Royals fall to Jose Ramirez and the Indians, split two-game set in Cleveland
The Kansas City Royals didn’t have the answer for Cleveland Indians star José Ramírez, and it cost them more than once on Wednesday.
Despite an excellent start by Jakob Junis just a few days after he’d been used on back-to-back days out of the bullpen, the Royals lost 4-2 to the Indians, splitting a two-game series at Progressive Field.
Ramírez, the runner-up in last year’s AL MVP voting, drove in all of the Indians runs: a two-run home run that gave them a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning and another two-run homer that broke a tie in the eighth.
“He’s a good hitter,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “You’re only going to keep a good hitter down so long. We had a couple opportunities to maybe even get out of that inning. You give him too many chances and he’ll make you pay. That’s the kind of guy that can hurt you, especially in a park like this one.”
Junis tossed five scoreless innings and allowed just one hit and struck out six.
Salvador Perez hit his second home run of the season, and infielder Nicky Lopez had an RBI single to drive in the Royals’ other run.
Hunter Dozier returned to the lineup at third base after leaving the Royals’ season opener last week because of what the club called a thumb contusion on his right hand. He batted sixth and went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber allowed two runs on three hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out 12.
The Royals went up 1-0 in the fourth on a Salvador Perez solo home run crushed into the shrubbery behind the center field wall. Perez drew a walk in his previous at-bat.
“I think in my first at-bat I’d seen all his pitches,” Perez said. “He threw me everything. ... My second at-bat, I tried to see something up. He threw me a curveball, first pitch. I see it up and I swing. I hit it good.
“He was good, man. You know, he won the Cy Young in the American League last year. So you’re not going to have too many pitches to hit. We’ve got to be selective, swing at good pitches.”
The Royals made that lead hold up until the sixth.
After the Indians’ offense was largely lifeless against Junis, they turned the game around with two hits against relief pitcher Jesse Hahn.
First, Andres Gimenez’s single on the ground into right field put a runner on to start the frame. After back-to-back attempts to turn double plays came up a split second short, Ramírez stepped to the plate.
Ramírez nearly tied it when he took a hack at the first pitch from Hahn and hooked it down the right field line into the bleachers for a foul ball.
However, he did not hook the next pitch. Ramírez hit a 95-mph fastball for a towering fly ball that landed an estimated 355 feet away over the right field wall to give his club a 2-1 advantage.
The Royals pulled even in the seventh on the strength of the bottom of their lineup.
Bieber had been magnificent aside from the Perez home run. He’d struck out 11 going into the seventh, and he added a 12th to start the inning when he got Hunter Dozier swinging. With one out, No. 7 hitter Kyle Isbel came back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk, then Michael A. Taylor singled up the middle to get Bieber removed from the game.
Nicky Lopez came through with a clutch RBI single against Indians reliever James Karinchak to tie the score 2-2.
With the score still tied, Royals veteran reliever Greg Holland walked the first batter of the eighth inning. Then after a strikeout, Ramírez came up and delivered again, this time with a line drive that hit the top of the right field wall and carried over for a two-run homer.
“He’s a great hitter,” Perez said. “He don’t miss mistakes. The one on Holland was a little bit up, and you have a great hitter. He was close to winning MVP a couple years ago. …
“You guys know Greg Holland is one of the best closers I ever caught in my life. He left it up a little bit. Today is over, we concentrate on the next series.”
Up next
The Royals begin a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. Thursday’s 3:10 p.m. game will mark the home opener for the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Royals right-hander Brad Keller will start the first game of the series. Lance Lynn is slated to start for the White Sox.
The Royals went 1-9 against the White Sox in last year’s pandemic-shortened season.
The White Sox placed their start shortstop Tim Anderson on the injured list with a left hamstring strain on Wednesday. Anderson has gone 3 for 15 with a home run in four games this season.
In 2019, he led the majors with a .335 average. Last year, he ranked second in the AL with .322 batting average.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Royals fall to Jose Ramirez and the Indians, split two-game set in Cleveland."
