KANSAS CITY — The Royals’ returnees wasted no time making a difference.

Jackson Kowar turned in easily the best start of his young career, tossing six innings and allowing no earned runs while striking out a career-high six, and Adalberto Mondesi fueled the offense with a homer and two runs scored. The Royals couldn’t turn their contributions into a victory, however, as they fell 5-3 to Cleveland in 11 innings.

Kowar, who was promoted from Triple-A Omaha earlier in the day, took the mound with three big league outings already under his belt. They were largely forgettable, however, as he held a 18.00 ERA through five innings pitched.

The story couldn’t have been more different on Wednesday. Kowar allowed four hits and walked three, but thanks in part to his benchmark six K’s, was able to limit the damage from Cleveland’s offense. The two unearned runs on his tab came when Michael A. Taylor dropped a fly ball on an error off the bat of Andrés Giménez’s in the fifth.

Mondesi had experienced more statistical success this season than Kowar, but was not without his share of speed bumps. He entered the game batting .361 with a 1.212 OPS, but had appeared in just 10 games due to a pair of oblique strains that resulted in multiple IL stints.