Power ball lifts Royals to 6-4 victory over Indians

The Royals’ 6-4 victory over the Indians on Friday proved the power of power ball.

The Royals trailed by four when Brandon Moss crushed a three-run homer in the fourth. The deficit remained, but the game had changed, at least for Royals starting pitcher Ian Kennedy.

“That three-run homer might have given me more of a boost,” Kennedy said. “I know I thought, ‘All right, you take this and run. You give up another run and it kind of deflates the whole offense and team. I was a little more motivated in that fourth inning.”

The Royals took it and ran to the victory in the series opener. Mike Moustakas’ solo homer for the Royals in the fifth tied it, and Jorge Bonifacio continued his hot hitting with a game-winning two-run double in the eighth.

The triumph ended the Royals’ eight-game losing streak at Progressive Field, dating to last year, and gave them a chance to turn a middling road trip into something positive with their third victory in seven games.

“Great job coming back from 4-0 down,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

That was the score when Moss lined his three-run shot into the right-field seats for his fifth home run in his last eight games.

Moustakas’ solo shot was his team-leading 12th this season, and he’s the fastest Royals player to 12 home runs (47 games) since Jermaine Dye in 2000.

The game-winner didn’t go over the wall but was well-struck by Bonifacio against relief ace Andrew Miller, who got ahead in the count 1-2.

“First pitch, I was looking fast ball,” Bonifacio said. “After that, I was sitting on a breaking ball, his best pitch.”

Bonifacio drove Miller’s slider over the glove of left fielder Michael Brantley for his eighth and nine RBIs of the road trip.

The double scored Lorenzo Cain, who had singled and taken third when shortstop Francisco Lindor couldn’t handle a short hop after a high chopper off the bat of Eric Hosmer. The ball skidded into left field.

Miller got Salvador Perez to pop out to first base, adding to the importance of Bonifacio’s appearance.

“I just felt like I had to pick Salvy up,” Bonifacio said. “Try to do something to score from third base.”

Kennedy battled to make his previous outing an aberration. At Minnesota last Sunday, he lasted two innings while surrendering five runs.

That start was Kennedy’s first after a 10-day stay on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain. After the outing against the Twins, Kennedy worked on mechanics in a couple of bullpen sessions, but he got off to a rough start Friday.

Cleveland’s Jose Rameriz homered in the second inning, and Kennedy walked the eighth and ninth hitters to open the third. Both scored in the Indians’ three-run inning.

“I was just trying to grind through it,” Kennedy said.

Then came the Royals runs, a bounty to which Kennedy had grown unaccustomed. When he departed after five innings and the score 4-4, Kennedy had his greatest run support for an outing this season, the most in 11 starts dating to last season.

In his first seven starts this season, the Royals had scored a total of seven runs in his 37 2/3 innings on the mound.

“It was nice to have the offense and have the boys pick me up,” Kennedy said.

The Royals bullpen finished the job, with Mike Minor striking out three in two innings, Joakim Soria working out of of a jam in the eighth by striking out Edwin Encarnacion, and Kelvin Herrera working around a two-out single to collect his 10th save.

The evening started on a frustrating note for the Royals. Whit Merrifield opened the third inning with an infield single, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. But when he didn’t score, the Royals had gone 35 at-bats without a hit with a runner in scoring position.

That changed when Moss came to the plate in the next inning. So did the game.

　Royals 6, Indians 4

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Power ball lifts Royals to 6-4 victory over Indians."