KANSAS CITY (Interstat) — Michael Wacha pitched seven strong innings and the Kansas City Royals used a four-run fourth inning to defeat the Cleveland Guardians 6-2 on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Wacha, who entered the game with a 2-2 record after two consecutive losses, allowed two runs on four hits while striking out three. He improved to 3-2 as the Royals snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 16-19. Cleveland fell to 18-18.

The Guardians struck first in the second inning. Travis Bazzana led off with a single to right field, and David Fry followed by launching a 0-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for a two-run home run. Fry finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs. It was his third homer of the season.

That 2-0 lead held until the bottom of the fourth, when the Royals’ offense erupted. Bobby Witt Jr. led off with a home run to left field, his third of the year, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a double, and after Salvador Perez singled to center field to score Pasquantino, the game was tied 2-2. Carter Jensen singled, and a walk to Lane Thomas loaded the bases. Two strikeouts followed, but Nick Loftin grounded a single to left field that scored Perez and Jensen, giving Kansas City a 4-2 lead. The Royals added a run in the sixth when Jac Caglianone hit a solo home run to right field, his fourth, extending the lead to 5-2. In the seventh, an error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio allowed Witt to reach base, and Pasquantino followed with a run-scoring single to make it 6-2.

Tanner Bibee took the loss for Cleveland, allowing four runs on five hits in four innings. He struck out four and walked one, falling to 0-5 on the season.

The Cleveland bullpen performed admirably in relief. Peyton Pallette threw a scoreless inning with one strikeout, and Connor Brogdon allowed one hit over 1⅓ innings with a strikeout. Matt Festa surrendered one run on one hit in 1⅔ innings.

For Kansas City, Matt Strahm pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Alex Lange worked a scoreless ninth despite allowing one hit.

The game drew an announced crowd of 16,434 and lasted 2 hours, 13 minutes.

The victory was a welcome one for the Royals, who had lost three of their previous four games after taking two of three from Seattle over the weekend. The Guardians, meanwhile, had dropped three of four on their current road trip, including a 7-1 loss Sunday at Oakland.

The four-run fourth inning proved decisive. After Bibee had retired the first two batters of the inning, Witt’s solo shot started a string of five consecutive batters reaching base. Pasquantino doubled, Perez singled, Jensen singled and Thomas walked before the two strikeouts gave Bibee a brief reprieve. But Loftin’s two-run single put the Royals ahead for good.

Cleveland had opportunities to cut into the lead. In the seventh, Fry singled and Angel Martínez doubled, putting runners at second and third with one out, but Wacha induced a lineout from Bo Naylor to end the threat. The Guardians did not advance another runner past first base for the remainder of the game.

Wacha’s performance was a sharp rebound from his previous two outings, when he allowed a combined 10 earned runs over 10⅓ innings in losses at and against Baltimore.

The Guardians’ offense managed only five hits total. After Fry’s second-inning homer, Cleveland had just one hit — a José Ramírez single in the ninth — until the seventh-inning rally. Ramírez was stranded at first when Rhys Hoskins grounded into a double play.

The series continues Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, with the two teams playing three more games this week. Cleveland stays on the road to face Kansas City again Wednesday and Thursday before returning home to host Minnesota. Kansas City will host Detroit after the series.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Kansas City 6, Cleveland 4, while Interstat’s ELO system gave Cleveland a 50.60 percent probability to win. The Guardians had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of eight runs exceeded the over-under line of 8.5.