Baseball gets me every time.

Oh, boy! A doubleheader! I get to enjoy two games in the same day!

Then the Cleveland Guardians lose both games. Again.

In the last two years, the Guardians have played eight doubleheaders. They have been swept seven times and split once.

GAME 1: ROYALS WIN 4-3

Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt made the curious decision to pitch a bullpen game in the opener. He risked the possibility that several pitchers might not be ready if they were needed in the night game.

Royals starter Cole Ragans couldn’t find the plate, walking four in four innings. Steven Kwan scored on a bases-loaded walk.

Cleveland increased the lead to 2-0 when Tyler Freeman scored on a passed ball by Salvador Perez.

Don’t worry, Perez will still make it to the Hall of Fame. In fact, he will have your vote by the end of this article.

In the fourth inning, the Royals surged into the lead when MJ Melendez clouted a three-run homer inside the right field foul pole off Eli Morgan.

Josh Naylor tied the game in the seventh with a single to score Jose Ramirez.

However, Bobby Witt Jr. grabbed the lead right back for Kansas City with a solo homer in the eighth off Hunter Gaddis.

GAME 2: ROYALS WIN 9-4

Cleveland got off to a great start with three runs in the first, as the Royals did a Bad News Bears routine on defense.

Jose Ramirez hit a fly ball to right, where Dairon Blanco had no idea where the ball was. He also committed a throwing error. Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez scored.

Then Ramirez came home on a pickoff error by Royals starter Alec Marsh.

Kansas City bounced back with a homer by Paul DeJong, an RBI groundout by Perez, a single by Garrett Hampson, and a sacrifice fly by Maikel Garcia.

So the Royals took a 4-3 lead off Logan Allen (8-5), whom the Guardians called up from Columbus to pitch the second game.

Daniel Schneemann tied the game for Cleveland with a solo homer, his fifth of the season, in the fifth inning.

However, Perez took over the game from there. He swatted home runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

The first was a solo shot, while the second was a 457-foot grand slam to give Cleveland another case of the doubleheader blues.

TIGHT RACE

The Royals have cut Cleveland’s lead to one game in the AL Central. Gavin Williams (2-6, 5.13) will start tonight for the Guardians against Michael Lorenzen (7-6, 3.47). First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.