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Indians polish off Royals for sweep

[June 06, 2016] CLEVELAND -- Cleveland hit four home runs and Corey Kluber pitched six scoreless innings as the Indians completed a four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 7-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.

The American League Central-leading Indians have won five games in a row. The Royals came to Cleveland on a six-game winning streak and left with a four-game losing streak.

Mike Napoli, Tyler Naquin, Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor all homered off Chris Young (2-6) in a span of nine batters in the fourth and fifth innings.

Cleveland hit nine home runs and outscored Kansas City 20-2 in the last three games of the series.

Kluber (5-6) struck out six and walked two in six innings. He was removed from the game after a three-hour, 10-minute rain delay.

Coming into the game, all the players on the Indians roster had combined to hit one home run in 64 career at-bats against Young. The Indians then hit four home runs in 19 at-bats off him on Sunday.

Cleveland's offensive outburst began quietly in the first inning when Jason Kipnis tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lindor.

In the fourth, Napoli, who has been on a two-week tear, led off the inning by turning Young's first pitch into a towering fly ball to right field that looked harmless initially but kept carrying until it came down just over the right-field wall for his 14th home run of the season.

Napoli has hit six home runs in his last 10 games and seven in his last 13 games.

Naquin, leading off the inning, started the Indians' fifth with a mammoth home run into the second deck in right field, a drive estimated at 412 feet. Naquin homered in each of the last three games of the series.

Young retired Juan Uribe on a ground ball for the first out, but Santana launched another home run into the seats in right field to give the Indians a 4-0 lead.

Kipnis grounded out to Young, but Lindor then pounded a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall for his sixth home run of the season, extending the Cleveland lead to 5-0.

That marked the first time the Indians had hit three home runs in an inning since July 29, also against Kansas City.

Young was removed from the game after Lindor's home run.

Young, who came into the game with a career record of 3-1 and a 2.89 ERA against Cleveland, left the game with an odd pitching line. In 4 2/3 innings, he gave up five runs and six hits -- none of them singles. Young allowed a double, a triple and four home runs.

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Indians first baseman Carlos Santana (41) hits and RBI single during the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. The Indians won 7-0. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Kluber was as stingy as Young was shaky. The 2014 American League Cy Young winner breezed through the first six innings, holding the Royals scoreless on two hits.

Both of the hits were singles in the first inning before Kluber coaxed Salvador Perez to hit into an inning-ending double play. That started Kluber on a stretch in which he retired 16 of the next 18 batters he faced.

Kluber struck out the side in the fourth -- Kansas City's No.3-4-5 hitters -- during a stretch in which he struck out six of nine batters.

Cleveland scored its final two runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Santana and Lindor.

NOTES: Indians RHP Joba Chamberlain is expected to be activated off the disabled list on Monday. The reliever has been on the DL since May 23 with a left intercostal strain. ... Indians SS Francisco Lindor had two doubles and a home run on Saturday, the first Indians shortstop to have three extra-base hits in a game since Asdrubal Cabrera had three doubles on June 1, 2011. ... When Royals LHP Scott Alexander gave up a home run to Lindor in the seventh inning on Saturday, it was the first home run allowed by a Kansas City reliever in 100 2/3 innings, the first since RHP Dillon Gee gave up a homer to Washington OF Bryce Harper on May 4. ... Kansas City LHP Danny Duffy, who will start Monday in Baltimore, has a 5.71 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the best among Royals starters.

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