Royals grab 50th win after slugfest with Guardians

The Royals and Guardians slugged it out on Tuesday night, but it was Kansas City coming out on top with a 7-6 win. It marks the 50th win of the year for the Boys in Blue.

It was Steven Cruz on the bump for the Royals as the opener to begin the game. Following his solid outing against Chicago last week, Matt Quatraro decided he fit the role in bridging the gap to Alec Marsh again.

The big right-hander didn’t have the best command, but he grinded through 1 ²⁄₃ scoreless with four walks. For half of his outing, Cruz pitched with a lead thanks to a two-run shot from MJ Melendez in the bottom of the first.

With Marsh on the mound, Kansas City continued to pad the lead. In the bottom of the third, the Royals plated two on an RBI-single from Melendez and dribbler from Nick Loftin.

Cleveland cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth on a two-run single, but the Guardians’ momentum didn’t last long. In the ensuing inning, Kansas City added three more on soft contact. Nelson Velazquez poked a ball between Josh Naylor’s legs at first, Loftin dropped one into right-center and rookie Tyler Cropley drove in his first career RBI on a sac-fly to center field. He later tallied his first MLB hit in the ninth. When the dust settled, the Royals gave Marsh a 7-2 lead.

The bullpen, however, really struggled putting the Guardians away. Marsh surrendered two more runs before he was pulled at the end of the sixth inning. Taylor Clarke couldn’t make it through the seventh without allowing a run and Carlos Hernandez gave up a solo shot to begin the eighth. In fact, Hernandez was yanked after allowing three straight hits to begin the eighth — forcing Quatraro to call on rookie James McArthur to escape an impossible jam. With first and third and nobody out, the red-hot, right-hander struck out the side — keeping the one-run lead in tact.

Collin Snider entered in the ninth to pick up his first career save and he did just that. In doing so, he gave Marsh his second win of the season.

The Royals, 50-102, will go for a series sweep tomorrow afternoon. Zack Greinke will be making, what could be, his final career start at Kauffman Stadium. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. CT.