CLEVELAND (AP) — After four months and a lengthy rain delay, there’s a second team sitting atop the AL Central.
The Royals have run down the Guardians.
Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer and Kansas City moved into a tie for first with Cleveland by beating the Guardians 6-1 on Tuesday night in a game delayed more than two hours by rain.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last season, improved to a league-best 23-13 since the All-Star break, when they trailed the Guardians by seven games.
“That’s our goal, to win the division,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “Clearly nothing is decided. We got a month-plus to go, but we like the way we’re playing. Our guys are super competitive. They don’t back down from anything and this is what a pennant race should be.”
Cleveland had led the division since April 14 — 154 days — before dropping the first three games in this series, which concludes with a matinee Wednesday. The Guardians have lost nine of 12 and are just 17-21 since the break.
Cleveland had a nine-game lead on June 26. It’s gone now.
“For me, it’s about the end of the season,” first-year manager Stephen Vogt said. “It doesn’t matter how you get there. What matters is that we do get there. Yeah, if you want to look back at the standings, you have a big lead that’s early in the season, that’s why you play 162 games.
“There’s nothing that says in this final stretch that we don’t go on a run. There’s nothing that says we don’t do it again. So you can’t look at the standings and worry about where you are on any given day. You’ve got to wait one day at a time, look where you are at the end of the season and then see where it lands.”
DeJong connected in the second inning off Gavin Williams (2-7), and the Royals tacked on three runs in the seventh off Scott Barlow on RBI singles by Maikel Garcia and Michael Massey, to go along with a wild pitch.
James McArthur (5-5) struck out four in two innings, and the Royals’ solid bullpen closed with five perfect innings following the rain delay. The Guardians were held to just three hits.
Kansas City’s win came with a minor scare.
All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. got hit on the right hand by a pitch from Pedro Avila in the seventh inning. Witt grabbed his right hand in pain, but the majors’ leader in average, hits and runs stayed in the game and ripped a double in the ninth.
Quatraro said Witt got hit on the right middle finger. In the clubhouse, Witt indicated to reporters he was OK.
Cleveland was coming to bat in the bottom of the fifth — and three outs from making the game official — when the ballpark’s grounds crew rolled out the tarp at 8:06 p.m. to cover the infield before the rain hit.
When it finally came and lightning raced across the sky above Progressive Field, fans retreated for protection in the concourses. The game was delayed for 2 hours, 14 minutes before resuming at 10:20 p.m. with few thousand die-hards on hand.
DeJong, who came over in a trade with the last-place White Sox in July, said the Royals killed time during the delay by playing video games in the clubhouse. He said All-Star catcher Salvado Perez even tried to learn to play chess.
DeJong said he quickly recognized the Royals have a special group.
“Watching them from the outside in, you saw they got their core pieces,” he said. “They got starting pitching. They got Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt, so it’s a great combo right there to build a team around.
“It’s nice to have those guys, but we have depth and guys who can play all over. A lot of guys are contributing from a lot of different angles and a lot of things are going our way.”
Royals starter Michael Lorenzen left in the second after straining his left hamstring while covering first base. Quatraro said Lorenzen will return to Kansas City on Wednesday to undergo imaging tests.
“We think it’s mild, but doubtful he’ll be able to pitch in five days,” Quatraro said. “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: OF Hunter Renfroe (strained right hamstring) continues to undergo treatment and Quatraro said the hope is “to get him back out there as quickly as we can.” Renfroe was placed on the 10-day injured list on Sunday after his leg tightened against Philadelphia.
Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (broken fingernail) threw three simulated innings in a live batting practice against minor leaguers before the game. Cobb is eligible to come off the injured list on Sunday. Vogt said the team is still determining whether to have him go on a minor league rehab assignment.
UP NEXT
Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (10-6, 3.46 ERA) starts the series finale against Royals RHP Michael Wacha (11-6, 3.23 ERA), who is 7-0 with a 2.40 ERA in 10 starts since June 22.
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