Royals clinch back-to-back series wins with victory over Guardians

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Royals have rediscovered their confidence at the plate.

Kansas City (52-54) has scored four runs or more in seven of its last nine games, following a 4-1 win over Cleveland (52-53) at Kauffman Stadium. Entering this series, the Royals had scored the second-least runs in Major League Baseball (MLB) this season.

Manager Matt Quatraro's team is putting itself back in the postseason conversation. With Sunday's win, the Royals have won 12 of their last 19 games and sit just four games behind Seattle and Texas for the final wild card spot in the American League.

Kansas City dealt all its damage in the first five frames of the contest. After taking a 2-0 lead on a pair of fielder's choices in the first inning, Luke Maile extended the team's lead to three runs with an RBI double in the fourth frame. Then, Maikel Garcia bookended a streak of four unanswered runs with a solo shot in the fifth inning, his 10th home run of the season.

Despite scoring four runs, the Royals only recorded four hits. Maile, Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Randal Grichuk each contributed one hit each.

Noah Cameron continued his excellent rookie campaign with five more shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six batters. He owns an ERA of 2.44 this season.

The bullpen combined to pitch four innings, giving up just one run on four hits. Carlos Estevez locked down his 27th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

Up next - The Royals welcome the Braves to Kauffman Stadium for a three-game series, starting on July 28 at 6:40 p.m.