KANSAS CITY -- A shift in the pitching plans for Tuesday’s game against the Guardians hardly changed anything at all for the Royals as they turned to Stephen Kolek, the next man up in the rotation, and just kept rolling along in the win column.
Kolek tossed a quality spot start with three runs allowed in six innings, and the Royals’ offense found timely home runs from Michael Massey and Isaac Collins in their 5-3 win over the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium.
With their fifth consecutive win, the Royals have yet to lose in May, and in 13 games since they snapped that dreadful eight-game losing streak on April 21, the Royals are 10-3.
As Noah Cameron deals with low back tightness that scratched him from Tuesday’s start, the Royals called on their depth in Kolek, who had been sidelined since late February with a left oblique strain but had made four rehab starts with Triple-A Omaha over the past month. It was finally time for his season debut Tuesday, and he was pretty much exactly as the Royals remembered him from last year, when he posted a 1.91 ERA in five starts after being acquired from the Padres at the Trade Deadline.
Kolek was efficient and reliant on contact, trusting the defense behind him across his six innings. The only sore spot on Kolek’s night was the three-run home run Rhys Hoskins hit in the fourth inning to give the Guardians a brief lead. But Kolek didn’t let that rattle him, shutting down the final eight batters he faced after the homer.
The Royals didn’t let the brief deficit rattle them either, a theme that keeps reappearing during this run they’re on right now. They had jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Salvador Perez’s two-run single in the first inning, and Massey’s two-run home run in the fourth gave them that lead right back after Hoskins' homer off Kolek.
Kansas City has overcome a deficit in four consecutive games now and six of its past seven wins over a nine-game span -- dating back to April 26, when the Royals erased a 6-0 deficit to mark a wild comeback against the Angels in 10 innings.
Collins gave the Royals a crucial insurance run with his solo homer in the sixth, part of a three-hit night for him that ended just a triple away from the cycle.