The Kansas City Royals made use of another pitching gem from Cole Ragans, coming from behind to defeat the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, avoiding a sweep by their division foes.

Ragans gave up two runs in the second but otherwise kept the Guardians contained, claiming ten strikeouts over 7.2 innings while allowing four hits. One of the runs was unearned after a Bobby Witt Jr throwing error. Meanwhile, the Royals offense finally got to Guardians pitching, roughing up starting pitcher Ben Lively for a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Salvador Perez tied the game with a two-run home run in the fourth. Maikel Garcia went three-for-four, including the go-ahead RBI double in the fifth. Kyle Isbel went three-for-three, including a double.

Ragans claimed his first win of the year and now leads the majors in strikeouts with 31. He’s the second Royals pitcher to post at least ten punchouts in three consecutive games, matching Kevin Appier’s feat in 1996. The Royals are back to .500 on the year, one-and-a-half games behind Detroit. The Royals now pay a visit to The Bronx for the start of a three-game series against the Yankees. Seth Lugo will get the start. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m., with pregame coverage on KMMO-FM 102.9 beginning at 5:30 p.m.