KANSAS CITY -- While Kansas City's 5-4 loss on Wednesday and three ejections -- manager Mike Matheny, pitching coach Cal Eldred and starter Brady Singer -- stung, the Royals had a quick turnaround for Thursday’s game vs. Cleveland and knew they would need to put the pivotal sixth inning behind them.

“When you have those right in front of you, and you just need to put it away, those ones stand out,” Matheny said prior to Thursday’s series finale. “Those ones hurt. They hang on a little long. We just had a staff meeting a few minutes ago, and I said, 'We all got just a couple more minutes.' And for me, as soon as I’m done with this interview session, I’m done with it. We’re moving on to the next one.”

Matheny went back through video from Wednesday night’s game and determined that the balk that home plate umpire Angel Hernandez called on Singer was correct. While the ejections were a culmination of many different factors, from Wednesday and the rest of the series, the balk call was ultimately what caused the ejections.

“Matter of fact, I was just flat wrong yesterday,” Matheny said. “[Hernandez] had it right. He saw a balk I didn’t see. I didn’t like the call. I hate the timing, when something like a balk influences such a good game at some point when there’s probably multiple balks from guys not stopping or not pausing. It can be called so often, and I hate when those, man, just some of those minor things become a major issue. But he was right. I was wrong. I’ll let him know that, too.”

Matheny said he’ll go back through video on Singer’s ejection and “get another perspective” on what happened, but overall, he wasn’t upset about the emotion Singer showed coming off the field. The 24-year-old was ejected by Hernandez after jawing at the umpire while walking off the field after he exited the sixth inning.

“I don’t ever want to see our guys get kicked out,” Matheny said. “Guys need to be real with what they're thinking and feeling, and sometimes it just crosses the line, and that’s the job of the umpires -- to realize if it’s crossed the line or not. That particular situation, I need to watch, and I need to get another perspective on it. My fear is always when they’re being hunted down, knowing that the emotions are high. Looking for trouble. That’s when I have an issue. If that’s the case, we’re going to let the League deal with it. We’ll make sure that’s noted. But as far as the other ejections, those were warranted.

“We want Brady to be real. We believe his emotions help him be as good of a pitcher as he is. How to control those while you are still on the rubber, while you’re still in the game, is one thing, and then as you come off the field, that’s another.”

Worth noting
• The Royals' rotation will be on turn for the White Sox series this weekend, with right-hander Brad Keller set to face lefty Carlos Rondón on Friday, lefty Daniel Lynch making his second career start against right-hander Lance Lynn on Saturday and lefty Mike Minor scheduled to face White Sox Opening Day starter Lucas Giolito on Sunday.

• The Royals announced a scheduling change to their May 14 doubleheader against the White Sox in Chicago. Game 1 will now start at 2:10 p.m. CT instead of 1:10 p.m., and Game 2 is still scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT.