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the third that the scoreless tie was brokeN. Bo Naylor, who came in hitting under .200, cranked a solo shot to right field to make it 1-0. However, two innings later, Nicky Lopez tied things back up on an RBI-single to left field. Unfortunately, that’s as good as it got offensively.

Greinke and the defense ran out of gas in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two out, former Blue Valley high and K-State Wildcat Will Brennan put the Guardians back in front on a single to centerfield. Moments later, Naylor crushed his second homer of the night — this time worth two runs.

The Royals made some noise in the top of the eighth — putting runners at the corners and no out, but came up empty. Maikel Garcia rolled into his second double play of the night and Bobby Witt Jr grounded out.

Kansas City, 29-74, will go for a rubber match victory tomorrow afternoon. Alec Marsh squares off with Gavin Williams. First pitch is set for 12:10 p.m. CT.