KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic turned in a solid pitching performance, but that wasn’t going to get it done on a day when Shane Bieber was in top form.
Bieber, the Cleveland Guardians ace, held the Royals to four hits and one walk over eight innings.
The Royals’ lone run came on a solo home run in the fourth by star catcher Salvador Perez as they lost to the Guardians for the second night in a row, 4-1, in front of an announced 12,580 plus an additional 447 dogs for Bark in the Park night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Guardians clinched the three-game series with the win. The division rivals will conclude their series Wednesday night.
With his home run, Perez reached the 20-homer plateau for the sixth time in his career. That tied him with Mike Sweeney for the second-most seasons of at least 20 home runs in franchise history. George Brett’s eight seasons of 20 homers or more are the most by a Royals player.
The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the third inning following a one-out walk by Austin Hedges and a single by Myles Straw. Then with two outs, Bubic gave up a single to Amed Rosario which loaded the bases in front of Guardians star slugger Jose Ramirez.
Ramirez hit a two-run single to left field to give him his 107th and 108th RBIs of the season.
Perez’s fourth-inning homer to the opposite field and into the home bullpen, pulled the Royals within a run. Taylor then singled with two outs, but he broke early for second base on a stolen base attempt and got thrown out easily by Bieber to end the inning.
Bubic struck out a batter and gave up an infield single in the seventh inning. With his pitch count at 95 pitches and having faced the majority of the lineup for a third time, Bubic gave way to reliever Jose Cuas.
Cuas gave up back-to-back singles including an RBI single by Straw that restored a two-run advantage for the Guardians.
That run extended to three runs, 4-1, in the eighth on a two-out infield single hit to Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
