Indians 5, Royals 4
CLEVELAND -- Josh Tomlin pitched six innings to keep his perfect record intact and Mike Napoli homered to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on Sunday afternoon.
Cleveland fell behind 3-1, but rallied to take a lead that Tomlin and the Indians' bullpen preserved. The win improved Tomlin's record to 5-0. Cody Allen pitched the ninth inning to pick up his eighth save.
Cleveland needed just two pitches to take an early lead. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter Carlos Santana hit the first pitch from Edinson Volquez (3-3) into the right field seats for his fifth home run.
Tomlin cruised through the first three innings, holding Kansas City scoreless on two hits. But in the fourth inning the Royals sent seven men to the plate and scored three times.
Lorenzo Cain led off with a double down the left field line. Eric Hosmer followed that with a line drive over the center field wall for his fifth home run, giving Kansas City a 2-1 lead. Tomlin retired Kendrys Morales on a fly ball for the first out, but Alex Gordon lined a single to center.
Salvador Perez blasted a long double over the head of center fielder Lonnie Chisenhall. Gordon scored on the hit to extend the Royals' lead to 3-1.
The Indians got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when Napoli belted a 3-2 pitch from Volquez over the left field wall for his sixth home run, cutting the Kansas City lead to 3-2.
Cleveland took the lead in the fifth inning, sending eight men to the plate and scoring three runs. Francisco Lindor led off the inning with a single and a steal of second base. Michael Brantley followed with a single, scoring Lindor with the tying run.
Napoli drew a walk, but he was forced at second on a grounder hit by Yan Gomes. Lonnie Chisenhall singled to right field, scoring Brantley, and knocking Volquez out of the game.
Danny Duffy relieved Volquez and Marlon Byrd greeted Duffy with a double to right field, scoring Gomes and pushing the Indians' lead to 5-3.
Volquez pitched 4 1/3 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts. In eight career starts against Cleveland, Volquez is 2-5 with an 8.31 ERA.
Tomlin pitched to one batter in the seventh inning and then was removed from the game. Perez led off the inning with a double to left field, raising his career average against Tomlin to .647 (11-for-17). Zach McAllister relieved Tomlin and Cheslor Cuthbert reached on an infield single.
Christian Colon followed that with a double to left field, scoring Perez to cut the Cleveland lead to 5-4. Cuthbert went to third on Colon's double, and then tried to score on a grounder to hit to Lindor at short by Jarrod Dyson. But Lindor threw out Cuthbert at the plate for the first out. Bryan Shaw then relieved McAllister and got Alcides Escobar to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Tomlin pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
NOTES: Indians OF Lonnie Chisenhall made his first career start in center field on Sunday. Chisenhall, who normally starts in right field, is also now the backup centerfielder behind OF Rajai Davis. Davis became the starter in center field when the Indians optioned OF Tyler Naquin to Triple-A Columbus on Saturday. ... The Indians are 2-7 in games decided in the seventh inning or later. ... Royals RHP Ian Kennedy has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts this year. ... Royals DH Kendrys Morales hit a three-run home run in the first inning Saturday. It was Morales' first home run since April 11 at Houston, a span of 83 at bats.