Indians 5, Royals 1
CLEVELAND -- Francisco Lindor had three hits, including a home run, and four RBIs, and Danny Salazar pitched seven strong innings as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
Lindor, Cleveland's 21-year-old rookie shortstop, hit a solo home run, his ninth of the season, in the first inning, had a two-run single in the second inning, and an RBI single in the fourth inning.
Salazar (13-8) pitched six scoreless innings before giving up a solo home run to third baseman Mike Moustakas leading off the seventh. That was the only run allowed by the right-handed Salazar, who threw 102 pitches and gave up four hits, with six strikeouts and two walks.
Aside from Moustakas' home run, the Royals threatened to score in only one inning against Salazar. In the third inning Kansas City had runners at second and third with two outs, but Salazar retired center fielder Lorenzo Cain on a grounder to second baseman Jason Kipnis to end that inning. Salazar retired 13 of the last 16 batters he faced.
Left-hander Danny Duffy (7-8) started for the Royals but only retired seven batters before being replaced with one out in the third inning, trailing 4-0.
The Royals have now lost eight of their last 11 games while Cleveland has won seven of its last 10.
Lindor gave the Indians a 1-0 lead when he homered off Duffy in the first inning.
The Indians scored three more runs in the second and Lindor was in the middle of that rally.
With two outs and nobody on, center fielder Abraham Almonte singled and went to second when third baseman Mike Aviles drew a walk. Almonte scored on a single by Kipnis to make it 2-0. Lindor followed with a single, scoring Aviles and Kipnis to extend the Cleveland lead to 4-0.
In the fourth, Aviles walked, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kipnis and scored on Lindor's third hit of the game, a single to center field that gave the Indians a 5-0 lead.
Duffy lasted 2 1/3 innings, giving up four runs and six hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
NOTES: Indians RHP Corey Kluber is over his strained hamstring and will make his first start on Thursday night since Aug. 29. Asked if Kluber will be on a pitch count, Indians manager Terry Francona joked, "Yeah, 140-150." ... Kansas City pitchers combined for eight shutouts this season, but only one was a complete-game shutout by a single pitcher: RHP Johnny Cueto vs. Detroit on Aug. 10. ... Entering Wednesday's game, the Royals' magic number was nine for clinching their first American League Central title.