Guardians 12, Royals 9: Six Walks in the Ninth, Still First in the Central

Three leads gone, then six walks in the ninth

September 25, 2026 - Kansas City - Nate Pearson walked the first three hitters he faced in the ninth. José Ramírez walked. Patrick Bailey scored. Chase DeLauter walked. Brayan Rocchio scored. Petey Halpin walked. Steven Kwan scored. Angel Martínez doubled to left. Ramírez scored. DeLauter scored. Halpin was thrown out at the plate. The Cleveland Guardians had five in the inning and a 12-7 lead they would not give all the way back. They beat the Kansas City Royals 12-9 at Kauffman Stadium.

Rain. 65 degrees. Wind 4 mph right to left. Listed first pitch 6:40 p.m., delayed 40 minutes. Attendance 26,034. The game lasted 3 hours, 12 minutes. Cleveland had nine hits, 12 runs, two errors, and 11 left on. Kansas City had 13 hits, nine runs, and one error. Cleveland blew three leads. The MLB recap called it unsightly. It still counted.

The Guardians clinched a postseason berth on Thursday with a 1-0 in Boston. Friday they stayed one game up on the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central at 84-76. Chicago is 83-77 after beating Colorado. A Cleveland win Saturday and a White Sox loss would clinch the division and a first-round bye. The White Sox hold the tiebreaker. Cleveland has to finish ahead.

"It's baseball," manager Stephen Vogt said, per MLB.com. "You never know what you're going to get. We have no idea how we're going to find a way to win, but we're going to continue to try to find a way to win every night."

Jensen's two, Fry's two, Gaddis with the win and the blown save

Martínez singled Kwan and Ramírez home in the first. 2-0. Jac Caglianone doubled Bobby Witt Jr. in. 2-1. Austin Hedges homered to left-center in the second, his sixth. 3-1. Carter Jensen answered with a two-run shot to right, his 26th, John Rave scoring. 3-3.

Ramírez lifted a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Hedges scored. 4-3. Jensen's sacrifice fly tied it. Caglianone singled Witt home. 4-5 Kansas City. David Fry hit a two-run homer to left in the fifth, his eighth, Jo Adell scoring. 6-5. Rocchio grounded Travis Bazzana in. 7-5. That lead lasted until the eighth. Jensen homered again, his 27th, Kyle Isbel scoring. 7-7. Hunter Gaddis (the win, 6-3, blown save 6) allowed that homer and two other hits in the eighth. He also inherited a tied game that Cleveland would break in the ninth.

Salvador Perez homered in the ninth, his 21st, Maikel Garcia scoring. 12-9. Pearson (the loss, 2-4) recorded two outs, four walks, and four earned. Nolan Hoffman walked two more and allowed Martínez's double. Noah Cameron had already thrown five: seven hits, seven runs, six earned, four walks, three strikeouts, two homers, 101 pitches. The Royals' starter was not the ninth. The ninth was Pearson throwing 23 pitches, five strikes.

Gavin Williams started for Cleveland: 3 1/3, five hits, four earned, four walks, four strikeouts. Tim Herrin allowed a run in two-thirds. Shawn Armstrong, Daniel Espino, and Erik Sabrowski each threw a scoreless inning of relief before Gaddis. Matt Festa allowed Jensen's second homer setup traffic. The Guardians used seven pitchers. Kansas City used five. Somebody had to walk six men in one inning. It was Cleveland's ninth.

Thirteen hits for Kansas City, nine for Cleveland, 21 runs

Jensen went 2-for-4 with two homers, two runs, and five RBI. Caglianone went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Garcia went 2-for-4. Witt went 1-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and a stolen base. Perez's homer was the last swing of a night that already had too many. The Royals are 68-92. They scored nine and lost.

Martínez went 2-for-5 with a double and four RBI. Ramírez went 1-for-4 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, two runs, and two RBI. Hedges went 1-for-3 with a walk, a homer, two runs, and an RBI. Fry went 1-for-4 with two RBI. DeLauter went 1-for-4 with two walks, a double, a run, and an RBI. Adell went 1-for-3 with two walks and a double. Kwan went 0-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Cleveland did not need 13 hits. It needed the ninth inning to keep walking.

The Central is still a one-game race. Thursday was 1-0 and clean. Friday was 12-9 and a rain delay and a blown save and a five-run ninth built on walks. Vogt said they would keep finding a way. On Friday the way was Pearson's strike zone. Saturday they can make it official if Chicago loses. If not, it is Sunday. The Guardians already know they are in October. They still have to finish first to skip the Wild Card.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Cleveland at 18 team fantasy points, fourth on the slate. Jensen had 14 hitting FP in a loss. Martínez had 8. Hedges had 8. Gaddis had the decision and a negative pitching night after the homer.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine daily scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*