Bruce Chen struggles but Kansas City Royals beat Cleveland Indians 7-6 – MLB Update
Kansas City Royals’ starting pitcher Bruce Chen had another forgettable outing but the Royals held off the Cleveland Indians 7-6 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, August 2 in the finale of their three match series.
Alex Gordon belted a home-run to right centre in the first inning to put the Royals on the board. Eric Hosmer also played a key role in deciding the outcome of the cash with a home-run to centre in the first and Alcides Escobar delivered the go ahead run
in the extra inning to give Royals’ an incredible series win.
"That just kind of explains the year Esky is having right there," Hosmer said of Escobar. "He's been carrying us pretty much the whole way. He did what he's been doing all year. He came up with the big hit and a big sweep in the division."
For the Indians, Carlos Santana homered and drove in a run.
Chen struggled to control his sliders and fastballs as he gave up four runs and seven hits in just over two innings, allowing the Indians an entry back into the contest. The veteran left hander has now allowed 32 runs, 11 walks and 8.73 ERA in 33 innings
since July 1 and he certainly needs to pick his game up to win back his skipper’s trust.
"He didn't throw the ball good," Royals’ manager Ned Yost said in a post game interview. "He's not using his good fastball. He might have thrown three pitches over 85 miles per hour. It's in there. He threw one 88. Everything is soft.”
Manager Ned Yost will be extremely happy to see his team back on the winning track. Yost and company had the better of their opponents in series opener. Another strong 5-2 outing in Game 2 gave them an impassable 2-0 lead.
The Royals continued their excellent work on Thursday to earn a rare series sweep this season and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their excellent form over the next couple of months to get back into the playoffs race.
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