Guardians regain sole first place in AL Central with 7-5 win over Royals | News, Sports, Jobs

Jhonkensy Noel of the Cleveland Guardians hits a single in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

CLEVELAND – Rookie John Kensy Noel hit home a seventh-inning single off Josh Naylor to bring home the game-winning run as the Cleveland Guardians cruised to a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals and regained sole possession of first place in the AL Central on Wednesday.

Trailing 5-2 early in the seventh, the Guardians scored four times to take their first lead. Bo Naylor hit a home run off starter Michael Wacha, while Josh Naylor, Will Brennan and Noel hit RBI singles off Lucas Erceg (2-4).

Andrés Giménez added a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give Cleveland its MLB-leading 37th comeback win to avoid a four-game sweep of the series. The Guardians were alone atop the division for 154 days until Kansas City pulled a tie on Tuesday.

“We haven’t looked like ourselves in a while, but we did in this inning,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “The response from our guys was great. Erceg was very good, but Will brought a big swing and Big Christmas (Noel) once again impressed.”

Kansas City’s seven-game road winning streak has ended, and its record since the All-Star break is 23-14. The Royals, who secured the season tiebreaker over the Guardians, host Cleveland for three games next week.

Erceg was charged with one run allowed, his first in 12 appearances and 13 1/3 innings since joining Kansas City as part of a trade from Oakland on July 30.

“It’s a tough goodbye for us, but we came here and did what we had to do,” said Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who set a career high with four hits. “I think we have their respect and they have ours. It’s going to be a fun month.”

Eli Morgan (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Emmanuel Clase earned his AL-best 39th save — along with his career-high 26th straight conversion — and tied Cody Allen’s franchise record with 149.

“The competitive spirit that Clase brings to the game and the attitude he brings to the end of the game is great. It’s great to have him there in the closing stages of a game,” said Bo Naylor. “The atmosphere today was electric, back to what we’ve known all year. This was definitely a big step in the right direction.”

Bobby Witt Jr., Pasquantino and Michael Massey hit solo home runs against Guardians ace Tanner Bibee, who allowed five runs in five innings. Witt went 2 for 5 and continues to lead baseball with a .346 batting average, 185 hits and 114 runs.

Wacha was denied his 100th career win as he pitched over six innings and allowed five runs.

TRAINING ROOM

Royals: SS Bobby Witt Jr. (right middle finger bruise) has started all 134 games at second in the batting order. The AL MVP candidate was hit by a pitch from Pedro Avila in the seventh inning on Tuesday.

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (torn right fingernail) played catcher at Progressive Field a day after throwing three innings of live batting practice. The 36-year-old starter is eligible for activation on Aug. 31.

Next

Royals: RHP Brady Singer (9-9, 3.38 ERA) starts the opening game of a four-game series at AL West leader Houston on Thursday.

Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (11-8, 3.62 ERA) will pitch the first game of a three-game home series against Pittsburgh on Friday.