KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals had their superstar Salvador Perez in the lineup, albeit as the designated hitter, one night after he sustained a sprained ankle that forced him out of a ballgame in the third inning.
However, Perez’s presence alone wasn’t enough as the Royals were held to one run in a 6-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians in front of an announced 11,288 at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night.
The Royals (73-86) missed an opportunity to sweep the three-game series. They finished the season series with the Indians having gone 5-14, including 11 consecutive losses to the Indians at one point.
Perez went 1 for 4 with a double, one of two extra-base hits by the Royals.
Royals rookie Angel Zerpa (0-1) took the loss in his major-league debut despite allowing just two unearned runs.
Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi and Cam Gallagher had two hits apiece for the Royals in the loss. Santana drove in his club’s only run. Benintendi doubled and scored. Perez also doubled.
Benintendi doubled and scored on a Santana RBI single up the middle in the second inning to give the Royals a brief lead, 1-0.
The Indians took the lead in the second with a pair of unearned runs. The first batter of the inning, Roberto Perez, hit a bullet down the third-base line where Adalberto Mondesi made a sprawling stop. Mondesi scrambled to his feet and threw across the diamond, but Santana couldn’t pull in the one-hop throw.
Perez scored two batters later on a one-out RBI double by Oscar Mercado. Following a Myles Shaw single that put runners on first and third, Bradley Zimmer’s sacrifice fly scored Mercado.
The Indians added a run in the sixth against relief pitcher Dylan Coleman with the help of a Jose Ramirez leadoff triple. Then they scored two more in the seventh against reliever Tyler Zuber on a Zimmer RBI double and a two-out RBI single by Harold Ramirez.
Zimmer added his third RBI of the night in the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly.
The Royals begin their final series of the season on Friday night against the Minnesota Twins. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The Twins will start right-hander John Gant (5-10, 3.74 ERA). The Royals had not yet announced a starter for Friday’s game.
