Mercado’s Big Night Jump-Starts Indians 14-6 Route of Royals
By: Sean Fitzgerald
The Cleveland Indians back-to-back walk-offs to start off their four game series with the AL Central rival Kansas City Royals couldn’t come at a better time, providing a jolt to a team that had lost nine in a row.
24,077 fans got their money’s worth, as the Tribe won a high-scoring affair over the Royals by a final margin of 14-6.
Cal Quantrill retired the side in order to begin the game, doing so in only five minutes of time with three fly ball outs.
The left-handed Mike Minor got the ball for the visiting side. Cesar Hernandez laid a bunt single down the third base side on the second pitch of the at bat. Third baseman Hunter Dozier made the throw over to Carlos Santana that got knocked loose on a collision. Santana did have trainers come out to check on him after the play and remained in the ballgame.
The hit made no difference with Jose Ramirez grounding into a double play to end the first frame.
Oscar Mercado, who struggled last year and in the early going this season, banged a double down the left field line to start the third inning and stole third base as well. Mercado was left stranded on an Amed Rosario ground out, with the lefty Minor escaping without allowing a run.
Quantrill’s good outing took a grizzly turn in the fourth, allowing a one-out base knock to Andrew Benintendi and the 0-1 pitch hammered 418 feet by All-Star catcher Salvador Perez, snapping an 0-for-12 skid and the 21st long ball in 2021 by the longtime Royal backstop.
Quantrill finally escaped the inning on a 6-4-3 double play with the Tribe now playing from behind for the first time since the first walk-off of the series Thursday evening.
The Tribe had an answer in the bottom half of the inning. Following a Ramirez walk and Franmil Reyes single, Bobby Bradley laced an RBI double up the left field gap to score Jose Ramirez. However, Reyes ended up getting tagged out at home for the first out.
With two on and two out, Oscar Mercado continued his resurgence at the plate by slicing a lined shot single to left, scoring Bradley with Harold Ramirez and Mercado advancing to third and second respectively.
Bradley Zimmer got in on the fun, tapping a single off Minor and not only managing an infield single, but yet another RBI to give the Indians a 3-2 lead.
The floodgates finally opened with Hernandez ambushing the first pitch he saw and launching it 403 feet for a three-run dinger to cap a six-run, fourth inning explosion for the Tribe.
That was all she wrote for Minor, who went to the showers with Ervin Santana coming on in relief. Minor lasted just four innings, giving up six earned runs on nine hits with a free pass and only two strikeouts. His pitch count reached 66 pitches, with 47 ending up as strikes.
The Indians weren’t done. Jose Ramirez broke through for his first hit after 14 hitless at bats and went first to third on a Reyes base hit. Jose eventually scored on a Bobby Bradley double play to give Cleveland a five-run cushion.
Benintendi cut into that lead with a solo blast in the sixth off Quantrill, but the young right-hander pushed through to qualify for a quality start.
Quantrill made a few mistakes over a solid six innings pitched, coughing up five hits but only allowing three runs. He sent a lone Royal down on strikes but only issued one walk. He fired 90 pitches, 59 of them finding the strike zone.
Ervin Santana allowed another two runs in the sixth, a 400-foot bludgeoning of the baseball to the bleachers in left by Roberto Perez and a near-miss of a home run that instead had Rosario settling for a two-out, RBI double.
The Royals managed to nab two runs off Nick Sandlin before Bryan Shaw replaced him with two down in the seventh inning. Shaw allowed one more Royals baserunner to score, with all three runs credited to Sandlin and all unearned runs.
Perez knocked in the tenth run of the night for the home team, an RBI single on the ground to right field, with Mercado delivering the knockout punch with a crushing three-run jack to give the Indians an even larger 13-6 lead off Kyle Zimmer.
Jose Ramirez snuck a homer over the right field fence before it was all said and done in the bottom of the eighth, as the Indians banged out 17 hits and 14 runs on a night filled with fireworks.
------Tidbits------
Royal blue iron man
Whit Merrifield made his 396th consecutive start tonight, the longest active streak in the majors. Merrifield still has well over 2,000 games started in a row to chase down the record set by Cal Ripken Jr.
It would be a nearly impossible task for the All-Star second baseman, who is already 32 years of age and didn’t debut until his age 27 season.
Nine games, very similar results
With the conclusion of tonight’s game, the Indians are 8-1 against the Royals this season. Their only loss against the team came back during the April home opener.
The four or more rule
I may sound like a broken record for bringing this up yet again. Following the victory tonight, the Tribe are 38-9 when they score four or more runs. They are 7-33 with three runs or fewer.
Family Duel
The Zimmer brothers finally lined up against each other in the big leagues. Kyle, a reliever for the Royals, faced off against his younger brother Bradley in what was the 12th brother versus brother matchup in the big leagues and first since 2019.
Older brother Kyle won the bragging rights by striking out younger sibling Bradley in the battle of the Zimmers.
________________________________________________________
Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State graduate and the press box correspondent for Mark One Sports-and CLE TribeCast. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr.