Kendrys Morales capped a six-run seventh inning with a three-run homer as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 11-5 on Tuesday.
The Indians went in front in the bottom of the sixth inning on Brandon Moss’ three-run homer, but Kansas City wasn’t behind for long.
Salvador Perez singled and Omar Infante doubled to put two in scoring position for Alcides Escobar, who worked the count full against Scott Atchison (0-1) before slapping a two-run double to right. Mike Moustakas then beat out a close play at first base, and Escobar raced home on the play to make it 6-5.
Moustakas advanced to second when Escobar kicked the ball away from catcher Brett Hayes. Lorenzo Cain was walked intentionally to set up the double play, but the move backfired as Bryan Shaw replaced Marc Rzepczynski and served up Morales’ blast to right-center field.
Perez and Infante, each of whom finished with three hits, added RBI singles in the ninth inning to pad the score.
Alex Gordon hit a solo homer in the second inning and Morales was 3-for-5 with four runs scored for Kansas City, which will look to complete a three-game sweep on Wednesday.
“There are a lot of things he can do,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Morales. “He understands what he has to do when he gets in the box,”
Cleveland got to Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie to the tune of four runs in five-plus innings. Michael Bourn plated two with his single to right in the second, and Guthrie was responsible for the two men on base for Moss’ home run off Brandon Finnegan (1-0).
Trevor Bauer yielded a season-high three runs on seven hits over six innings for the Indians. The young right-hander had only given up two runs in 19 innings in his first three starts of the season.
“It was a tough night,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, so we have to get better.”
Infante singled to plate Morales with two outs in the fourth inning, tying the game at 2-2. Gordon made it 3-2 in the top of the sixth, when he followed a Morales double with a single to right. Both innings ended with Gordon getting tagged out trying to advance a base.
