Ryan O'Hearn and Hunter Dozier homered off Indians closer Cody Allen in the ninth inning Friday to give the Royals a 5-4 win over the Tribe.
KANSAS CITY - Closer Cody Allen allowed consecutive homers to Ryan O'Hearn and Hunter Dozier in the ninth inning Friday night as Kansas City rallied for a 5-4 win over the Indians at Kauffman Stadium.
O'Hearn opened the ninth with a first-pitch homer to left field to tie the score. Dozier followed with the game-winner over wall in right.
"I was actually trying to go up in the strike zone against both those guys, especially the first hitter," said Allen. "He's shown some swing and miss up there and my fastball plays well at the top of the zone.
"I just flat out go beat twice. I don't know what to tell you. I just got beat. I flat out got beat."
Allen (4-5, 4.50) suffered the reliever's double-whammy. He took the loss and the blown save. He's 25-for-29 in save chances this season and has allowed a career-high 11 homers in 54 innings.
"It's been a big grind this year," said Allen, the franchise leader in saves. "It has come in waves. The last few weeks I felt like we've been headed in the right direction, but the last few times out I've been pretty hittable.
"I just continue to try and make adjustments. If I keep doing this, I'm not going to be pitching in big spots. I've got to make adjustments and start missing bats."
In the eighth inning Yonder Alonso gave the Indians a 4-3 lead with a two-run homer. It was Alonso's second blast of the game, but it wasn't enough to keep the Indians from losing their third straight.
Alonso, moments before a flood broke out in right field, hit a leadoff homer in the fourth inning for the Indians' first run of the game. In the eighth, after play had resumed following a 30-minute delay because of a broken water pipe, Alonso did it again for a 4-3 lead.
When the game was stopped, Alonso's teammates told him he must have broke something with his first home run.
"That was gnarly," said Alonso. "Oops. I hope I don't get a bill."
Manager Terry Francona did not play Alonso on Wednesday or Thursday against Boston. Not only did the Red Sox start lefties in each game, but Alonso was in a 13-for-79 skid. Francona felt the rest would do him good and he was right.
Alonso, who has 22 homers and 74 RBI, hit a 3-1 pitch for his second homer and a 3-2 pitch for his first.
Tribe starter Mike Clevinger negotiated the flood in right field with no problem, but couldn't not find a way around Salvador Perez. The veteran catcher hit a three-run homer off Clevinger in the first inning. Clevinger went six innings, struck out eight and allowed three runs.
Perez had one hit in 14 at-bats against Clevinger headed into Friday's game.
The Indians quickly worked their way back into the game against rookie Brad Keller. Greg Allen singled to start the third. He stole second, took third on a fly ball and scored on Michael Brantley's single.
After Alonso's leadoff homer in the fourth, Keller retired two straight. Yan Gomes doubled off the left field fence for his first of three hits, but that's when the game was halted as water poured into the Royals bullpen in the right field corner.
What it means
The Indians entered Friday night's game still trailing the AL West-leading Astros by four games in the race to host the ALDS in October. The Astros were playing the Angels in Anaheim.
Oakland, Houston's closest pursuer, defeated the Twins 7-1 at Target Field. They had a four game lead over Seattle for the second wild card spot.
The pitches
Keller threw 96 pitches, 60 (63 percent) for strikes. Clevinger threw 105, 64 (61 percent) for strikes.
Thanks for coming
The Indians and Royals drew 19,304 to Kauffman Stadium. First pitch was at 8:15 p.m. with a temperature of 88 degrees. The heat index was 96.
Next
Corey Kluber (16-6, 2.74) will face the Royals and rookie right-hander Heath Fillmyer (1-1, 4.57) on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. The game will be carried by SportsTime Ohio, WTAM and WMMS.
Kluber will be facing the Royals for the third time this season. He went 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in those starts. He's 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 10 starts against the AL Central this year.
Fillmyer will be making his eighth start of the season. In his last start, he allowed six runs on seven hits in three innings against the White Sox. Fillmyer threw three scoreless innings of relief against the Tribe on July 4.