Royals 8, Indians 6: Bullpen unravels as Tribe's win streak ends at four games

CLEVELAND — The Indians appear unbeatable when they score at least three runs, but the Royals proved that's not really the case Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Rallying against a Cleveland bullpen that has been one of the majors' best all season, Kansas City snapped the Indians' four-game winning streak with an 8-6 win. The Indians, who began the night tied with Chicago atop the Central Division standings, lost for just the fourth time in their last 13 games and fell to 21-3 when scoring three or more runs — 15-2 when scoring five or more times. "We (had) two guys (unavailable in the bullpen) and needed four innings. That's very difficult when you are two guys down," interim manager Sandy Alomar said. "The guys did OK. I'm not gonna be complaining. We just gave them too many opportunities. You can't give extra outs to beat a major league team. We gave them chances, let's leave it at that." Cleveland led 5-3 when KC's comeback began against right-hander Cal Quantrill, who was acquired in the Mike Clevinger trade with San Diego. The inning began ominously when Francisco Lindor charged a grounder from Alex Gordon and tried to flip it to first baseman Carlos Santana, who couldn't handle the one-hopper and was charged with an error. "An error on Lindor or Santana, it doesn't really matter, it's an error," Alomar Jr. said. "That gave them a chance to come back and score runs there." Matt Reynolds followed with a grounder back to the mound that could have been a double play, but Quantrill threw too high to Lindor, who was only able to record the fielder's choice out. A single was followed by a fielder's choice grounder that made it 5-4 before Cam Gallagher tied it with a double to the left-field corner. It was Adam Cimber's turn to crumble in the eighth. He allowed singles to the first two batters he faced before the Royals took their first lead of the game on a sacrifice fly from Maikel Franco. Cimber departed for Oliver Perez, who allowed the first two to reach to load the bases before getting a strikeout and hitting Nicky Lopez with a pitch to force in another run. Adam Plutko got into the act as well, allowing a run in the ninth. Cimber has allowed five runs over his last eight appearances and at least one hit in seven of the eight games. "I don't see that wipeout slider," Alomar Jr. said. "I think he has to establish his sinker in in order to throw his slider away. The sinker is just getting too much of the plate. He had to go out there and pitch to try to get him back. He's out there fighting, but at the end of the day he gave up a couple hits and a couple runs. "We'll see what happens. Sometimes you struggle for a couple outings and then you come back and get it. We're still counting on him to get out of it." The Indians struck early against right-hander Jakob Junis, hitting a home run in each of the first three innings. Santana hit a two-run shot in the opening inning and Sandy Leon extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo homer in the second. After the Royals tied it on a three-run homer from Whit Merriffield in the third, Lindor hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning to give the lead back to Cleveland. Triston McKenzie was unhittable early in his fourth career start, retiring the first seven batters he faced — three on strikeouts — before two reached and Merrifield followed with his eighth homer. Prior to the homer, Delino DeShields slipped in center field on a ball that dropped for a one-out double for Lopez. McKenzie walked the next batter before Merrifield went deep. "At the end of the day, he did a decent job," Alomar Jr. said of McKenzie, who struck out seven but reached his pitch count after five innings. "He just threw too many pitches in the third and fourth innings." McKenzie said he is feeling more comfortable each time he takes the mound. "It definitely doesn't feel like I'm new to the process," McKenzie said. "I definitely feel like a team that's chasing and hunting first place. And I feel like every time I go out there I have to be a little better, just to support the guys around me because I know they're working hard." Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on Twitter.