The competition for last place in the AL Central is nip and tuck. The Royals, thanks to Tuesday night's victory, are one game ahead of the Indians.
UPDATED: 12:23 a.m.
Yuniesky Betancourt provided Kansas City with its first run against Jeanmar Gomez with a leadoff homer in the fifth inning Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium. An inning later, Wilson Betemit's solo shot provided the Royals with the winning margin in a 2-1 victory.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Since the end of last season, the Indians and Royals have been shadowing each other. Wherever one goes, the other soon follows.
The two teams entered Tuesday night's game with identical 114-166 records since the start of the 2009 season. They were tied for last place in the AL Central until Wilson Betemit hit a leadoff homer in the sixth inning off rookie Jeanmar Gomez to give the Royals 2-1 victory over the Indians at Kauffman Stadium.
The loss gave the Indians sole possession of last place.
"No one wants to finish last," manager Manny Acta said before the game. "Obviously that's on everyone's mind. That being said, we still have a month and a half of baseball left."
The Indians and Royals will meet 12 more times this year, but Tuesday's game might not have ended as it did if not for plate umpire Kerwin Danley retiring Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner on called third strikes with the tying run on second base against Joakim Soria in the ninth inning.
"It's easier to see after the game on replay," said Acta. "Both were way off the plate. Those guys do a good job and you're not supposed to criticize them, but sometimes you wonder.
"That's the No.3 and clean-up hitter. Basically, they took the bat out of their hands. They should have let the two guys battle -- the closer against one of those guys. I hope he sees it after the game or someone lets him know about it because it's not fair."
Michael Brantley started the ninth with a single. He took second on Asdrubal Cabrera's grounder. Choo worked the count to 3-2, but was called out on a pitch that looked outside for the second out.
"You can't do anything if the umpire calls a strike," said Choo. "If I swing at that pitch, I hit a foul ball. Umpires are human. They make mistakes. But games can change if he calls ball, you never know what can happen in a one-run game.
"But you can't change anything now. It's past."
Gomez (3-1, 1.84 ERA) lost for the first time in five-big league starts. He turned in his third quality start, but the Indians could do little against Zack Greinke (8-11, 3.90) and the Royals bullpen.
In his first four big league starts the homer didn't hurt Gomez. He allowed just one in 23 1/3 innings. The situation changed Tuesday as the Royals erased the Tribe's 1-0 lead on homers by Yuniesky Betancourt and Betemit.
Betancourt homered with one out in the fifth to make it 1-1. He hit Gomez's first pitch down the left-field line for his 11th homer. Betemit's tie-breaking homer was his sixth.
Gomez did run into homer problems at Class AAA Columbus, where he allowed 16 in 116 innings. Gomez was 8-8 with a 5.20 ERA with the Clippers.
Greinke is 5-0 in his last eight starts against the Indians. Last year's AL Cy Young winner is only 8-8 against the Indians lifetime, but they haven't beaten him since 2008.
He's 2-0 against the Indians this year. His 26 appearances (21 starts) against the Tribe are the most against any team.
The Tribe, 15-16 since the All-Star break, scored its only run in the second. Following a Hafner double and a Jayson Nix single, Matt LaPorta sent a high bouncer to second hit too slowly for a double play so Hafner scored for a 1-0 lead. LaPorta, 0-for-20, was credited with an RBI.
Gomez stranded two runners in the first and a runner at third in the second. He allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out three and walked two in 106 pitches.
"My sinker was good, but I made a couple mistakes on the home runs," said Gomez.
The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the right-hander. Starting with his big-league debut on July 18 against Detroit, he was 5-0 in six starts, including two at Columbus.