KANSAS CITY -- The seven-game homestand the Royals kicked off on Monday night is as important as a homestand in early May can be with four games against the Guardians and three against the Tigers. Not to mention heading on the road next week to face the White Sox in Chicago.\n\nThose are the clubs the Royals are chasing in the division, with the Guardians (18-18) and Tigers (18-18) tied atop the American League Central.
That means the Royals have a chance to rewrite the division over the next 10 days, and they couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with Monday’s 6-2 win over the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium, their fourth consecutive win and eighth of their last 10.\n\nKansas City is still 16-19 but just 1 1/2 games out of the division lead and one game behind the White Sox (17-18) for third place.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Royals aren’t.\n\n“It’s a good opportunity to win today,” manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “And see what happens after that. We can’t play seven of them tonight.”\n\n“This is one of those where you look at 10 games, like, ‘Man, we could really gain some ground,’” general manager J.J. Picollo added. “But it’s one at a time. It’s one at a time. We’ve got to start tonight with Cleveland. We just want to play good baseball. If we play good baseball, we’ve got the talent to compete and be in a position to win every night.”\n\nThere was plenty of good baseball for the Royals on Monday, and that’s really been the key to the roll they’ve been on lately. The vibes are high and the confidence is palpable.\n\nTake the fourth inning Monday. The Royals were quiet the first time through the order against Tanner Bibee, who needed just 38 pitches through three innings. By the end of the fourth inning, Bibee had thrown 77 pitches and the Guardians' bullpen was warming.
It started with
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