Royals brave frigid weather conditions in walk-off loss to the Guardians

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Apr 7, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CLEVELAND — Kansas City Royals starter Noah Cameron took his usual pregame stroll in front of the visiting team’s dugout at Progressive Field Tuesday afternoon.

He headed to the field a little over an hour before his start against the Cleveland Guardians. As Michael Massey began his pregame defensive work, Cameron took his slides off to reveal his bare feet.

A bit unusual? Possibly.

Going barefoot in 33-degree weather? That takes a lot of gumption and nerves of steel.

Cameron had both Tuesday. Yet he earned a no-decision as the Royals, who managed just one hit all afternoon, fell 2-1 in walk-off fashion.

Royals reliever John Schreiber surrendered a game-ending single to Brayan Rocchio in the ninth. CJ Kayfus, who singled earlier, scored the winning run.

“I got two guys on there trying to get a ground ball,” Schreiber said. “Couple got through, so it is what it is.”

Cameron did what he could against the Guardians. He has a 1.53 ERA in three career starts vs. Cleveland.

“I thought it was a good day,” Cameron said. “You know, we were kind of getting ahead of guys throwing a lot of off-speed stuff. A lot of these guys are pretty good fastball hitters. So I feel like we kept guys off-balance with some soft hits.”

Cameron limited the Guardians to one run across 5 2/3 innings. He recorded five strikeouts and issued a walk in the frigid conditions.

The high in Cleveland on Tuesday was 38 degrees, more than 25 degrees colder than in Kansas City.

“It’s not a bad day to pitch as a pitcher compared to hitting,” Cameron said.

Cameron’s strong start

The Guardians didn’t present much resistance against Cameron, scattering a few hits but nothing too substantial. In the fifth inning, Cleveland scored a run on Steven Kwan’s RBI single.

Cameron generated 44 swings and 11 whiffs, per Statcast. He relied on his cutter, changeup and four-seam fastball to stymie the Cleveland lineup.

The cutter registered a 71% strike rate while the changeup was utilized primarily during his second trip through the Guardians’ order.

“I kind of lived away with the cutter,” Cameron said. “Just kind of throwing it backdoor to a lot of the righties. And it was playing really well. A lot of takes, which is kind of what we want. You know, just trying to get ahead, kind of a free strike there. But I thought it was very effective.”

Royals catcher Carter Jensen provided an early highlight. He belted a solo homer in the second inning off Guardians starter Gavin Williams.

It was his second homer in consecutive days. The blast generated a 112.5 mph exit velocity and gave the Royals an early lead.

“I just tried to keep my same approach,” Jensen said. “I don’t want to make different approaches based on the weather. I know that, if I get a pitch in my zone that I can fire on and hit hard, you know, the cold weather is not going to stop me from hitting it hard.”

Royals lose in walk-off finish

The score remained tied until the late innings.

Kansas City threatened in the eighth. The club worked two walks — eight in the game — and executed a double steal. This placed Bobby Witt Jr. at third and pinch-runner Lane Thomas at second.

Jensen couldn’t come through. He struck out to end the threat as both runners were stranded.

“I mean, obviously, you never want to strike out,” Jensen said. “I’m still kicking myself in my last at-bat, striking out with runners in scoring position.”

To his credit, Jensen made up for the strikeout defensively. He made a successful ABS challenge to record a Kyle Manzardo strikeout in the eighth. The overturned call got the Royals out of the inning and kept the score at 1-1.

That was ... until Rocchio hit a walk-off single to win the game in the ninth. The Royals dropped to 5-6 and will look to win the series on Wednesday.

“I’m not worried about (Schreiber) at all,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, we’re going to use him in high leverage. He’s going to pitch against righties and lefties. You know, this team is always challenging with the matchups, but we have a ton of confidence in him.”

What’s next

Royals left-hander Cole Ragans (0-2, 3.60 ERA) will start against fellow lefty Joey Cantillo (0-0, 3.00 ERA) in Wednesday’s series finale. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET from Progressive Field.

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