UPDATED: Matt LaPorta, Chris Gimenez and Jayson Nix crack three-run homers as the Indians overwhelm the Royals, 15-4.
View full sizeMatt LaPorta gets congrats at home plate from Jayson Nix, left, and Travis Hafner after LaPorta hit a three-run homer in the second inning Friday against the Royals at Progressive Field.Updated at 12:01 a.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Indians manager Manny Acta did not guarantee anything Friday afternoon, several hours before a game against the Kansas City Royals. That is not his style.
But Acta did offer that the three-game series carries added weight given the standings. Kansas City sits fourth in the AL Central; Cleveland is fifth and last.
"I don't think anyone wants to finish last," Acta said. "Obviously, it's an important series for us to try to gain some ground on these guys."
Acta spoke about how fourth place hardly rates as a consolation prize, but fourth beats fifth for no more important reason than "people don't say, 'Fifth,' they say, 'Last.' "
The Indians, with Chris Gimenez and Jayson Nix showing the way, were on the same wavelength as their manager Friday night. Tribe pride took the form of a 15-4 rout at Progressive Field.
Gimenez went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, RBI double and walk. Nix was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and RBI double. Matt LaPorta hit a three-run homer.
Jason Donald was 4-for-5 with three runs. He has two four-hit games this season, the only Indian to do so.
"I didn't have a three-run homer, but I'll take the hits and the runs," Donald said.
The Indians amassed 17 hits, including seven doubles. Every batter had at least one hit.
"We had quality at-bats up and down the lineup," Donald said. "It's fun when you're able to do that."
The Tribe (52-76) has won two in a row and pulled within two games of the Royals (54-74). Nine games remain in the season series, which Kansas City leads, 5-4.
Playing the Royals brings out the best in Cleveland bats. The Tribe is averaging 5.9 runs against them. In their previous series, Aug. 17-19 in Kansas City, the Tribe scored seven in each of the final two games.
In six games from Aug. 20-26, the Indians managed a total of seven runs while going 1-5.
They fell one run short of matching that output in the second inning Friday.
Hafner led off with a single and rumbled to third on Nix's double. Trevor Crowe's fly to left did not carry far enough for Hafner to tag.
LaPorta, down in the count, 0-2, picked up Crowe with a shot over the left-field wall. LaPorta pounced on a breaking pitch from right-hander Bryan Bullington that leaked over the middle of the plate.
LaPorta has homered in two straight games.
Donald singled and scored on Gimenez's double to make it 4-0. Michael Brantley delivered an RBI single to center. After Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Shin-Soo Choo ripped an RBI single to right for a 6-0 cushion.
With Hafner batting, Choo sprinted to second when Bullington's first pitch was wild. Royals manager Ned Yost then ordered three more wide ones. The decision paid off when Nix flied to right.
Tribe starters are not handed six-run leads through two very often. Rookie right-hander Josh Tomlin periodically did not know how to react, bobbing and weaving through five innings without his best stuff. He gave up three runs on eight hits, walked four and struck out one.
The Royals staggered Tomlin in the fourth, scoring three to pull within 6-3. Tomlin righted himself long enough to qualify for the victory, his second in five decisions. According to Indians media relations, Tomlin became the fifth Indians pitcher since 1920 to work five-plus innings in each of the first six games.
The Tribe made it 7-3 in the fourth when Choo and Nix sandwiched Hafner's intentional walk with doubles.
Bullington, the No. 1 overall pick by Pittsburgh in 2002 out of Ball State, did not come out for the fifth. He was rocked two starts after giving up two hits in eight shutout innings of a victory over the Yankees.
Gimenez brought the hammer in the fifth. After LaPorta walked and Donald singled, Gimenez blasted Kanekoa Texeira's pitch an estimated 427 feet to center. It missed the barbeque pit but rattled around in the trees.
Gimenez entered the night hitting .172 with three doubles and four RBI in 16 games.
Justin Germano relieved Tomlin to begin the sixth. He escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting cleanup batter Wilson Betemit to strike out swinging. Betemit had homered off Tomlin.
Germano pitched two scoreless. He has not given up an earned run in 16 innings of 11 appearances with the Indians.
The Indians scored five in the eighth for a 15-3 lead. Nix gave the Tribe three three-run homers in a game for the first time since July 2, 2004, at Cincinnati.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dmanoloff@plaind.com, 216-999-4664