The Cleveland Guardians entered Friday’s series with a seven-game winning streak that included many comeback victories. They erased three and five-run deficits this week to keep it alive. Unfortunately, they couldn’t work their magic on Friday and lost 3-0 to the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field.
The streak was halted at seven, which was tied for their longest of the season. Cleveland is now 68-67, still in possession of the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League.
New win streak starts tomorrow.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/UAKVQY3WQC
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) August 29, 2026
The surging offense was no match for the Royals’ pitching staff on Friday, though. Michael Wacha was brilliant for the visitors, tossing eight scoreless innings with four hits, no walks, and 10 strikeouts.
On the other hand, Tanner Bibee gave the Guardians a quality start, but he was bitten by a familiar snake: a lack of run support. The right-hander gave up just one run in six frames and still lost the game.
Bibee surrendered seven hits and walked just two, striking out five. The Guardians, however, were limited to just six hits all night.
The Royals scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning off Bibee. Bobby Witt Jr. opened the frame with a double, advanced to third on Jac Caglianone’s lineout, and crossed home plate on Salvador Perez’s groundout.
The Guardians kept it 1-0 until the ninth inning. Craig Yoho had already given manager Stephen Vogt a scoreless inning of relief, but he was asked to pitch in with another one, and things went south. Isaac Collins led things off with a double, and later scored on Carter Jensen’s two-run homer.
The Guardians made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Chase DeLauter opened the inning with a single, then Jose Ramirez struck out. Jo Adell followed with a base knock of his own to put runners on first and second with one out, but Nathaniel Lowe went down on strikes. Travis Bazzana was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Angel Genao surrendered the last out of the frame and the game with a soft grounder to the pitcher.
Patrick Bailey was the only Guardian to rack up more than one hit. The team as a whole didn’t work a single walk and struck out 12 times.
The series will continue on Saturday in Cleveland, with Foster Griffin (15-4, 3.19) pitching for the home club and Daniel Lynch III (4-4, 2.93) taking the ball for the visitors.
NEXT: Guardians' Outfield Prospect Matches Rare Power Feat In Cleveland System
