Naquin, McKenzie fuel Indians in shutout over Royals

Triston McKenzie threw six shutout innings, and Tyler Naquin had three hits, two home runs and five RBIs as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-0 Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. He hit a three-run blast to right in the ninth off Scott Barlow. Junis (0-1) had to leave the game after four innings.

Triston McKenzie threw six shutout innings, and Tyler Naquin had three hits, two home runs and five RBIs as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-0 Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. McKenzie (2-0), who came within one strikeout of a team record for a pitching debut when struck out 10 Tigers in six innings in his debut on Aug. 22, struck out six Royals. He allowed three hits and didn't walk a batter.

The Indians (23-14) took the three-game series two games to one, despite losing the opener. The Royals (14-23) are now 3-32 in their last 35 "rubber games," dating back to May 30, 2018. They're 0-6 in series-deciding games in 2020. The Indians scored all their runs on home runs by Naquin, who was hitless in the series coming in. He crushed a Jakob Junis fastball to straightaway center in the second for a two-run homer. He hit a three-run blast to right in the ninth off Scott Barlow.

Junis (0-1) had to leave the game after four innings. He had allowed two runs on Naquin's homer, and had thrown only 46 pitches. But Josh Naylor hit a line drive back up the middle and hit Junis between the deltoid and triceps on his pitching arm. Junis picked up the ball and lobbed it to first, then left the field grimacing and holding his right arm. Royals manager Mike Matheny, who said prior to Tuesday's game that he needed deep outings by Tuesday's starter Matt Harvey and Junis, got a total of 5 1/3 innings between the two. The bullpen has thrown 157 innings this season. They were ninth in the majors and seventh in the AL in innings pitched coming into Wednesday's game.

To make matters worse, Wednesday was the sixth of a 17-day stretch without a day off for Kansas City. Francisco Lindor finished 1-for-2 against Junis, which kept his all-time batting average at .500 (17-for-34).

Franmil Reyes went 3-for-4. He singled in his first at-bat, which was his eighth straight hit, the most for an Indians hitter since 1988. He finished the series 10-for-13. The Royals Whit Merrifield went 0-for-12 in the series, snapping his streak of 71 series with at least one hit.

--Field Level Media

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