Royals 10, Indians 7
Royals 10, Indians 7: Salvador Perez delivered a pinch-hit, tiebreaking three-run double in the eighth inning as host Kansas City erased a five-run deficit to win two of three from Cleveland.
Lorenzo Cain belted his first career grand slam and Eric Hosmer homered for the second straight day as the Royals scored all their runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings after trailing 5-0 and 7-5. Luke Hochevar (2-1) pitched a scoreless eighth before Greg Holland nailed down the win with his 19th save in 21 chances.
Drew Stubbs homered and drove in four runs, Carlos Santana had two hits and two RBIs and Michael Brantley had four hits for the Indians, who dropped their second straight following a five-game winning streak. Cleveland's bullpen capped a dismal performance in the eighth when Bryan Shaw (0-2) gave up a walk and hit a batter and Rich Hill had a passed ball and intentional walk before Matt Albers served up Perez's bases-clearing double.
Stubbs had a two-run blast in the second inning before adding a two-run, bases-loading single in the sixth to hike the lead to 5-0, but Ubaldo Jimenez and reliever Cody Allen coughed it up in the bottom of the inning in a span of five batters. Two walks and an error by Jimenez loaded the bases with no outs before Cain drilled a 3-2 pitch into the seats.
That ended Jimenez's day in favor of Allen, who promptly served up a solo shot to George Kottaras to tie it 5-5, but Cleveland reclaimed the lead in the seventh on Santana's two-run double to right-center off reliever Aaron Crow. The lead was again short-lived, as Hosmer followed a leadoff walk to Alcides Escobar with a two-run shot off Joe Smith in the bottom of the frame to deadlock it 7-7.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Royals starter James Shields was tagged for five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings while Jimenez gave up four runs - three earned - and walked five in five-plus frames. ... Indians 2B Jason Kipnis went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games while reaching base for the 35th consecutive contest. ... Royals LF Alex Gordon was not in the starting lineup while being evaluated for a possible concussion after hitting his head against the fence in Wednesday's game.