Carrasco, Indians blank Royals, 6-0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Relief flooded through Kauffman Stadium at 9:15 p.m. Friday. The crowd was restless, annoyed by the hapless at-bats of the Kansas City Royals and the relative surrender issued by their manager before the game. At the very least, in this 6-0 loss to Cleveland, the Royals could avoid the embarrassment of being no-hit.

Until the seventh inning, that scenario appeared possible. But Alex Rios, one of only two starters inserted into the lineup by manager Ned Yost the day after the team clinched the American League Central, managed to smack a single into center field against Indians starter Carlos Carrasco. The crowd greeted Rios with applause, one of the few times for cheers on Friday.

“Nervous? I don’t really get nervous,” manager Ned Yost said. “I was a little concerned.” He burst out laughing. “A little concerned.”

The Royals have only been no-hit twice in their history, with Nolan Ryan in 1973 and Jon Lester in 2008 doing the honors. Facing a lineup of rookies and backups, Carrasco appeared set to join that group. Despite giving up the one hit, he struck out 15 during a shutout. In the final three innings, he went through a stretch of six straight strikeouts.

“He was electric,” Yost said. “Simply electric ... That was as good of stuff as we’ve seen all year long.”

With the loss, the Royals, 89-64, saw their lead over Toronto for home-field advantage fall to one game. When the season began, Yost explained, he set three regular-season goals: Win the division, win the All-Star Game to secure home-field advantage in the World Series and finish with the American League’s best record.

The American League won the Midsummer Classic in July. The Royals outpaced their competitors in the Central. Now they must hold off the Blue Jays. Yost paused that pursuit to rest his starters on Friday. The timing was unfortunate.

“I do not regret it one single bit,” Yost said. “It’s important. These guys have been playing their tails off. They accomplished something special. I wanted them to celebrate it. And I didn’t want to cut their celebration short, thinking ‘I’ve got to play tomorrow.’”

Only two regulars played, with Rios in right field and Ben Zobrist at second base. Drew Butera handled first base. Francisco Pena caught. Save for Jarrod Dyson and Jonny Gomes, everyone else in the lineup was a rookie: Christian Colon, Cheslor Cuthbert and Paulo Orlando.

“We’ll get back after it tomorrow,” Yost said before the game. “I’m going to give them a day to kind of relish in it.”

He added, “These guys have gone hard. It was a special day yesterday. Let them catch their breath, get refocused now that they’ve accomplished the main goal that we wanted to accomplish this year.”

The atmosphere before the game reflected the achievement. A high-powered vacuum hummed. Clubhouse attendants sprayed air freshener around the room. Empty bottles resided in lockers.

A minute past 7 p.m., the Royals raised a flag to commemorate their title. There was little wind to spread the cloth across the sky, but the fans still greeted its arrival with cheers.

From that point forward, there was little to applaud.

In the game’s second at-bat, Indians infielder Jose Ramirez smashed a fastball from Edinson Volquez for a solo homer. In the next inning, Volquez gave up a two-run shot to rookie outfielder Abraham Almonte on a waist-high curveball.

“In the first two innings, they put good swings on the ball,” Volquez said. “I think that was the whole game for me.”

Volquez recovered and completed six innings without giving up another run. The trouble was his teammates could not mount anything against Carrasco. He walked Drew Butera in the third inning. He walked Christian Colon in the sixth. Otherwise, Carrasco blazed through the order twice while only facing one over the minimum.

“I don’t know if he made a mistake all night,” Butera said. “He pitched really well. Changed speeds. And obviously had that wipeout slider.”

In the seventh, the game faded out of reach for Kansas City. Franklin Morales yielded a two-run homer to catcher Roberto Perez. Morales could not complete the inning and needed to be replaced by Danny Duffy, another lefty competing for a spot on the playoff roster.

Duffy picked up two outs to finish the inning. Soon after, Rios recorded a hit. The loss still counted. But at least there was no historic ignominy.

“Carrasco,” Yost said, “would have beat anybody tonight.”

(c)2015 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.