Cleveland’s Travis Hafner cleared the bases with a double in the first inning off Royals’ starter Sean O’Sullivan and the Tribe got home runs from Carlos Santana and Asdrubel Cabrera in a 7-3 win over the Royals, who now drop to seven games behind the Indians.
Santana hit a solo home run off O’Sullivan in the fifth and Cabrera made it 7-2 with a leadoff home run in the seventh off left-hander Everett Teaford, who made his major league debut.
Royals rookie Eric Hosmer tripled and scored on Matt Treanor’s single in the second inning and had an RBI single in the sixth, going 2 for 4.