Franmil Reyes’ three-run homer off Royals closer Ian Kennedy in the ninth capped off a four-run frame and five-run comeback, but Ryan O’Hearn’s solo home run off Nick Goody in the 10th kept the Tribe from following up Sunday’s tough news about Ramirez with a sweep of the Royals.
As a result, Cleveland fell to Kansas City in the three-game series finale, 9-8.
"That’s a hard game to win, and we had a chance," manager Terry Francona said. "Uncharacteristically, our bullpen kind of kept giving up runs. That’s a tough game to come back from. But man, [Reyes] hit the heck out of that ball. Unfortunately, so did they."
The Royals scored five times in the top of the eighth to take a five-run lead, but the Indians were able to cut the deficit to four in the bottom of the eighth, courtesy of Reyes’ 31st homer of the season. The solo shot to right-center was Reyes’ second round-tripper in as many days for Cleveland and fourth overall since the trade.
Lindor belted a solo homer in the ninth off Ian Kennedy, the shortstop's 23rd home run of the campaign, and a Carlos Santana walk and Yasiel Puig single brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Reyes, once again, squared up a pitch to his liking and crushed a game-tying, three-run blast to the bleachers in left field, making it an 8-8 game.
"Honestly, it was one of the best moments in my life, not my career," Reyes said with a grin. "It was great. Just turning at second base and look to the dugout how everybody was fired up. It was a crazy moment.”
O’Hearn, however, led off the 10th with a liner to the seats in right field, providing Kansas City with a one-run edge. Jorge Lopez worked a scoreless bottom of the 10th to record the save.
Regardless, the fact that Reyes has started to heat up -- the right-handed slugger has five hits, including a double, three homers and two walks over his past 19 plate appearances -- is critical, given the loss of Ramirez to the IL. The absence of the two-time All-Star infielder star puts more emphasis on Reyes' ability to carry an offense.
"We can’t just every day lament the fact that Josey’s hurt," Francona said. "That’s not going to help us win games. Everybody has to chip in anyway. When we win, thats the way we win. If Reyes gets hot, it’s a bat that’s not going to get hot with singles."
Yu Chang, promoted prior to the game to replace the injured Ramirez, helped spark the offense on two separate occasions, a positive sign given the massive opening at third base that the hamate fracture in Ramirez's right hand creates in the short term, and possibly, for the rest of the season.
The 24-year-old infield prospect walked in the third, setting the stage for Kevin Plawecki’s two-run homer over the 19-foot wall in left. After Chang recorded his first big-league hit with a single in the fourth through the left side of the infield, he stepped up in the seventh to deliver a leadoff triple on a deflection off the wall in left-center. He was immediately brought home again by Plawecki, this time on a game-tying RBI single.
"He’s pretty mellow and just does his thing," starter Shane Bieber said of Chang. "He doesn’t put too much pressure on himself to begin with. We all saw that today, he came up and produced right away and he just played like himself.”
Bieber, meanwhile, overcame some early Kansas City offense to log seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned), working around six hits and two walks. He finished with eight strikeouts, but the righty didn't care to partake in any sort of moral victories.
"We got to deal with it," Bieber said of the loss of Ramirez. "It sucks. It’s a big blow, but him being him and producing even when he was struggling, the numbers that he was putting up, he was producing and being productive within the lineup ... it’s a tough loss. But Yu filled in really nice today and got his first knock and first triple and made a couple good plays at third, so we’re not really faced with a choice. It’s just next man up.”
Paired with a Twins victory on Sunday, the Indians' loss to the Royals dropped Cleveland to 3.5 games behind Minnesota in the AL Central.