No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio drove in four runs, leading the Cleveland Guardians to a 7-1 victory over Kansas City on Tuesday night, which extended the Royals’ losing streak to a season-high seven games.
Kansas City was limited to two runs or fewer for the fifth consecutive game and managed only four hits. This losing streak is the longest for the Royals since a 10-game losing streak from June 5-16 last year.
Since tying Cleveland for the AL Central lead on August 27, the Royals (76-65) have fallen 5 1/2 games behind the Guardians (80-59), who have won five of their last six games. The Royals still hold a 4 1/2-game lead for the final AL wild card spot.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro missed his second game following the death of his mother, Dorann Stagnitta. Bench coach Paul Hoover took over as acting manager.
Cleveland first baseman Josh Naylor was replaced by a pinch runner after hitting a single in the eighth inning due to lower back tightness.
Steven Kwan had a two-run single for the Guardians, and Kyle Manzardo collected three hits.
Tanner Bibee (11-6) gave up one run and two hits in six innings, marking just the 39th time this season that a Cleveland starter pitched six or more innings.
“I thought he was great, just attacking, throwing a lot of strikes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Especially after the third, he settled in and threw a lot of strikes, keeping them off balance.”
Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. recorded his major league-leading 57th multihit game of the season.
Brady Singer (9-10) allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Rocchio’s sacrifice fly in the second inning and Andrés Giménez’s bloop RBI single in the fifth gave the Guardians a 2-0 lead.
Kansas City loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth inning, but Tommy Pham did not tag up at third base on Salvador Perez’s line drive to left field. Paul DeJong followed with a sacrifice fly, and Bibee struck out MJ Melendez.
“He can make pitches in big-time moments,” Vogt said. “Tanner is a big-time pitcher. He wants those moments, and for him to be able to slow down and execute in that situation was huge.”
Bibee has a 7-3 record with a 2.71 ERA in 14 road games, and the Guardians are 20-7 in his starts this year.
“I was just trying to execute the next pitch,” Bibee said about the sixth inning. “When I get into a lot of trouble, I feel like it’s trying to do way too much. I think one goal for me today was just to execute one pitch at a time.”
Rocchio hit his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning, a two-run shot against Sam Long that barely stayed inside the left-field foul pole. The 23-year-old rookie homered after missing two bunt attempts.
“When I missed the first two bunts, I’m trying to stay calm and be patient to move the runner to second base. But I put a good swing on it,” Rocchio said. “Awesome, because I know if I don’t do anything, maybe he’s mad at me,” referring to Vogt.
“It’s really easy when you don’t do your job or don’t get the job done to get down on yourself and just give away an at-bat, but he got a pitch up and he crushed it,” Vogt said.
Rocchio also drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning against James McArthur for a career-high four RBIs. Hoover said the Royals are feeling the pressure.
“What you saw in the sixth is probably what we need to do hopefully from inning one, just stringing a couple at-bats together, passing the baton, and hoping the next guy up can do the job,” Hoover said.
“We want to be successful, but sometimes we want it so badly that we try to do a little too much.”
