The Kansas City Royals could only plate one run with the bases loaded, as their continued malaise on offense and worn out bullpen led to a 7-1 loss against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals were trailing 2-0 after Cleveland plated runs in the second and fifth, but had the chance to break out of their slump in the sixth with the bases loaded and nobody out. They were only able to bring Tommy Pham home from third on a one-out sacrifice fly from Paul DeJong, and stranded two when MJ Melendez struck out to end the end. That would be the closest the Royals would get to ending their losing streak, as Cleveland’s Brayan Rocchio belted a two-run home run to left field in the next inning to expand Cleveland’s lead. James McArthur gave up a bases-loaded walk and two-out single in the eighth for Cleveland’s final runs; all three runners were charged to Lucas Erceg in his first outing since injuring his throwing hand in Houston.
Brady Singer took the loss, going 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
While the Royals have the second-longest losing streak in the majors at the moment, they’re still a game behind Minnesota and four-and-a-half games ahead of Boston, as both the Twins and Red Sox lost Tuesday night. So too did Detroit and Seattle. The Royals will look to avoid the sweep in their final regular-season match with Cleveland on Wednesday evening. Pregame is at 6 p.m., with first pitch at 6:40, on KMMO-FM 102.9.