CLEVELAND (AP) Joey Cantillo allowed four hits in a career-best eight-plus innings, Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez homered, doubled and scored twice, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory.<\/p>\n
Cantillo (5-3) struck out five and didn’t issue a walk. Cade Smith pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save for the Guardians, who entered play 2 1\/2 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
Ram\u00edrez, who had three hits, hit a solo homer off Royals starter Noah Cameron (7-6) with two outs in the first. David Fry hit the second of back-to-back to doubles to drive in Ram\u00edrez in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Cameron, a 26-year-old rookie, gave up two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings.<\/p>\n
The Guardians, who has won six of seven, beat the Royals 10-2 in the series opener Monday.<\/p>\n
Bobby Witt Jr. returned from a three-game absence and Jonathan India was activated off the 10-day IL for Kansas City.<\/p>\n
Cantillo gave up a leadoff single to Kyle Isbel in the ninth and was replaced by Smith, who got Mikael Garcia to fly out. Isbel moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third when Witt singled before Smith struck out Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez to end the game.<\/p>\n
The Guardians clinched the season series – and the head-to-head tiebreaker for any postseason implications – over the Royals.<\/p>\n
Kansas City has not announced its starter against Logan Allen (7-11, 4.46 ERA) on Wednesday in the third of a four-game series.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/MLB<\/p>\n
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