Right-hander Jeanmar Gomez pitched poorly for a second straight start as the Tribe lost to the Royals, 6-3, this afternoon at Progressive Field.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In less than seven days, the Indians have gone from swagger to stagger. When starting pitching goes south, it can happen to any club, especially one in the offense-rich American League.
Right-hander Jeanmar Gomez pitched poorly for a second straight start as the Tribe lost to the Royals, 6-3, Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
The Indians (27-23) have dropped five of six. They have gone from leading the AL Central by 3 1/2 games after completing a home sweep of Detroit on May 24 to second place, 1 1/2 games behind the white-hot White Sox, who defeated the Rays in Tampa Bay.
The Indians have an off-day Thursday before continuing their homestand with a three-game series against Minnesota.
"The day off comes at a perfect time," Tribe manager Manny Acta said. "We will need to go home, step back, come back Friday and play better baseball."
Kansas City (21-28) has won four of five, including the final two of the three-game series in Cleveland. The Royals scored the game's final six runs. They had trailed, 3-0, after two innings.
"Pitching sets a tone, and right now we're not setting a tone very well," Acta said.
In their most recent five losses, Tribe starters have allowed a combined 33 earned runs in 23 innings. Gomez's culpability is 11 earned in 10 2/3 innings. Wednesday, he gave up five runs on 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three. He threw 98 pitches, 63 for strikes.
"I threw a lot of strikes, but they got a lot of hits, too," Gomez (3-4, 4.42 ERA) said.
All runs off Gomez occurred with two outs. Three scored after two outs and none on base.
The Indians made matters interesting in the ninth, loading the bases with one out against Royals closer Jonathan Broxton. Shin-Soo Choo walked, Jason Kipnis singled and Asdrubal Cabrera walked on five pitches.
Jose Lopez, swinging at the first pitch, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
"Jose was trying to ambush him on the first pitch and win it, or get an extra-base hit," Acta said. "It was just a poor swing."
Lopez, who had not offered at the first pitch in any of his previous four at-bats, said he was looking for a fastball that he could drive up the middle. Broxton delivered the fastball, but it came in high enough to foil Lopez.
"I was a little too eager," Lopez said. "I was trying to do my job. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work."
Lopez's grounder came on the 348th pitch of a game that included 18 pickoff throws and lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes. The Indians finished with 10 hits -- nine singles and a double. They stranded 10.
The Tribe took the 3-0 lead in the second. Shelley Duncan led off with a single and boldly scooted to third on Michael Brantley's single up the middle. Johnny Damon, who entered with a .152 average, popped to second. Casey Kotchman picked him up with a bloop single to right that drove in Duncan. Brantley scored on Luke Carlin's force at second.
Carlin got a huge jump off lefty Bruce Chen and stole second. Carlin's first major-league steal proved important when Choo singled to center for the 3-0 advantage. Choo entered at 6-for-53 with no RBI against lefties this year.
Kansas City answered with two in the third. Johnny Giavotella doubled with one out and advanced to third on a grounder. Mike Moustakas worked the count full before doubling to left center. Jeff Francoeur worked the count full before ripping an RBI single to left.
Gomez regrouped to retire Eric Hosmer on a foul to first.
The Indians squandered a terrific opportunity in their half of the inning. Cabrera led off with a single and moved to second on Lopez's single. Duncan fouled a first-pitch fastball and eventually swung through a high-80s fastball for a strikeout. After Brantley flied to left, Damon walked on four pitches to load the bases.
The next sequence showed why Chen has lasted in the majors. He threw a sidearm fastball to Kotchman that was called a ball just off the outside corner for a 3-2 count. Instead of giving in, Chen threw an off-speed pitch clocked at 75 mph and Kotchman swung through it.
The Royals continued their two-out efficiency in the fourth, scoring twice for a 4-3 lead. The first two batters grounded out, then Escobar reached on an infield single. He stole second and scored on Alex Gordon's double to left. Duncan drifted to the wall but was unable to make the catch. Gordon came home on Giavotella's first-pitch bloop single to center.
Pena's RBI single in the fifth drove in Francoeur, who had doubled with two outs. Later in the inning, Duncan made an over-the-shoulder catch of Jarrod Dyson's fly to strand runners and second and third.
The Indians kicked a gift to the curb in their half of the inning. With two outs, second baseman Giavotella dropped Duncan's pop. Brantley's single pushed Duncan to third. When Chen caught Brantley off first, Brantley attempted to work a rundown. Duncan dashed for home and was thrown out on a 1-3-6-2.
Chen (4-5, 4.86) gave up three runs in five innings.
Kansas City made it 6-3 in the eighth against Vinnie Pestano.
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