Field Level Media
Sep 10, 2020
Rookie Brady Singer carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning and Maikel Franco drove in five runs to lift the visiting Kansas City Royals to an 11-1 romp over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.
Making his ninth career start, Singer (2-4) saw his no-hit bid halted after Austin Hedges slapped a single to right field with two outs in the eighth inning. The 24-year-old right-hander quickly settled himself and fanned Delino DeShields for his eighth strikeout over eight scoreless innings.
The strong performance for Singer was in stark contrast to his previous four starts, during which he posted an 0-3 record and allowed 15 runs on 25 hits with four homers.
Franco joined Adalberto Mondesi in belting a three-run homer and matched Whit Merrifield with three hits for the Royals (17-28), who have won three in a row following a season-high seven-game losing streak.
Edward Olivares, who was acquired from San Diego in the Trevor Rosenthal deal on Aug. 29, extended his hitting streak to seven games with a one-out single in the fourth inning. The 24-year-old Olivares then gave Kansas City a 4-0 lead in the sixth after depositing a first-pitch slider from Aaron Civale (3-5) over the wall in left-center field for his third homer of the season.
Franco capped his scintillating performance in the seventh inning by sending a 3-1 cutter from Dominic Leone over the wall into the bleacher seats in left field. The three-run blast was Franco's seventh homer of the season and first since Aug. 29.
Mike Freeman had an RBI single off Matt Harvey in the ninth inning to avert a second straight shutout for the Indians (26-18).
Kansas City opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the third inning.
Merrifield singled off Civale and advanced to second on a walk by Mondesi before coming around to score on Hunter Dozier's base hit to right field. A double steal put Mondesi and Dozier in scoring position and Franco brought them both home after slapping a single to left field.
Merrifield had an RBI single in the eighth inning to push the Royals' lead to 8-0. Mondesi extended his hitting streak to seven games by launching his second homer of the season.
--Field Level Media