Justin Masterson worked seven strong innings, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Donald both homered to lift the Indians to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Masterson (11-8) allowed seven hits and four runs as the Indians (69-66) equaled last year’s win total.
Royals starter Bruce Chen (10-6) was looking for his sixth straight win, but gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings. In the first, Cleveland scored two runs on three hits. Carlos Santana’s double and an RBI single by Jim Thome put the Royals in an early hole
Cleveland came back in the third against Chen, who had gone 5-1 in six August starts. A leadoff single by Kosuke Fukudome and Cabrera’s two-run homer barely made it past the outstretched glove of a leaping Alex Gordon.
Donald homered in the fourth and the Royals got an RBI single by Alcides Escobar in the fifth and a sacrifice fly by Eric Hosmer in the sixth to close to 5-2, then in the seventh Alex Gordon launched a two-run homer to straightaway center, but that was as close as KC would get.