Merritt’s 1st win helps Tribe’s quest for 2 seed

KANSAS CITY — In a game with postseason implications, and ace Corey Kluber temporarily out of the rotation, the Indians handed the ball to a rookie. Lefty Ryan Merritt was up for the challenge, turning in a strong effort that fueled a 7-2 win over the Royals on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Rangers clinched the American League’s No. 1 seed with a win over the Rays on Friday night, but the Indians can still earn home-field advantage for their AL Division Series against the Red Sox. Cleveland trails Boston by a half-game for the right to open at home.

Merritt logged five stellar innings against the reigning World Series champs in his first Major League start. He was backed by big offensive nights for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana, and made a winner thanks to a shutdown bullpen.

“He doesn’t seem to get flustered,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Merritt. “It’s not an easy thing to do your first Major League start. And it looked like he’d been out there before. That was impressive.”

Eric Hosmer contributed an RBI single off Merritt in the first inning, and righty Yordano Ventura logged six frames, but Kansas City was overmatched against the new AL Central champions.

Santana sparked a four-run flurry in the third inning with a triple and finished a home run shy of a cycle. Lindor reached base four times and launched a three-run homer in the seventh to spread the game apart. Lindor’s blast came with a 112-mph exit velocity, marking the hardest-hit ball of the shortstop’s career, per Statcast™.

“The ballpark was playing so big,” Francona said. “To see him, and then to see Lindor, both swing the bat, that was really encouraging. Carlos has been swinging the bat good, and we need him. But, to see Frankie have a little life in his bat was really good to see.”

Merritt picked up his first career win after yielding one run on three hits in five innings, in which he struck out four and walked none. He ended his outing by retiring 13 straight before letting the bullpen finish the job.

“I thought he really did well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s kind of like Jason Vargas — 87-88-90 miles an hour with a nice curveball, a little cutter, nice changeup.”

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