Cleveland Guardians at Kansas City Royals: Final Score & Recap

The Cleveland Guardians handed the Kansas City Royals a 7-2 defeat at Kauffman Stadium on June 29, 2024, methodically pulling away across the middle innings to turn what the DiamondIQ model opened as a relatively even contest — giving Kansas City a 44 percent pre-game home win probability — into a complete rout, with that figure dropping to zero by the final out. Cleveland scored in four of the nine innings and never relinquished the lead after the first, finishing with nine hits and no errors while holding the Royals to six hits across the game.

The decisive blow came in the top of the fourth, when Jhonkensy Noel launched a home run off Cole Ragans that swung win probability 21.7 percent in Cleveland's favor, the single most impactful play of the game. Noel finished as the top performer by both WPA and RE24, posting figures of plus-23.2 percent and plus-1.9 respectively. Cleveland then piled on in the fifth inning against Ragans and reliever Angel Zerpa, with José Ramírez delivering a double worth 12.9 percent in win probability, Josh Naylor following with a double adding another 8.1 percent, and Andrés Giménez singling to extend the advantage by 7.1 percent more. Ramírez ended the afternoon at plus-15.3 percent WPA and plus-1.4 RE24, while Giménez contributed plus-8.2 percent WPA. The only meaningful Kansas City response came in the bottom of the second, when Michael Massey connected on a home run off Tanner Bibee that temporarily swung 7.4 percent back toward the Royals.

On the mound, Bibee led all pitchers with a plus-7.6 percent WPA contribution, absorbing the Massey home run but limiting further damage to hold Cleveland's advantage intact. Sam Hentges and Cade Smith combined to add plus-1.6 percent WPA in relief, keeping the Royals quiet through the final frames as Cleveland closed out a convincing road win.