Royals 3-2 Guardians: Pasquantino Twice, and a Season Ends on a High Note
Vinnie Pasquantino homered twice, including the eighth-inning winner, as Kansas City closed a losing season by beating the AL Central champions in the regular-season finale.
Game 162 offered nothing to play for in the standings — Cleveland had already clinched the AL Central, Kansas City was long since buried — and it still produced a tidy piece of drama: Vinnie Pasquantino hit two solo home runs, the second of them the game-winner in the eighth, as the Royals snapped a three-game skid with a 3-2 win, per KCTV5.
How it unfolded
Kansas City scored first in the opening inning: Maikel Garcia walked, moved to third on Jac Caglianone's double, and came home on Salvador Perez's single to left, per Yahoo Sports. Cleveland answered twice through the middle innings — Daniel Schneemann's homer to right tied it in the third, and after Pasquantino's first blast put the Royals back ahead in the fifth, Jo Adell tied it again in the sixth with a drive into the left-center fountains, his 23rd of the year.
The decider came in the eighth, when Pasquantino turned on a 2-2 sinker for his second solo shot of the afternoon. Nate Pearson (3-4) got the win in relief, Austin Peterson (0-1) took the loss, and Lucas Erceg closed it out for his 13th save. Cleveland started Parker Messick; Kansas City went with Daniel Lynch IV — a finale-appropriate matchup with the Guardians resting regulars a day after clinching.
What it means
For Cleveland, nothing that changes October: the Guardians finish 85-77, AL Central champions for a third straight year, and head into the postseason with a bye into the AL Division Series. The loss was only their second in their final 11 games.
For Kansas City, the win closes a 69-93 season — last in the AL Central — with at least a reminder of what Pasquantino can be. The Royals won just seven of their final 25 games; the finale was one of the good days in a year that had too few of them.