Indians lose Matt LaPorta, who exits after four innings because of a left-hip strain.
UPDATED: 8:50 p.m.
Royals second baseman Mike Aviles ignores a sliding Asdrubal Cabrera and throws out the Indians' Shin-Soo Choo during the seventh inning of Sunday's game at Progressive Field. ON DECK: INDIANS VS. CHICAGO WHITE SOX
When: Monday through Wednesday.
Where: Progressive Field.
TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio Monday and Tuesday, no TV on Wednesday; WTAM AM/1100.
Season series: Indians lead, 8-4. White Sox lead, 1,019-985, overall.
Pitching matchups: RHP Mitch Talbot (8-11, 4.44 ERA) vs. LHP Mark Buehrle (12-10, 3.93) Monday at 7:05; RHP Justin Masterson (5-12, 5.23) vs. RHP Edwin Jackson (2-0, 0.96) Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.; and RHP Josh Tomlin (2-3, 4.08) vs. RHP Freddy Garcia (11-5, 4.89) Wednesday at 12:05 p.m.
Indians update: They have not played White Sox since winning two of three in Chicago the first week of June. Masterson and Talbot earned the victories. ... Jake Westbrook, now with St. Louis, owns two of Tribe’s four losses against Chicago. ... INF Luis Valbuena is hitting .294 (10-for-34) in 10 games against White Sox; RF Shin-Soo Choo is hitting .292 (14-for-48) with two homers and eight RBI in 12 games. ... Last Friday against Kansas City, Tomlin became the fifth Indian since 1920 to pitch at least five innings in his first six major-league starts. He gave up three runs on eight hits in five innings of 15-4 victory.
White Sox update: From June 9-July 15, the White Sox went 26-5 to become a contender. ... They are 32-33 on road. ... SS Alexei Ramirez is hitting .333 (13-for-39) with one homer and four RBI in 12 games against Indians this season; C A.J. Pierzynski is hitting .150 (6-for-40) with no RBI in 11 games; Buehrle is 1-1 with a 4.42 ERA in four starts. ... Buehrle was ejected early in his previous start at Cleveland, May 26. First-base umpire Joe West ran him for protesting balk calls. ... Jackson is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA and 34 strikeouts in four starts since joining White Sox. He has struck out 10-plus in his last two starts. Earlier this season, Jackson threw a no-hitter for Arizona. ... Garcia is 49-22 in day games.
Injuries: Indians — RHP Anthony Reyes (elbow), LHP Aaron Laffey (shoulder), OF Grady Sizemore (left knee) and C Carlos Santana (left knee) are on disabled list. White Sox — RHP Jake Peavy (lat), RHP J.J. Putz (right knee), LHP Matt Thornton (elbow) and LHP Erick Threets (toe) are on DL.
Next for Indians: Seven-game trip begins in Seattle on Thursday.
— Dennis Manoloff
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For the last-place Indians, a sweep of the fourth-place Royals was too much to ask.
The Tribe managed six hits, struck out 11 times and committed three errors in a 6-2 defeat Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.
The Indians (53-77) had a three-game winning streak snapped. In failing to sweep the three-game series from Kansas City, they missed an opportunity to pull into a tie for fourth in the AL Central.
The Royals (55-75) have a two-game lead with 32 to play.
Losing another game is bad enough. The Indians lost a game and a core player, with first baseman Matt LaPorta exiting after the fourth inning because of hip trouble.
LaPorta is listed as day-to-day with a strain of the left hip.
In the off-season, LaPorta underwent left-hip surgery described in the Indians' media guide as "debridement of a bony impingement in the joint." LaPorta also had off-season surgery on his left big toe.
"Our training staff doesn't think it's that serious," manager Manny Acta said. "They believe it's muscular and that he'll be able to turn the corner pretty quickly. The surgery was inside the hip, this is the outside."
LaPorta said he is not sure if there is a correlation.
"We don't think it's anything major, though," he said. "I've been icing it since I got back in the clubhouse, and we ran tests that turned out OK. We'll see how I feel [Monday] and go from there."
Acta said it is unlikely LaPorta will play in Monday's opener of a three-game series against the White Sox at Progressive Field.
LaPorta, who entered with an extra-base hit in three straight games, felt something during the first pitch of his fourth-inning at-bat. He took a ball. After a swinging strike, he flied to left.
"When I landed, it kind of cracked and popped," he said.
Given a few seconds to think about how severe "popped" sounds, LaPorta amended his assessment.
"I don't want to use the word 'pop,' because it makes it sound like a tendon or something is involved," he said. "It was a crack, like you would have with a cracked knuckle. I definitely felt something."
The way this season has gone for the Indians on the injury front, don't blame their fans for waiting to exhale.
Batting in LaPorta's six-hole must have inspired Donald to muscle up. With two outs in the sixth and the Indians trailing, 2-0, Donald ripped a two-run homer to center off Royals lefty Bruce Chen. Donald drove in Shelley Duncan, who had led off with a single and worked his way to third.
Donald's fourth homer traveled an estimated 412 feet after Chen attempted to sneak a 2-2 fastball by him. Chen had made Donald look bad earlier in the at-bat with slop.
"I was happy to get the run home with two outs," Donald said. "The home run was a bonus. I was hoping it would be a shot in the arm for us."
It was -- until the top of the seventh.
Mike Aviles singled with one out off Fausto Carmona and scored on Kila Ka'aihue's double to left-center. Ka'aihue, a 6-4, 235-pounder from Hawaii, made amends for a difficult day defensively at first base.
The next batter, Billy Butler, hit a liner to left-center that Trevor Crowe caught after a good jump and great dive. Acta hooked Carmona for Tony Sipp, who intentionally walked Wilson Betemit before striking out Alex Gordon.
Carmona (11-13, 4.19 ERA) gave up three runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings in losing his fifth consecutive start. In the previous four, he allowed 18 earned runs on 37 hits in 25 innings.
Carmona walked four and struck out four while tying a season-high with 118 pitches.
"Great effort by Fausto," Acta said. "He gave us a chance to win. He had a good change-up -- most of them were around 85 miles per hour, which gives him better separation from the fastball. It's encouraging to see he's keeping hitters off that sinker."
Carmona did not speak with reporters after the game.
The Indians were in position to get Carmona off the hook in the seventh. With runners on second and third and two outs, pinch-hitter Michael Brantley was called out on strikes. Brantley looked back at umpire Derryl Cousins in disbelief.
Maier homered off Tony Sipp in eighth for a 4-2 advantage. Sipp has given up 11 homers, including six to lefties, in 50 2/3 innings.
Kansas City tacked on two in a sloppy ninth.
Chen (9-7, 4.76) allowed two runs in six-plus innings. "Chen pitched well," Acta said. "What can you say? He threw a lot of strikes."