Indians-Royals: Cliff Lee Wins 18th as Tribe Roll 10-3

The Royals had two errors in the first three innings, and the Indians capitalized on both, putting Cliff Lee up 5-0 through three innings of play. For his part, Lee didn’t give up a hit until the fifth, and he earned his AL leading 18th win of the season while completing the three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. He ties Arizona’s Brandon Webb for most wins so far this season.

In the "Battle for the Basement," the Indians came out on top, literally, opening up a 5.5 game lead on the dungeon-dwelling KC.

The Indians put up three in the bottom of the second. The first man aboard, Ryan Garko, was the result of a fielding error by shortstop Tony Pena Jr. Jamey Carroll singled, and after a Shoppach strikeout for the second out of the inning, Asdrubal Cabrera singled, loading the bases.

Grady Sizemore came through with a two-out triple, allowing all three runners to score. 

The Indians picked up two more in the bottom of the third on Ben Francisco reaching first after a Billy Butler throwing error, Peralta reaching safely on a fielder's choice that bagged Francisco, and Shin-Soo Choo’s sixth home run on the first pitch he saw, making it 5-0 Indians.

Cliff Lee didn’t allow a hit until the sixth. He then gave up three runs on four hits, two of the runs earned, narrowing the lead to 5-3 Indians.

Jason Smith reached first on a hit off the end of the bat and an error on third baseman Jamey Carroll. John Buck singled. Mark Teahen doubled both runners in, and Pena Jr. singled Teahen home. 

Lee got a bit of insurance from a sixth-inning run on a Carroll walk, a Cabrera groundout, which moved up Carroll, and a Sizemore single to left that scored Carroll.

The Indians would add another in the seventh when Peralta homered over the left-field fence, his 21st of the year. 

Cliff Lee left the after seven with a stat line that read six hits, 2 earned runs, 7 K’s, and 2 walks, not to mention a comfortable 7-3 lead.

Rafael Betancourt took over, giving up a pair of singles, but getting a double play on a liner to Garko that caught German off guard at first. Garko pulled off the unassisted double play. Guillen popped out, ending the inning and leaving a runner stranded on third.

The Indians piled on three more in the eighth on a pair of walks to Carroll and Cabrera, and Sizemore’s 29th home run of the year. 10-3 Indians.

Brendan Donnelly took over in the ninth, getting the first two batters on flyouts and striking out John Buck to end the contest. 

Sizemore’s 29th home run set his career high for a single season, eclipsing his previous mark of 28 in 2006. For his career, Sizemore has 107 homers in five seasons. The only season he hit less than 20 in a year was his first year (2004) in the majors. He was up for 43 games that season.

The Indians had 10 runs on 10 hits, while the Royals managed three runs on eight hits.  Both teams had two errors each, and three of the four errors accounted for runs on both sides.

The Indians leave the confines of Progressive Field and head to Arlington Texas, taking on the 63-65 Texas Rangers on Friday evening at 8:05 EDT.

The Indians are 7-3 in their last 10, while Texas is 3-7.  Cleveland lefty Fausto Carmona (5-5, 4.71 ERA) squares off against lefty Matt Harrison(5-2, 5.77 ERA).