Indians win battle of AL Central cellar dwellers
Fans of the Kansas City Royals have not had much to cheer about this season but could at least say that they are not the worst team in the AL Central; that honor belongs to the Cleveland Indians. Thursday night the Indians had something to say about that when they beat the Royals 7-3.
The Royals got on the board first in the fourth inning. Bill Butler started the inning with a single and advanced to second after Wilson Betemit was walked by Indians starting pitcher Mitch Talbot. Alex Gordon hit a single to left-center field to load the bases with only one out. Billy Butler scored on a hit by Mitch Maier who was safe at first thanks to Matt LaPorta’s throwing error. Yuniesky Betancourt hit into a double play to end the inning.
Kansas City followed up the fourth inning with a two run effort in the fifth giving starting pitcher Kyle Davies a small, but sufficient lead. Davies looked strong over seven innings holding the Indians to four hits in seven innings of work while striking out five and walking no one. That was before the Indians’ offense caught fire in the eighth inning.
Trevor Crowe started the inning with a single to right-center field and advanced to second courtesy of a wild pitch by Davies. Crowe scored the first run of the day for the Indians on the next play, a single by Matt LaPorta. Jason Donald and Shelley Duncan hit singles off of Daives, scoring LaPorta, before Royals manager Ned Yost pulled him for Blake Wood.
The Indians offense kept the momentum rolling against Wood scoring two more runs before the inning ended to take the lead 5-3. Michael Brantley hit an RBI single in the ninth along with a RBI double by Asdrubal Cabrera to make the score 7-3. Chris Perez gave up a double to Billy Butler to start the ninth, but then retired the next three batters to preserve the win for the Indians.
The win improved the Indians to 50-71 on the season; the Royals fell to 51-70. Kansas City leads the season series between the two teams 5-3.
Both teams will have the opportunity to play spoiler to division foes over the weekend. The Royals start a three game series against the Chicago White Sox on Friday; the Indians travel to Detroit to start a three game series with the Tigers. The White Sox are four games behind the Minnesota Twins while the Tigers are hanging on by a thread, 12 games behind the Twins.
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