Steven Kwan continued his power surge with his third home run in his last three games to help the visiting Cleveland Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 6-4 in the nightcap to earn a doubleheader split on Saturday.
Johnathan Rodriguez doubled in two runs and Brayan Rocchio doubled twice for Cleveland, which bounced back after Jonathan India’s three-run walk-off homer against Emmanuel Clase gave the Royals a 5-3, 10-inning victory in the opener.
Tanner Bibee (7-9) allowed four runs on seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over five innings. Nic Enright and Hunter Gaddis combined for three scoreless innings before Clase retired the Royals in order in the ninth for his 24th save.
Bobby Witt Jr. and Freddy Fermin each hit two-run homers for Kansas City, which was held to one hit in the final four innings.
Cleveland scored three runs in the first inning against Kris Bubic (8-7), who walked the first four batters he faced. After Carlos Santana drew a bases-loaded walk, Bubic retired the next two batters before Rodriguez doubled in two runs.
Fermin hit a two-run homer to put the Royals on the board with one out in the second inning. The 379-foot shot was Fermin’s third homer of the season.
Jonathan Bowlan replaced Bubic with two outs in the third inning after Jose Ramirez scored on Daniel Schneemann’s sacrifice fly.
Bubic allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits with four walks and one strikeout over 2 2/3 innings.
Cleveland tacked on two runs in the fourth inning when Rocchio hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Austin Hedges’ sacrifice bunt, and scored on Kwan’s ninth homer.
Kwan’s 431-foot blast came after he recorded the first two-homer game of his career on Thursday against the Baltimore Orioles.
Witt cut the Royals’ deficit to 6-4 with a two-run homer in the fifth inning. The one-out shot was Witt’s 15th homer of the season.
Kansas City played without right fielder Jac Caglianone, who exited the opener of the doubleheader with left hamstring tightness.
–Field Level Media
