KANSAS CITY, Mo. – He’s known in baseball circles as ‘Big Game James’ and on Monday night Royals’ starter James Shields lived up to that moniker, pitching brilliantly in the first game of a stretch that will determine the Royals’ postseason fate. Shields stymied the Indians, striking out 10 while scattering six hits in six innings. His only mistake scraped the right field fence for a solo home run, but the offense came to play as well and provided plenty of support.
The Royals took an early lead on separate RBI singles from Billy Butler and Salvador Perez. Royals’ hitters really flourished in the sixth inning. It started with back-to-back triples from Lorenzo Cain and Perez that chased Indians’ starter Scott Kazmir. David Lough followed with a pinch-hit RBI single and the Royals plated another run after a Lonnie Chisenhall error allowed Emilio Bonifacio to score.
The Royals added some extra distance in the seventh inning with a pair of two-out RBI singles from Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar. The Royals’ bullpen pitched well as it customarily does; a trio of relievers only allowed a walk and a single in the midst of collecting the final nine outs.
The win against the Indians helps the Royals significantly as Cleveland is still ahead of KC by two games in the wild card standings. Additionally, the Texas Rangers dropped a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, which moves the Royals to 2.5 games out of that final playoff position behind Texas. The Royals send top flight prospect Yordano Ventura to the hill for his first MLB appearance on Tuesday night. He’ll pitch opposite Cleveland starter Corey Kluber, game time is at 7:10 p.m. at Kauffman Stadium.
