The Indians moved out of last place in the AL Central. But can they stay there?
UPDATED: 11:23 p.m.
Asdrubal Cabrera slides nearly uncontested into second base with a successful steal in the third inning of Saturday night's 7-1 victory over Kansas City.INDIANS CHATTER
Clubhouse confidential: Josh Tomlin and Shin-Soo Choo owe Trevor Crowe a thank you.
When Kansas City’s Kila Ka’aihue flied out to Choo in right field Friday night for the final out in the in the Indians’ 7-3 victory, Choo tossed the ball to a fan in the stands. He didn’t realize it was the last out in rookie Josh Tomlin’s first complete game in the big leagues.
Crowe ran over from center field and did some fast talking with the fan who caught the ball.
“He was pretty cool about it,” said Crowe. “I told him it was Josh’s first complete game in the big leagues. I was going to send him out a bat, but by that time we’d already given him another ball.”
Winter repairs: As soon as the season ends, Luis Valbuena is going home to Venezuela, take a couple of weeks off, and start playing winter ball for Lara.
“I’ve got to work on my hitting,” said Valbuena, who is hitting .187 after a 2-for-4 effort in Saturday night’s game.
After a promising 2009 season, Valbuena has struggled all season at the plate. His batting average has been below .200 since April 12.
“I think I’ve just been unlucky this year,” said Valbuena.
Stat of the day: The Indians have two rookies with complete games this season, Tomlin and Mitch Talbot. The last time that happened, according to Elias, was 2003 when Billy Traber and Jason Davis did it.
— Paul Hoynes
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Out of the darkness and into the light of fourth place did the Indians go on Saturday night at Progressive Field. They have done it several times since this season turned bad so long ago, but have never managed to stay there or push ahead.
But with just seven games left, and only one more against their rival for fourth, Kansas City, perhaps they can avoid ending the year among the dank laundry and broken ab-busters scattered about the cellar floor of the American League Central.
They showed serious intent in such an endeavor with a 7-1 victory over Zack Greinke and the Royals on a chilly late-September night at Progressive Field. It was their first win over last year's AL Cy Young winner since September, 2008, and moved them a half-game ahead of the Royals for fourth.
It happened quickly in a flurry of hits.
The Indians sent Greinke (9-14, 4.23) to the bench with seven hits and 11 runs in 3 2/3 innings. It's the most hits Greinke allowed all year and his second shortest start.
Rookie Jeanmar Gomez was the recipient of this cornucopia of offense. Gomez (4-5, 4.68) pitched only five innings, but ended a losing streak in which he went 0-5 with a 7.67 ERA in his last seven starts.
Greinke, 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA in his first three starts against the Tribe this year, struck out four of the first seven batters. All that changed in the third, as the Indians started hitting and never stopped.
"We never changed our approach against him," said manager Manny Acta. "We stayed up the middle. We've got some guys who have had success against him in the past -- Asdrubal Cabrera and Luis Valbuena -- and they did it again.
"It's a good thing because he's a tough cookie."
The Royals made it 3-1 in the third on Brayan Pena's two-out single, but that was as close as they came. The Indians scored four in the fourth for a 7-1 lead. Three runs came with two out.
Jayson Nix, who homered twice Friday, started the inning with a double high off the left-field wall. He broke into a home-run trot, but it hit high off the wall. Greinke struck out Jordan Brown, but Matt LaPorta doubled to left to score Nix.
Valbuena singled LaPorta to third, but Carlin grounded out as the runners held. LaPorta scored on a wild pitch and Trevor Crowe singled to score Valbuena for a 6-1 lead. Crowe came around on singles by Cabrera and Choo.
Choo, who went 4-for-5 with two RBI, is hitting .385 (25-for-65) with six doubles, four homers and 20 RBI against the Royals this year.
Valbuena, an offense disaster this season, went 2-for-3 against Greinke.
"He throws a lot of fastballs and I feel I can hit the fastball," said Valbuena.
Gomez allowed one run on six hits. He struck out five and walked four. The rookie right-hander has thrown 173 2/3 innings between Cleveland and Class AAA Columbus. The Indians didn't want him or fellow rookie Josh Tomlin to pitch more than 175 innings this year.
Acta wouldn't say if Gomez would make one more start or not. Gomez said he's scheduled to start Friday in Chicago in the final series of the season.
"This is about it for Gomez," said Acta. "Tomlin and him could go over a couple of innings over (175). I'm happy with the progress he's made."
The Indians' bullpen followed Gomez with four scoreless innings from Aaron Laffey, Joe Smith, Justin Masterson and Jensen Lewis.