Royals await update as Cole Ragans injured in Wednesday's loss to Guardians

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on May 6, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals were locked in another tight game Wednesday night against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium.

This time, the club fell a little short.

The Royals fell 3-1 to snap their five-game winning streak. And the loss stung in multiple ways.

Royals starter Cole Ragans left early due to left tricep and elbow soreness. He pitched three scoreless innings before exiting after 58 pitches.

The Royals (17-20) quickly warmed up right-hander Luinder Avila. The 24-year-old reliever covered two innings in relief.

In the fourth inning, Avila surrendered a two-run single to Guardians designated hitter Chase DeLauter. Both runs scored after Cleveland (19-19) executed a double steal to get the runners into scoring position.

Ragans had trouble with his command in the first inning. He walked Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez in the frame. However, he escaped trouble with three strikeouts to strand the runners.

Ragans retired six of his next eight batters. But his velocity dipped somewhat — around 92 mph — in the third inning. His last pitch registered 94.3 mph as the Royals retired the side.

Ragans has dealt with elbow trouble before. He has undergone Tommy John surgery twice in his professional career.

The Royals never recovered Wednesday evening. Salvador Perez drove in the lone run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

Guardians pitchers held the Royals to four hits. KC third baseman Maikel Garcia logged two of the four singles against Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo.

Cantillo allowed one run over five innings. From there, Guardians relievers Matt Festa, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith allowed one hit to finish the game.

Guardians outfielder David Fry added an insurance run in the eighth. He recorded an RBI groundout as Ramirez scored.

The Royals will try to win the series Thursday afternoon.

What’s next?

Royals right-hander Seth Lugo (1-1, 2.68 ERA) will start Thursday’s finale against the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. He will oppose Guardians righty Slade Cecconi (1-4, 6.56 ERA) with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. Central.