Royals down Indians, snap losing streak
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royals manager Ned Yost watched as Jarrod Dyson hit a long flyball, and knew that’s about as far as he could hit it.
“That’s a Jarrod Dyson cycle, I would call it — a single, double, triple and a ball to the wall,” Yost said. “That’s as close to the cycle as he’s ever going to get I think.”
Dyson and Alex Gordon each had three hits and Alcides Escobar drove in three runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 8-3 Tuesday night to snap a five-game losing streak.
Dyson, a speedster, has not homered in 291 at-bats in the majors and has only four in seven minor league seasons. He came close in the third inning when he sent Indians right-fielder Shin-Soo Choo to the warning track.
“I didn’t think I got all of it,” Dyson said. “I guess that’s a Dyson cycle because I don’t swing for pop, so that’s as probably as close as you’ll see them go.”
Escobar had two hits for his 34th multihit game, raising his average to a team-leading .307.
“He’s been doing that all year,” Yost said.
Chris Getz had two hits and drove in two runs, while Gordon contributed two doubles and leads the league with 36 two-base hits. The Royals scored all their runs in the first three innings.
“Alex is starting to pull the ball more now, which is good for us and bad for the opposition because he’s got tremendous power,” Yost said. “We had good offensive output up and down the lineup the whole way. That’s key we haven’t been able to put together a succession of hits like that where we can tack on some runs and get a big inning.”
Luke Hochevar settled down after giving up three runs over the second and third innings. One run scored on Johnny Damon’s infield single in the second when Hochevar failed to cover first base.
“That’s frustrating,” Hochevar said. “You can’t give away runs. That’s extremely upsetting.”
In the third inning, Asdrubal Cabrera scored on Hochevar’s wild pitch. Hochevar (7-9) gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks, while striking out six.
The Royals broke open the game with a five-run third, which was highlighted by Getz’s two-run double and Escobar’s RBI triple. The five-run third was one shy of the club’s biggest inning this season.
Indians starter Derek Lowe failed to finish the third and balked in a run. Lowe (8-10) was pulled after allowing seven runs on eight hits, two walks and a balk in 2 1-3 innings.
“There wasn’t much life to his pitches,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “His sinker only got two groundballs. Even the ones they didn’t hit hard got through. It put us in a big hole.”
In his past three starts, Lowe is 0-3 with a 15.88 ERA, allowing 20 earned runs and 23 hits in 11 1-3 innings. Since starting the season 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA on May 15, Lowe is 2-9 and his ERA has climbed to 5.52.
Lorenzo Cain, who also had two hits, had a run-producing single in the first. In the second Escobar’s single to right scored Getz and Dyson.
NOTES: The Royals finished July with a 7-19 record. ... Choo struck out four times. ... In a minor league trade, the Indians acquired 1B-OF Lars Anderson from the Boston Red Sox for Double-A Akron RHP Steven Wright. Anderson has appeared in 48 games with Boston in the past three seasons. He spent most of this season with Triple-A Pawtucket, hitting .259. ... The Indians
failed to make a big league deal before the deadline. “Everybody would like to add help, but I’m not disappointed because I didn’t know what I’d lose,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “I was not anticipating much. We’re in the thick of things and we have no veteran guys we can move.” The Indians entered Tuesday in third place in the AL Central, five games behind the Chicago White Sox. “If you can’t make up five games in 60 days, you don’t deserve to be in the playoffs,” Acta said. ... With the Royals trading closer RHP Jonathan Broxton to the Reds for two minor league pitchers, manager Ned Yost said RHP Greg Holland would be used as the closer. ... The Royals played a man short and will bring up a reliever Wednesday to take Broxton’s roster spot.