Surging Guardians beat Royals hours late

Surging Guardians beat Royals, hours later Matheny fired October 5 sharefacebooktwitterredditlink CLEVELAND (AP) Jos Ramirez drove in two runs and had four hits, Chauncey Billups Jersey Aaron Civale pitched six solid innings and the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Wednesday in their final tune-up for the postseason.Hours after the game, the Royals fired manager Mike Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred.Cleveland opens the wild-card round against Tampa Bay on Friday at Progre sive Field. The AL Central champions are 24-6 since Sept. 5 and finished the regular season 92-70. The youngest team in baseball had 17 players make their major league debuts this season. Cleveland finished 80-82 last season.Ramirez had run-scoring singles in the second and sixth, and ends the regular season with 126 RBIs. Ramirez doubled in the eighth and received a loud ovation from the 12,983 fans when he was removed for a pinch-runner.The fact Ramirez hustled into second for a double in his final at-bat of the regular season with his team ahead by six runs came as no surprise.Hes the heart and soul of the team and everyone would tell you that same thing, Civale said. Theres a lot of pieces involved, but he is that supreme piece. Its extremely fun to watch. Its great that we get to do it from the same dugout and not acro s the way.Rookie Steven Kwan ended the regular season batting .298. His chance to hit .300 ended when he was hit by a pitch in the seventh.I thought it was fitting that Josey finished on a hustle double and Kwan, whos trying to hit .300, alerts Dzanan Musa Jersey the umpire that he gets hit because hes playing the game, manager Terry Francona said That, to me, means were going in a good direction. Civale (5-6) struck out nine and is 3-0 since returning from his third stint on the injured list. The right-hander gave up solo homers to Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel. Civale will be Clevelands starter in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, if the wild-card round goes three games. Kansas City starter Jonathan Heasley (4-10) allowed six runs and nine hits in five innings.Kansas City (65-97) finished last in the AL Central. The Royals were 74-88 last season. Kansas City hasnt reached the postseason since winning the World Series in 2015.Five players drove in runs for the Guardians. Josh Naylor had three RBIs, including a two-run single when the Guardians scored four times in the first. Myles Straw had a sacrifice fly in the second and an RBI single in the seventh.Rookie Will Brennan and Luke Maile also had RBIs in the first.I gave up the run in the first inning and Naylor, of course, says, Dont worry, we got you and we put up four in the first and then one in the next, one in the next, Civale said. It never stops. Weve said all year were never out of a game.Pasquantino finished his rookie season with 10 home runs, while Isbel batted .308 over his final 11 games after snapping an 0-for-21 slump.Good for both of them, getting a little reward in a long year, do a Josh Jackson Jersey little damage, said Matheny, who became the fifth big league manager to be fired this year. Cleveland drew 1,295,870 in 76 dates fans this season. Cleveland had an attendance of 1,738,642 fans in 2019, the last season before COVID-19 restrictions.TIME FOR THE PLAYOFFSThe last thing a postseason team needs is an injury in the final game of the regular season, but Andrs Gimnez and Oscar Gonzalez caused the Guardians brief concern Wednesday.Gimnez was hit by a pitch for an AL-leading 25th time this season in the fourth when he took one on the right knee. He limped out of the box, but stayed in the game after talking to manager Terry Francona and a team trainer.Gonzalez's slide into third base got the attention of Clevelands dugout in the first. After drawing a walk, he slid headfirst into the bag on Brennans single to right, but Detroit Pistons Hats appeared to land on his nose as he slid in safely. Gonzalez stayed on the ground for a couple of moments as third base coach Mike Sarbaugh retrieved his helmet. Gonzalez slowly got to his feet and stayed in the game. TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: C Salvador Perez (left thumb sorene s) mi sed the final four games of the six-game series. He had surgery on his thumb earlier this season and felt sorene s during Saturdays game when he went 4 for 4. Perez homered in his final at-bat Saturday for his 1,274th career hit, pa sing Billy Butler for eighth place on the Royals all-time list. UP NEXTRoyals: Kansas City plays Texas on Feb. 24 in the spring training opener.Guardians: RHP Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88 ERA) will start Fridays series opener. He reached the 200-inning mark in his final regular-season start against Kansas City on Sunday. Bieber hasnt lost since Sept. 1 and is 5-0 over his last six starts. His only postseason start came in 2020, when he won the AL Cy Young Award, but was the losing pitcher in Game 1 of the Division Series against the New York Yankees. Bieber allowed seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. ___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports in this topic American League Major League Baseball Kansas City Royals Aaron Civale Shane Bieber Salvador Perez Myles Straw Kyle Isbel Josh Naylor Kansas City Royals share Ottawa hosts Los Angeles after Giroux's 2-goal game The Ottawa Senators host the Los Angeles Kings after Claude Giroux's two-goal game against the San Jose Sharks in the Senators' 5-2 win 42 MINS AGO ASSOCIATED PRESS Penguins host the Blue Jackets following Kapanen's hat trick The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Columbus Blue Jackets after Kasperi Luke Kennard Jersey Kapanen's hat trick against the St. Louis Blues in the Penguins' 6-2 win 42 MINS AGO ASSOCIATED PRESS Ducks bring losing streak into game against the Hurricanes The Anaheim Ducks aim to end their six-game losing streak when they play the Carolina Hurricanes 43 MINS AGO ASSOCIATED PRESS Blackhawks face the Metropolitan Division-leading Devils The Chicago Blackhawks face the top-ranked team in the Metropolitan Division, the New Jersey Devils 43 MINS AGO ASSOCIATED PRESS Tampa Bay in action against Detroit following overtime victory The Tampa Bay Lightning host the Detroit Red Wings after the Lightning took down the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime 43 MINS AGO ASSOCIATED PRESS