The Royals had a day off as they traveled from the west coast to Cleveland for a three-game series. With Kansas City having won 10 of their last 14 games to climb back into the AL West race, things were looking up for the team. Manager Whitey Herzog assessed the division race as a waiting game to see which team could have a prolonged hot streak.

“Some team in our division, either us or the Angels, is going to get a long winning streak going,” Herzog said. “I think we’re the two teams capable of doing that. Probably the Angels have a better chance of putting a long stretch together if they can get their fourth starter going.”

“Our ball club is capable of putting a long winning streak together if we can get credible pitching. I don’t mean shutout pitching; we just need our starters to keep us in the ball game until the late innings until we can have a crack at winning them. It’s going to be up to our starters.”

Today’s birthdays: Bud Black (1957), Mark Grudzielanek (1970), Mitch Maier (1982)