KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After the flood of excitement and elation of Friday night’s come-from-behind walk-off win, the Kansas City Royals let the air out of the balloon fairly early on Saturday afternoon.
Royals pitchers gave up 11 runs in the first four innings on their way to a 13-1 rout at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians in front of an announced 17,024 in the second game of a three-game weekend series at Kauffman Stadium.
Things went so far awry on the mound that the Royals (31-52) turned to center fielder Michael A. Taylor, who pitched the eighth and ninth innings. Taylor, who showed a fastball as fast as 93.8 mph, tossed a scoreless eighth and allowed two runs in the ninth in his first career pitching performance.
