Luis Ortiz strikes out career-high 10 in home debut, Guardians beat Royals 6-3 for 5th straight win

By: Tom Withers, The Associated Press Posted: 7:57 PM CDT Saturday, Apr. 12, 2025

CLEVELAND (AP) — Luis Ortiz allowed just one hit and struck out a career-high 10 in his home debut for Cleveland as the Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Saturday night to extend their winning streak to five games.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2025 (540 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ortiz (1-2) had his second straight strong outing, giving up just a home run in the fourth inning to Vinnie Pasquantino before leaving after 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander was acquired in December from Pittsburgh.

Gabriel Arias homered and José Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly off Mike Lorenzen (1-2) as the Guardians remained unbeaten at home. Arias connected in the sixth inning. He has three homers this season — all against Kansas City.

Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Luis Ortiz (45) delivers against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

The Royals entered the ninth with just two hits before getting four straight singles and scoring twice against Guardians All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, who hasn’t been himself through the season’s first two weeks.

Ortiz held Kansas City hitless until the fourth when Pasquantino drove a pitch over the wall in right-center with one out. It was Pasquantino’s second homer and only the seventh in 2025 for the Royals, who came in tied with Toronto for the fewest in the majors.

Arias drove in Cleveland’s first run with a single in the fourth. He has five RBIs in the last two games.

Key moment

After giving up a one-out walk in the sixth while leading 2-1, Ortiz got a favorable called third strike from plate umpire Manny Gonzalez on an outside pitch to whiff Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. for the second time.

Key stat

The Guardians are 5-0 at home for the first time since 2002, when they opened 7-0 in Progressive Field.

Up next

Royals LHP Cole Ragans (0-0, 2.81) had 11 strikeouts last week against Minnesota. He’ll start the series finale against Cleveland’s Ben Lively (0-1, 4.40), who got a no-decision against Kansas City in the season opener.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb