Indians score six in the second inning and lead Royals, 10-3, through six.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This is a daily briefing of the Indians' 2010 regular season. The Tribe plays host to the Royals tonight in the first of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
Pitching matchup: RHP Josh Tomlin (1-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. RHP Bryan Bullington (1-2, 4.50).
In-game updates:
The Indians led the Royals, 10-3, through six innings. Catcher Chris Gimenez hit a three-run homer and RBI double. Matt LaPorta had a three-run homer.
The Tribe scored six in the second for a 6-0 lead.
Travis Hafner led off with a single and rumbled to third on Jayson Nix's double. Trevor Crowe's fly to left did not carry far enough for Hafner to tag. LaPorta picked up Crowe with a homer to left on an 0-2 breaking pitch that leaked over the middle.
LaPorta has homered in consecutive games.
Jason Donald singled and scored on Gimenez's double. Michael Brantley drove in Gimenez with a single.
After Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Shin-Soo Choo ripped an RBI single to right. Hafner was intentionally walked, but Bullington avoided the hook by getting Nix to fly to right.
The Royals pulled within 6-3 in the fourth. A Nix RBI double in the Tribe half of the inning made it 7-3.
Bullington, the No. 1 overall pick by Pittsburgh in 2002, gave up seven runs on nine hits in four innings.
Gimenez blasted his three-run shot to center in the fifth off Kanekoa Texeira.
Tomlin gave up the three runs in five innings before giving way to Justin Germano.
Tomlin worked out of a two-on, none-out jam in the first.
Gregor Blanco singled and advanced to second on Jason Kendall's bloop single. Kila Ka'aihue grounded to Matt LaPorta, who triggered a 3-6-1 double play. Ka'aihue made it reasonably close at first; umpire Jim Joyce got the call right.
Pregame notes:
In his brief time as a closer in the majors, Chris Perez has shown he does not need a minimum-threshold save situation to thrive. He gladly will enter the ninth inning with nobody on, nobody out and a three-run lead, but he is more than willing to take the ball in a mess.
Thursday night against Oakland, Perez notched his second five-out save this season and fourth of his career in the Indians' 3-2 victory. He inherited runners on first and second and worked out of it, then pitched around a hit in the ninth.
The save was his 16th this season (in 20 opportunities) and 25th since making his debut with St. Louis in May 2008.
Perez secured the Indians' first five-out, one-run save since David Riske did so on May 13, 2003, against Detroit.
"Chris is fearless,'' Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He enjoys being out there in those types of situations.''
The term "old school'' was used in the Tribe clubhouse to describe the save.
"Real 'old school' is three innings,'' Perez said with a chuckle. "I look at it this way: Yes, I'm the closer, but I'm also part of the bullpen. Certain games work out to where you're trying to get to the ninth. I was well-rested and ready to go. Whatever they need me to do, I'll do.''
Perez is available tonight against the Royals.
Perez's first five-out special happened to be the first save of his career. He remembers it like it was, well....
"Aug. 6, 2008,'' Perez said. "We were playing the Dodgers in St. Louis, Casey Blake was on second and Jeff Kent was the first batter I faced.''
Perez struck out Kent looking and got Angel Berroa to pop out to preserve a 9-6 lead. He walked one in the ninth.
In Perez's previous major-league appearance, he had given up a two-run walkoff homer to Jason Michaels in Pittsburgh on July 12. He was optioned to Class AAA on July 18 and recalled Aug. 6.
The second five-out save came one week later at Florida. It was considerably more dicey. With runners on second and third and the Cardinals leading, 5-4, Perez walked Dan Uggla. Then....
"Josh Willingham grounded to Troy Glaus, who stepped on third and threw to first,'' Perez said. "Double play, we're out of the inning.''
Perez escaped a jam in the ninth and the Cardinals won, 6-4.
The third career five-out save occurred June 11 against Washington at Progressive Field. Protecting a five-run lead, Perez got dangerous Ryan Zimmerman to ground into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded. The Indians won, 7-2.
Only once as a major leaguer has Perez been in position to earn a five-out save but failed to do so. On May 5 against Toronto at Progressive Field, he stranded a runner in the eighth to preserve a one-run lead, then gave up three runs in the ninth and lost, 5-4. That result gets a huge asterisk, though, because all the runs were unearned after shortstop Luis Valbuena committed a two-out error.
Sizzling: Entering Friday, Perez had allowed two earned runs in 22 1/3 innings of his last 22 appearances since June 28. He is 11-for-12 in save situations since May 18.
"His command has been tremendous the last three months,'' Acta said. "He's throwing a lot of strikes down in the zone. When he has command like that, he's tough to hit. Right now, if we get to him, we feel pretty good.''
The Machine: Perez cannot say enough about Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, who Thursday became the 47th major-leaguer to hit 400 homers.
At 30 years, 222 days, Pujols became the third-youngest to reach the milestone (Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr.).
Perez and Pujols were teammates in St. Louis for parts of 2008 and 2009.
"He's an incredible player and a great teammate,'' Perez said. "People see all the highlights on TV, but when you get to watch him up-close every day, you realize how many little things he does to help the team win. He doesn't care about the individual accolades. All he cares about is the team's success.''
Pigskin Pronk: Tribe designated hitter Travis Hafner will compete in six fantasy football leagues this fall. He was in six last season, winning one.
"A down year,'' he said. "I've made some changes in the scouting department and brought in a couple of new coaches.''
In a league made up of Indians' personnel, Hafner was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year by Trevor Crowe.
"Trevor thinks he knocked me out, but I knocked myself out,'' he said. "I had an off-week, and I just happened to be playing Trevor. It stung a bit.''
Defending champion in the Indians' league is the team owned by TV play-by-play voice Matt Underwood and clubhouse manager Tony Amato. This year's draft will be held Sunday night at Hafner's home.
"We had such a good team last year that even Pronk couldn't pencil-whip us,'' Amato said.
Hafner is hitting .321 (27-for-84) with two homers and 10 RBI in 24 games since July 3.
Big-league Choo: Tribe right fielder Shin-Soo Choo is making his fantasy-football debut and holds the first pick, which he said will be Titans running back Chris Johnson. Indians media relations director Bart Swain used his contacts to get Johnson to sign a uniform for Choo after Titans practice Thursday.
The uniform was hanging in Choo's locker Friday afternoon.
Lineups:
Royals (54-73) -- 1. Gregor Blanco cf; 2. Jason Kendall c; 3. Kila Ka'aihue 1b; 4. Wilson Betemit dh; 5. Alex Gordon lf; 6. Willie Bloomquist 3b; 7. Mitch Maier rf; 8. Yuniesky Betancourt ss; 9. Chris Getz 2b; and Bullington.
Indians (51-76) -- 1. Michael Brantley cf; 2. Asdrubal Cabrera ss; 3. Shin-Soo Choo rf; 4. Travis Hafner dh; 5. Jayson Nix 3b; 6. Trevor Crowe lf; 7. Matt LaPorta 1b; 8. Jason Donald 2b; 9. Chris Gimenez c; and Tomlin.
Umpires: P -- Jim Wolf; 1b -- Jim Joyce; 2b -- Derryl Cousins; Mike Estabrook.