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 Wednesday night at Progressive Field, catcher Yan Gomes belted a
three-run homer in the first inning and left fielder Michael
Brantley had three hits to boost his season total to 199 as the
Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 6-4.
The Indians have three games left and Kansas City and Oakland each
have four. One more win by Kansas City and by Oakland, or one loss
by Cleveland officially eliminates the Indians from the wild-card
race.
Wednesday's win came at the end of a 30-games-in-30-days stretch for
the Indians, who are off Thursday. They will host Tampa Bay in a
three-game series starting Friday.
"That's a lot of baseball. The day off is really welcome," said
manager Terry Francona of the Indians' demanding schedule.
"We're going to keep going because we want to make the playoffs,"
said first baseman Carlos Santana. "We have tomorrow off, but we'll
come back ready to play."
Brantley was 3-for-4 and needs one hit in the last three games to
become the first Indians player with 200 hits in a season since
Kenny Lofton had 210 in 1996.
"It's a pleasure to watch him every day," said Francona of Brantley.
"He gives you everything he has every day. He tries to play the game
right. He always tries to do the right thing."
With the loss, the Royals fell two games behind first-place Detroit
in the American League Central. The Tigers beat the White Sox on
Wednesday afternoon. Kansas City remains tied with Oakland for the
first wild-card spot with identical records of 86-72, three games
ahead of Seattle.
"It just makes it a little more difficult but it's not impossible,"
said Kansas City manager Ned Yost. "There's a lot of things that can
happen in the last four games. You don't know what's going to
happen. You just go play 'em out."
The win went to right-hander Zach McAllister (4-7), who pitched 2
1/3 scoreless innings in relief of right-hander Trevor Bauer.
Right-hander Cody Allen worked the ninth for his 23rd save.
Left-hander Brandon Finnegan (0-1) took the loss.
The Royals battled back from that early 3-0 deficit provided by
Gomes' home run to take a 4-3 lead after the top of the fifth
inning. But Cleveland scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to
regain the lead, then added another run in the sixth. Second baseman
Mike Aviles led off the Cleveland sixth inning by drawing a walk
from right-hander Aaron Crow. Aviles stole second and scored on a
sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter David Murphy.
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Four Indians relievers combined to pitch 4 2/3 scoreless innings on
two hits to preserve the lead. The Indians, who scored one run in
their previous 21 innings, scored three runs in the first inning to
take an early lead against Vargas. With two outs and nobody on,
Brantley singled and Santana walked. Gomes then belted a three-run
homer over the center-field wall, his 21st of the season, giving the
Indians a 3-0 lead.
"Yan took a really good swing and it came with two outs, which was
nice," said Francona.
Kansas City got a run back in the fourth on an RBI single by
designated hitter Billy Butler.
The Royals took the lead and knocked Bauer out of the game with a
two-run fifth inning that featured an RBI single by first baseman
Eric Hosmer and a two-run double by Butler, giving Kansas City a 4-3
lead.
In 4 1/3 innings, Bauer gave up four runs and eight hits with two
strikeouts and three walks.
The Indians regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Center
fielder Michael Bourn was hit by a pitch leading off the inning.
Finnegan relieved Vargas, and shortstop Jose Ramirez greeted
Finnegan with a double to left-center, scoring Bourn with the tying
run. Brantley singled Ramirez to third. Ramirez scored, giving
Cleveland a 5-4 lead, when Santana forced out Brantley at second on
a grounder to third.
The Royals now move on to Chicago for four games with the White Sox
to finish the regular season.
"We've got four left and we have to go to Chicago and take care of
business," said Butler.
NOTES: Indians OF Michael Brantley singled in the first inning,
extending his hitting streak to 15 games. ... 1B Nick Swisher made
his first appearance in the Indians' clubhouse since undergoing
season-ending double knee surgery on Aug. 20. Swisher, who hit .208
with eight home runs and 42 RBIs in 360 at-bats this year, is
expected to be close to 100 percent by the start of spring training.
... Royals OF Nori Aoki is flourishing since being moved to the No.
2 spot in the order. In 10 games hitting No. 2 in the order before
Wednesday, Aoki was batting .486 (18-for-37).
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