Salazar guides Indians past Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Danny Salazar pitched effectively into the seventh inning, and Mike Napoli and Francisco Lindor homered as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-3 Tuesday night.
Salazar (11-3) gave up three runs, two earned, on eight hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven.
Salazar is 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA in three starts this season against the World Series champion Royals, having allowed 15 hits while striking out 25 in 22 1/3 innings.
The Indians, whose 55-38 record is the best in the American League, picked up a game in the AL Central standings on the second-place Tigers, who lost to the last-place Minnesota Twins. Detroit is now 6 1/2 games back, and the Royals fell eight games behind.
Salazar did not give up a run until the sixth. With one out, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez singled. Hosmer scored on Perez's ground-ball hit. Morales scored the second run of the inning on a Salazar wild pitch.
Salazar gave up an unearned run in the seventh, which began with a Whit Merrifield walk and a Jarrod Dyson single. Both runners moved up on a passed ball charged to Chris Gimenez. Cheslor Cuthbert's sacrifice fly to left scored Merrifield. Left-hander Kyle Crockett, who was called up Monday from Triple-A Columbus, relieved Salazar and struck out Hosmer on five pitches to end the inning.
Lindor, who is hitting .444 with four home runs, 10 RBIs and 11 runs this season against the Royals, homered in the ninth. Lindor went 2-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and scored three runs.
Indians reliever Bryan Shaw, who took the loss Monday when he was charged with four runs in two-thirds of an inning, threw eight pitches, all strikes, in a 1-2-3 eighth inning. He struck out Morales and Perez on six pitches before retiring Alex Gordon on a comebacker.
Cody Allen closed out the win with a perfect ninth inning.
The Royals turned to left-hander Brian Flynn to attempt to fill the void of a reliable No. 5 starter. But Flynn, who was making his first start since Aug. 7, 2014, with the Marlins, did not make it through the third inning.
Flynn (1-1) yielded three runs, four hits and a walk while striking out one in 2 1/3 innings. He was replaced by Dillon Gee after only 43 pitches, 28 of them strikes.
Flynn yielded a two-run homer to Napoli, his 21st home run of the season, with two outs in the first with Lindor aboard. Napoli has four home runs in 2016 against the Royals and 14 in his career.
The Indians loaded the bases in the third with nobody out. Erik Gonzalez opened with a single, his first major league hit. After Flynn walked Rajai Davis, Jason Kipnis put down a sacrifice bunt that Salvador Perez picked up. Perez threw to third in an attempt to get the lead runner, but Gonzalez beat the throw. Lindor's sacrifice fly to Paulo Orlando scored Gonzalez and finished Flynn's night.
The Indians made it 6-0 with a three-run fifth against Gee. Carlos Santana's bases-loaded, one-out single to right scored Kipnis and Lindor. Kipnis doubled, moved to third on Lindor's single and Napoli worked the count full to load the bases. Juan Uribe's two-out single brought Napoli home.
NOTES: Indians LF Michael Brantley is still feeling shoulder discomfort when he completes his swing, and he will have a MRI exam Wednesday. Brantley, on the disabled list since mid-May, has appeared in only 11 games this season because of the aching shoulder. ... Royals 3B Cheslor Cuthbert batted second for the first time this season, becoming the 10th player used by manager Ned Yost in that slot. ... RHP Kyle Zimmer, the Royals' top pitching prospect, will undergo shoulder surgery, a thoracic outlet syndrome procedure. He pitched just 5 2/3 innings in the minors this season. ... Royals LHP Mike Minor, who remains on the 60-day disabled list while recovering from 2015 shoulder surgery, threw 36 pitches in a two-inning simulated game. ... Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco and Royals RHP Ian Kennedy are the pitching probables Wednesday for the series finale.