Cleveland Guardians vs Kansas City Royals Match Player Stats On Sep 01, 2021

Austin Hedges' bloop single with two outs in the top of the 11th inning lifted the visiting Cleveland Indians to a 5-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

After the Royals' Ervin Santana (1-2) retired the first two batters in the 11th, Bobby Bradley was intentionally walked. Hedges lofted one just beyond the reach of first baseman Carlos Santana, scoring pinch runner Daniel Johnson, who began the inning at second. Yu Chang then drove in Bradley with a double.

Both teams wasted opportunities in the 10th. Domingo Tapia got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the inning, getting Franmil Reyes to fly out. The Royals (59-73) had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th and couldn't score against Blake Parker (2-0)

Taylor Stephan pitched a perfect inning to earn his first career save.

The Indians (66-64), who have won three in a row overall, will aim for a three-game series sweep on Thursday. The Royals, who led 3-0 after four innings, dropped their third straight contest.

Both starting pitchers were solid, but neither was involved in the decision.

Kansas City's Jackson Kowar allowed two runs, both unearned, on five hits over six innings, lowering his ERA from 18.00 to 8.18. Cleveland's Logan Allen allowed three runs (two earned) in 6 2/3 innings.

The Royals loaded the bases in the first with one out on singles by Whit Merrifield and Nicky Lopez and a one-out walk to Carlos Santana, but they managed only one run, on Michael A. Taylor's sacrifice fly.

Kansas City added an unearned run in the second when Adalberto Mondesi, who made his first appearance since mid-June, combined for a double steal with Hanser Alberto and scored on a throwing error by catcher Hedges.

Mondesi hit a home run in the fourth, 422 feet to left center, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

The Indians cut into the deficit in the fifth. They put the first two runners on against Kowar, who retired the next two batters. Andres Gimenez then hit a drive off the tip of Taylor's glove in left-center for a two-base error, scoring Bradley Zimmer and Harold Ramirez.

Royals reliever Jake Brentz gave up a game-tying home run to Chang in the seventh. It was Chang's first career pinch-hit home run and just his second hit in 19 pinch-hit at-bats.

--Field Level Media