Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – Kendrys Morales capped a six-run seventh
inning with a three-run homer as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland
Indians 11-5 on Tuesday.
The Indians went in front in the bottom of the sixth inning on Brandon Moss’
three-run homer, but Kansas City wasn’t behind for long.
Salvador Perez singled and Omar Infante doubled to put two in scoring position
for Alcides Escobar, who worked the count full against Scott Atchison (0-1)
before slapping a two-run double to right. Mike Moustakas then beat out a
close play at first base, and Escobar raced home on the play to make it 6-5.
Moustakas advanced to second when Escobar kicked the ball away from catcher
Brett Hayes. Lorenzo Cain was walked intentionally to set up the double play,
but the move backfired as Bryan Shaw replaced Marc Rzepczynski and served up
Morales’ blast to right-center field.
Perez and Infante, each of whom finished with three hits, added RBI singles in
the ninth inning to pad the score.
Alex Gordon hit a solo homer in the second inning and Morales was 3-for-5 with
four runs scored for Kansas City, which will look to complete a three-game
sweep on Wednesday.
Cleveland got to Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie to the tune of four runs in
five-plus innings. Michael Bourn plated two with his single to right in the
second, and Guthrie was responsible for the two men on base for Moss’ home run
off Brandon Finnegan (1-0).
Trevor Bauer yielded a season-high three runs on seven hits over six innings
for the Indians. The young right-hander had only given up two runs in 19
innings in his first three starts of the season.
Infante singled to plate Morales with two outs in the fourth inning, tying the
game at 2-2. Gordon made it 3-2 in the top of the sixth, when he followed a
Morales double with a single to right. Both innings ended with Gordon getting
tagged out trying to advance a base.
Game Notes
The Indians have lost four straight games for the second time this season.
They are 1-6 at home this season, one loss away from matching their 1-7 start
from 1991 … Moustakas has six hits already in this series. He came in
batting 1-for-28 against the Tribe … Kansas City went 7-for-14 with runners
in scoring position … The Royals had 18 hits. Cain was the lone starter
without one.
