The Royals threatened in the sixth, which Alcides Escobar led off with a single and stopped at third on Perez’s fly ball double that dropped in shallow center with two out. They had a three-game lead in the Central with a chance to build on it.
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The only constant in a season of streaks: The Royals have been a juggernaut at Kauffman Stadium, going 22-7 in their first 29 home games – the best home record in all of baseball.
“We were on the attack early, ” Hosmer said. Eric Hosmer safely reached first base when a slightly inaccurate throw from Michael Martinez forced 1B Mike Napoli to take his foot off the bag. In the top of the 3rd the Tribe got a runner on second with 1-out and then Ian Kennedy came in too far on Raja Davis hitting him in the elbow making it runners on 2nd and 1st with 1-out.
Cleveland Indians’ Tyler Naquin, back, steals second base behind Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield during the second inning of a baseball game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Kluber’s night would end in the 6th inning with nobody out after giving up 2 more earned runs. Hochevar struck out Jason Kipnis to end the inning, Chien-Ming Wang went in in the 9th inning to get some work in, and he worked a quick 1-2-3 inning, slamming the door on the sweep.
“We play hard to the last out”, Perez said.
Merrifield, who homered each of the first two games, got them going again with a base hit in the first inning. Eric Hosmer added two RBI.
Jose Iglesias hit a two-run homer off Chris Sale in a 5-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.
The Royals also recalled left-hander Brian Flynn from Triple-A Omaha, and essentially parted ways with Infante, 34, whose diminishing play in the field and at the plate over the past two seasons made the move inevitable for General Manager Dayton Moore.
Merrifield matched it in the bottom half, the 27-year-old rookie sending a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall.
Joakim Soria (3-2) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Kansas City, then proceeded to handle the ninth with setup men Luke Hochevar and Kelvin Herrera and closer Wade Davis getting the night off – all of them had carried a heavy workload the past three days. Hosmer and Cain added singles, and Perez swatted his 11th homer. He exited with a 2-1 lead and in line to beat Kansas City for the third time this season.
Astros 5, Cardinals 2: At St. Louis, Doug Fister pitched effectively into the eighth inning and gave Houston breathing room with a two-run single in a victory over the Cardinals.
CLEVELAND: The Indians are 7-2 in their last nine games versus American League Central opponents but are just 1-4 in their last five games versus a right-handed starter.
“Very disappointing. We swept them at home and they return the favor, ” Kipnis said. “I thought this entire series was more on the position players”. And I think that’s on me. Part of the problem has been sloppy fielding – they have five errors in their last five games.
He’s spent the past 2 1/2 seasons with the Kansas City Royals in the twilight of his career.
The Royals designated for assignment struggling second baseman Omar Infante yesterday.
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Royals OF Alex Gordon (broken right hand) took batting practice for the first time since landing on the DL on May 23, even hitting a homer into the fountains. Gordon does not know when he will begin a rehab assignment but said “it should be coming soon.”.
