In the AL Central divisional matchup of the Indians and Royals—which could be dubbed, “The Battle of the Basement”—Cleveland hosted Kansas City in the first of a three-game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH.
Current cellar-dweller Kansas City jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Indians pitcher, Anthony Reyes, jumping ahead in the count and throwing a load of strikes in his previous starts, opened this game by walking Mike Aviles.
After a groundout moved Aviles to second, David DeJesus doubled to center, making Reyes pay for the walk. A pair of flyouts limited the damage to one run.
The Indians struck back in the bottom of the second.
Shin-Soo Choo hit the first pitch he saw out of the park over the center-field fence, making it a 1-1 game. Ryan Garko singled to left. On a Kelly Shoppach double, Garko motored all the way around from first base after it appeared left fielder Jose Guillen pulled up instead of cutting the ball off.
That made it 2-1 Indians, with one out. Andy Marte flied out for the second out, and Asdrubal Cabrera delivered the two-out RBI single, scoring Shoppach. Royals starting pitcher Luke Hochevar had an extremely slow delivery to the plate, and Cabrera, not known for his wheels, stole second, his third stolen base of the season.
His slow-motion burst of speed was wasted when Grady Sizemore ended the inning with a flyout.
The Indians added a run in the fourth when Garko homered to left with nobody on and nobody out.
The Royals got the run back in the top of the fifth, narrowing the lead to 4-2. Aviles was the guy crossing the plate again for the Royals. He singled and moved to second after Esteban German walked. DeJesus grounded out, but moved both runners up, and Guillen’s groundout scored Aviles.
Mark Teahen flied out to end the inning.
Donnelly came on in relief of Reyes in the top of the sixth. He walked Gload with one out, and then gave up singles to Olivo and Smith, scoring Gload. Choo backhanded Smith’s single and fired a one-hop strike to third, nailing Olivo for the second out.





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