Indians stun Royals with two in ninth
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on an RBI triple by Francisco Lindor and a sacrifice fly by Mike Napoli to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Thursday at Progressive Field.
Trailing 4-3, the Indians' ninth inning rally began with a single by Carlos Santana off Joakim Soria (2-2). Santana's hit was bobbled by right fielder Paulo Orlando, with the error allowing Santana to go to second.
A sacrifice bunt by Jason Kipnis moved Santana to third.
Lindor lined hit a triple past Orlando in right field, scoring Santana with the tying run.
Napoli followed with a sacrifice fly to left field as Lindor scored from third with the winning run.
The win went to Tommy Hunter (2-1), who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. The loss snapped Kansas City's six-game losing streak.
Drew Butera and Cheslor Cuthbert homered the Royals, who led 4-2 after seven innings.
Cleveland reliever Austin Adams retired the first batter of the sixth inning, but Cuthbert hit a 1-1 pitch into the left field bleachers for his second home run of the season, giving Kansas City a 4-2 lead.
The Indians made it a one-run game in the eighth with a run off Kelvin Herrera. Napoli led off the inning with an infield single and went to second on a throwing error by shortstop Alcides Escobar. Napoli eventually scored on a two-out single by Tyler Naquin, cutting the Royals lead to 4-3.
Cuthbert and Reymond Fuentes had three hits each for the Royals. Lindor, Napoli and Jose Ramirez had two hits apiece for the Indians.
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco was making his first start since April 24, the day he strained his left hamstring, which resulted in a five-week stay on the disabled list. Kansas City seemed like a good matchup for him on his return since he was 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA in four starts against the Royals last year.
The Indians struck first, with a run off Yordano Ventura in a bottom-of-the-second-inning rally that should have netted more than one run. Napoli led off with a single and he went to second on an infield single by Jose Ramirez.
Lonnie Chisenhall followed with a single to right field that scored Napoli with the first run of the game. Ramirez went to third on the hit and Chisenhall went to second on the throw to the plate.
But with runners at second and third and still no outs, Cleveland could not score again in the inning. Yan Gomes struck out, Naquin flied out, and after Rajai Davis walked to load the bases, Santana grounded out to end the inning.
The Royals took a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Jarrod Dyson led off with a single, and scored when Butera homered into the left-field bleachers, his first homer of the season.
The Indians got a run back in the bottom of the third. With one out, Lindor reached first on an infield single, and he went to second on an error by first baseman Eric Hosmer. Napoli struck out for the second out, but Ramirez singled to right, scoring Lindor, and the game was tied at 2.
In the fourth inning Carrasco retired the first two batters, but then gave up three consecutive two-out singles, to Fuentes, Cuthbert and Dyson. Fuentes scored on Dyson's hit to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.
NOTES: Prior to the game, the Indians optioned RHP Mike Clevinger to Triple-A Columbus, to make room on the roster for RHP Carlos Carrasco, who was activated off the disabled list. In three starts with the Indians, Clevinger was 0-1 with an 8.79 ERA. ... The Indians are 15-7 against AL Central opponents and 13-17 against non-division teams. ... During batting practice, Royals SS Alcides Escobar wore a Kyrie Irving replica jersey. ... Since the start of the 2013 season, the Royals lead the majors with 449 stolen bases, and their 80 percent success rate on stolen base attempts is also the best in the majors in that span.