The Kansas City Royals held their opening day game at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday, March 27, 2025 against the Cleveland Guardians. Opening Day at the K tends to be a busy day at Kauffman Stadium.
In fact, many people buy tickets in advance to attend opening day. Emily Norris purchased tickets from Stubhub, a well-known app used to buy tickets, in advance so she could go with family. However, when it was her turn in line to get her tickets scanned to get into the stadium, she was told the ticket had already been scanned by another attendee. Norris said, “I was upset because I could not get my money back and I wasn’t even able to watch the game.”
Norris said this incident happened to others as well. Staff told her there was nothing they could do but recommended only buying tickets off the MLB app or from Ticketmaster.
For those who also missed opening day, the game resulted in a loss for Kansas City, but held significant moments for the Guardians.
At the top of the first inning, Cole Ragans pitched for Kansas City. During the top of the first, Cleveland’s Steven Kwan hit the ball infield, making it to first base. Jose Ramirez grounded out to third, helping Kwan advance to second base. Lane Thomas singled to center, advancing Kwan to third. Carlos Santana hit a pop-up, which was caught by Kansas City’s second baseman. Kyle Manzardo walked to first base, putting Lane Thomas on second base. But Jhonkensy Noel struck out, leaving Cleveland with no points.
Ben Lively was the pitcher for the Clevland Guardians at the bottom of the first inning. During the bottom of the first, Jonathan India had a flyout to the left. Bobby Witt Jr. struck out. Vinnie Pasquantino hit the ball hard and straight to the left, which was caught by a left fielder. Kansas City was unable to score.
At the top of the second inning, Ragans continued to pitch for Kansas City. Bo Naylor hit a pop up that Kansas City’s second baseman caught. Gabriel Arias struck out swinging, and Brayan Rocchio hit a ground ball to third resulting in an out.
At the bottom of the second, inning Ben Lively was still pitching for Cleveland. Salvador Perez hit a foul ball that was caught by Cleveland. Micheal Massey hit the ball infield between second and third base and was able to make it to first base. Hunter Renfroe hit a fly ball that was caught by a left fielder. And M.J. Melendez struck out swinging.
At the top of the third inning, Rangans was still able to keep Cleveland from scoring. Kwan hit a ground ball to Ragnans, Jose Ramirez hit a fly ball to center, and Lane Thomas hit a fly ball to the right, still leaving both teams with zero points.
The game picked up momentum when the Kansas City Royals cored the first three points at the bottom of the third inning. With the help of Pasquantino, Kyle Isbel, and Bobby Witt Jr. — who ended up stealing second base to make it happen — the Royals ended up on top, 3-0.
At the top of the fourth inning, the Guardians’ Manzardo scored a point. Then, at the top of the fifth inning, Gabriel Arias scored for the Guardians, leaving the score 3-2 with the Kansas City Royals still in the lead.
Toward the top of the sixth inning, Angel Zerpa came in to pitch for the Kansas City Royals. After, Manzardo hit a home run, bringing Carlos Santana home, and making the score 3-4 with the Cleveland Guardians in the lead.
At the bottom of the ninth inning, Freddy Fermin scored for the Kansas City Royals, tying the game 4-4, and pushing the game into a tenth inning. At the top of the 10th, Kwan doubled to center, letting Brayan Rocchio score. Manzardo doubled to the right, which brought Kwan and Santana home, leaving the score 4-7. With this hit, Manzardo tied the club record for most RBI on Opening Day. He also become the third player in MLB history to hit a double, triple and homer on Opening Day.
At the bottom of the 10th, the Kansas City Royals were unable to catch back up. Kyle Isbel struck out. Jonathan India had a flyout to center. And Bobby Witt Jr. also had a flyout to right field. Unfortunately, the Kansas City Royals did not come out with a win as fans had hoped.
The Royals are currently 7-6 in the regular season. They head to Cleveland for the weekend where they will again take on the Guardians at Progressive Field. Lefty Kris Bubic returns to the mound as a starter after Tommy John surgery knocked him out of starts in 2023. He has returned as a breakout pitcher this year.
