The Royals had a great week this week. They went 4-2, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the scorching hot Cleveland Indians. Something will have to give as the Indians make their way to Kauffman stadium for a four game set starting tonight in a battle for first place in the American League Central. If you’d have told me before the season that I’d write that last sentence at any point this season, I’d have said you were completely crazy. This is going to be one very interesting week.

Standings

1 Indians

2 Royals -1.0

3 White Sox -4.0

4 Tigers -4.5

5 Twins -6.0

Game 10: Royals 3 @ Twins 4 - boxscore

The Royals started their season series with the Minnesota Twins by dropping a game in extra innings. Offseason free agent acquisition Jeff Francis put together another fine start, but the Royals offense couldn’t score enough runs on his behalf. Reliever Robinson Tejeda was unable to get anyone out in the bottom of the tenth and gave up the winning run.

Game 11: Royals 10 @ Twins 5 – boxscore

Sitting at an even 2-2, the Royals needed to win the final game with the Twins to come home with a winning road trip. They did just that by scoring 7 runs on Twins starter Francisco Liriano. Mike Aviles busted out of his slump by going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. The bullpen kept up their dominance by throwing 4 innings of shutout ball to pick up starter Kyle Davies.

Game 12: Mariners 1 @ Royals 5 - boxscore

Bruce Chen threw 8 scoreless innings in the opening game of the series with the Seattle Mariners. It was all the Royals needed in a rain shortened game. Wilson Betemit hit his first homerun of the season while Alex Gordon collected a double and two RBI in the game.

Game 13: Mariners 5 @ Royals 6 - boxscore

Starter Luke Hochevar threw 7 scoreless innings to earn his title as number 1 starter for the Royals in game 2 of the series with the Mariners. Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler each collected 3 hits to propel the Royals to a 5 run lead going into the top of the 8th. The Royals bullpen, which had been the strength of the team wobbled as Blake Wood, Tim Collins and Joakim Soria then surrendered 4 runs in 2 innings. However, the Mariners came up a run short as the Royals ended up taking the game.

Game 14: Mariners 0 @ Royals 7 - boxscore

The pitching matchup of Mariners Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez and the Royals Sean O’Sullivan looked like a mismatch, however things turned out a bit different. O’Sullivan threw 5 scoreless while Royals touched up Martinez for 2 runs. The Royals bullpen held the Mariners scoreless for the final four frames and tacked on some insurance runs in the 8th for a series win.

Game 15: Mariners 3 @ Royals 2 - boxscore

Alex Gordon hit in his 11th straight game, but the offense could not quite figure out Mariners pitcher Michel Pineda. Another solid start by Jeff Francis was wasted as the Mariners kept the Royals to only scoring 2 runs. They had opportunities late in the game to win, but couldn’t convert.

Position Player of the Week: Alex Gordon

Alex Gordon hit .381/.381/.524 this week and is riding a career long 11 game hitting streak. He also made a number of great defensive plays and seemed to be the heart of nearly every scoring rally this week.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: Luke Hochevar

The starting pitching was the key this week and there were a number of solid outings put together. Bruce Chen and Jeff Francis would have also been fine choices. However, I'm going with Luke Hochevar. He only allowed a single hit over 7 innings of work in his start this week.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Jeremy Jeffress

He gave up no earned runs in 4 innings this week and notched his first career save.

On The Farm

Top prospect Mike Montgomery (LHP) threw 10 innings over 2 starts last week for the Storm Chasers (AAA) and didn’t give up a run. He has a 3.00 ERA and has 14 strikeouts to 10 walks this season.

Eric Hosmer (1B) went 10 for 26 last week for the Storm Chasers (AAA). He’s currently hitting .409 on the season with a homerun and 2 doubles.

Jeff Bianchi (SS) has hit in 8 straight games and went 9 for 24 this week for the Naturals (AA).

Rey Navarro (2B) continued his torrid hitting this week for the Blue Rocks (A+). He went 11 for 24 this week and is hitting .500/.526/.806 on the season.

Tim Melville (RHP) started one game this week and he threw a gem. He went 6 innings, struck out 7 and walked only one for the Blue Rocks (A+)

The Week to Come

In the biggest home series in at least two years, the first place Cleveland Indians come to Kansas City and the Division lead is on the line. The Royals will need to take three out of four in order to have sole possession of first place. Then the Royals head to Texas to take on the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers.

4/18-4/21 vs Cleveland Indians

4/22-4/24 @ Texas Rangers

Nick Scott is a contributor to Royals Authority and is the host of the Broken Bat Single Royals podcast, you can follow him on Twitter or on Facebook.