Kansas City Royals Bomb Indians with Three Home Runs
By John Viril
The Kansas City Royals slugged three home runs against the Cleveland Indians on their way to a 9-5 victory at Kauffman Stadium Tuesday night.
The Royals scored 4 in the 3rd inning (3 unearned) when Indians SS Asdrubal Cabrera dropped a throw at second base while trying to turn a double play on Jarrod Dyson‘s grounder. That left the bases loaded with no outs. Omar Infante and Billy Butler followed with run-scoring singles, and Eric Hosmer added an RBI groundout.
The Royals then added 3 home runs: a 2-run bomb my Eric Hosmer in the 5th, a solo shot by Alex Gordon in the 8th, and a 2-run blast by Mike Moustakas that hit the foul pole also in the 8th.
The win pulls the Royals back to .500 for the first time since May 24. Kansas City is now 32-32 on the season, and closes to 3 games behind idle Detroit in the American League Central.
On the Mound
Jason Vargas pitched yet another solid game for the Royals, going 7.2 innings while giving up 6 hits, 0 walks, 3 runs with 5 strikeouts. It was Vargas’ 11th quality start out of 14 games this season, and his 6th win (6-2).
Tim Collins pitched to one batter in the 8th and gave up a run-scoring single that was charged to Jason Vargas.
Aaron Crow finished off the 8th inning and pitched the 9th. Crow earned his first save despite allowing 3 hits and 2 runs in the 9th inning.
At the Plate
The Royals mashed Cleveland pitching for 11 hits, 4 walks, and 3 home runs.
Eric Hosmer had the biggest day, going 2-5 with a single, a 2-run home run (3), 1 run scored, and 3 RBI’s. With two home runs within his last 3 games, there’s hope that Hosmer might have found his power stroke.
Billy Butler continued his recent surge with a 2-4 day, with 2 singles and 2 RBI’s.
Alex Gordon‘s solo shot in the 8th was his 7th home run of the season. Gordon continues his solid hitting with a 1-4 day with the home run.
Mike Moustakas slammed his 5th home run off the right field foul pole in the 8th to finish off Kansas City’s scoring with a 2-run shot. Moose went 1-3, with the home run, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBi’s on the day.
This and That
The Royals again helped out Jason Vargas with some outstanding defense. Lorenzo Cain made a sliding attempt to cat pop fly toward right in the 3rd inning. Though he missed making the catch, he was able to short-hop the ball and throw out the lead runner at 2nd base, who had to hold up in case Cain made the catch. Cain followed that assist with a fine running catch on a hard hit ball toward the gap.
Omar Infante speared a hard grounder up the middle in the 4th, while Jason Vargas helped himself out by making a nice fielding play to start a double play in the 6th.
However, Lorenzo Cain lost Jason Kipnis‘ fly ball to right that ended up falling for a double and driving in Cleveland’s first two runs.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
Our nod goes to Eric Hosmer for his 3 RBI’s and his 3rd home run of the season. Let’s hope Hosmer is getting back his power stroke and can finally put some thump into the middle of the KC batting order.
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- Billy Butler – 2
- Lorenzo Cain – 3
- Johnny Giavotella
- Wade Davis
- Norichika Aoki
- Salvador Perez – 3h
- Jeremy Guthrie – 5
- Jason Vargas – 5
- Alex Gordon – 8
- Bruce Chen
- James Shields – 6
- Yordano Ventura – 3
- Mike Moustakas
- Danny Duffy – 4
- Omar Infante – 2
- Mike Moustakas – 3
- Alcides Escobar – 3
- Eric Hosmer – 7
- Michael Mariot
- Casey Coleman
The Indians
Cleveland 3B Lonnie Chisenhall followed up his historic 5-5 game with 3 home runs and 9 RBI’s against the Rangers on Monday with a 2-4 performance on Tuesday night. The scalding hot Chisenhall is batting .388/.431/.618 on the season
Up Next
The Royals and Indians finish their 2-game series Wednesday afternoon. Kansas City sends Yordano Ventura (3-5, 3.41 ERA) to the mound against former top-prospect Trevor Bauer (1-2, 4.08 ERA) for the Indians. Game time is 1:10 CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Box
| Indians Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Bourn CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .279 | .716 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .255 | .724 |
| Michael Brantley LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .307 | .877 |
| Jason Kipnis 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .714 |
| Carlos Santana 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .176 | .661 |
| Yan Gomes C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 | .743 |
| Lonnie Chisenhall 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .388 | 1.049 |
| Ryan Raburn DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .210 | .536 |
| David Murphy RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .290 | .792 |
| Team Totals | 35 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 6 | .286 | .733 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
2B: M Brantley (15, off J Vargas); L Chisenhall (17, off J Vargas); J Kipnis (7, off J Vargas); D Murphy (15, off A Crow).
SF: A Cabrera (2, off A Crow).
HBP: D Murphy (1, by J Vargas); M Brantley 2 (5, 2 by J Vargas).
TB: L Chisenhall 3; C Santana 2; J Kipnis 2; D Murphy 2; M Brantley 2; A Cabrera; M Bourn; R Raburn.
GIDP: J Kipnis (3).
RBI: J Kipnis 2 (19); D Murphy (37); A Cabrera (23); C Santana (21).
2-out RBI: J Kipnis 2; C Santana.
Team LOB: 7.
With RISP: 3 for 7.
Fielding
DP: 1. A Cabrera-J Kipnis-C Santana.
E: A Cabrera (11).
| Royals Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jarrod Dyson CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .284 | .664 |
| Omar Infante 2B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .230 | .611 |
| Eric Hosmer 1B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .259 | .666 |
| Billy Butler DH | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .253 | .622 |
| Alex Gordon LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .288 | .829 |
| Salvador Perez C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .270 | .743 |
| Lorenzo Cain RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .322 | .790 |
| Mike Moustakas 3B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .155 | .545 |
| Alcides Escobar SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .278 | .709 |
| Team Totals | 35 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 5 | .314 | .956 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
HR: E Hosmer (3, off C Kluber, 5th inn, 1 on, 2 outs to Deep CF-RF); A Gordon (7, off N Hagadone, 8th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF); M Moustakas (5, off J Outman, 8th inn, 1 on, 1 out to Deep RF Line).
TB: E Hosmer 5; A Gordon 4; M Moustakas 4; J Dyson 2; B Butler 2; S Perez; O Infante; A Escobar.
GIDP: O Infante (2).
RBI: E Hosmer 3 (29); B Butler 2 (23); M Moustakas 2 (22); A Gordon (35); O Infante (24).
2-out RBI: E Hosmer 2; B Butler 2.
Team LOB: 6.
With RISP: 3 for 8.
Fielding
DP: 1. J Vargas-A Escobar-E Hosmer.
Outfield Assists: L Cain (M Bourn at 2nd base).
| Indians Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Kluber, L (6-4) | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3.35 | 78 | 51 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.87 | 14 | 11 |
| Nick Hagadone | 0.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.86 | 20 | 13 |
| Scott Atchison | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.14 | 7 | 4 |
| Josh Outman | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 | 21 | 9 |
| Team Totals | 8 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6.75 | 140 | 88 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
| Royals Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Vargas, W (6-2) | 7.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.30 | 116 | 78 |
| Tim Collins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.70 | 1 | 1 |
| Aaron Crow, S (1) | 1.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.10 | 23 | 18 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5.00 | 140 | 97 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
Balks: None.
WP: None.
HBP: J Vargas 3 (5; D Murphy, M Brantley, M Brantley).
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.