Cleveland Guardians Seal AL Central Crown With Big Win Over Royals

Guardians secure division crown

The Cleveland Guardians secured their third straight AL Central title on Saturday night after an 11-5 victory against the Kansas City Royals. The win, combined with a 9-6 loss for the Chicago White Sox against Colorado, gave Cleveland an 85-76 record and an unassailable two game lead at the top of the division.

This marks Cleveland's seventh division title in the last 11 seasons. Jose Ramirez and his team are now locked into the No. 2 seed for the American League playoffs. That gives them a first round bye into the best of five Division Series, five days of rest, and home field advantage against either the White Sox, Houston, or Texas.

Power hitting fuels comeback

Kansas City took an early lead against Tanner Bibee, scoring three runs in the first inning with doubles from Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone. Bibee recovered well after that shaky start. He worked six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out six to earn a 7-15 record.

Cleveland responded quickly in the second inning after a fielding error by Bobby Witt Jr. Patrick Bailey hit a two run homer, and Steven Kwan added an RBI triple. Chase DeLauter, returning after missing four games with a right wrist sprain, hit his 16th home run of the season off Michael Wacha in the third inning.

Travis Bazzana tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth, before Brayan Rocchio hit a solo homer in the seventh. Bailey and Rocchio then connected for back to back home runs during a four run ninth inning. Nine of Cleveland's 14 hits went for extra bases.

Royals slump continues

The loss leaves the last place Royals with a 68-93 record on the year. Kansas City has now dropped 11 of their last 13 games and ended the season losing eight consecutive series. Michael Wacha took the loss after giving up six runs, two of them earned, over 6.1 innings.

Cleveland has now won nine of their last 10 games and five straight series. They conclude the regular season on Sunday against left hander Daniel Lynch, who holds a 6-6 record and a 4.13 ERA for Kansas City.