Royals lean on Lorenzo Cain as offense erupts in 12-5 victory

The pose came in the bottom of the fifth on Saturday afternoon, as the Royals delivered the fatal blows in a 12-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians, as a crowd of 26,497 watched the home side secure a series victory on a sun-lit afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

There was Lorenzo Cain, knees bent, shoulders back, his body twisting and cocked at the torso, his bat wrapping around his back, that classic lean that had accompanied so many pivotal moments over the years. There was Cain, the Royals’ 31-year-old center fielder, leaning back.

Cain had just crushed a two-run homer off Indians reliever Nick Goody, a majestic line drive that landed in the corner of the fountains in left field and punctuated a six-run fifth inning, erasing a three-run deficit. As he finished his swing, the force of the hack causing him to nearly fall over, he struck the pose.

“I just got a pitch up,” Cain would say.

On a Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, as the Royals paid tribute to fallen teammate Yordano Ventura, who would have been celebrating his 26th birthday, the lean-back swing symbolized another needed victory. The Royals (24-30) won their second straight game over the Indians while scoring a season-high 12 runs. They clinched their second series victory over Cleveland, the defending American League champions, in as many weekends. They finished the day just four games behind the Indians (28-26) in the AL Central standings and 5  1/2 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins, who played the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.

But for Cain, the swing also meant relief after two months of waiting, two months of wondering. In 51 games this season, he had homered just twice. For most of April and May, his power had all but disappeared. Cain, a former All-Star who had once hit 16 homers in a season, was still getting on base, still drawing walks at a career-high clip. But his slugging percentage (.361) was on pace to be its lowest since 2013. The struggles had vexed Cain, weighing on his mind. On Saturday, he homered off a reliever (Goody) who had not allowed an earned run in 20  1/3 innings.

“Honestly, I’ve just been trying to get on base,” Cain said. “I’ve been struggling this year. I haven’t been my normal self. I haven’t been swinging the bat as well as I would like to. But I’m trying to pick it up, I’m trying to get going.”

On Saturday, Cain’s 3-for-4 performance came amidst a total offensive eruption. The 12-run outburst served to support starter Jason Hammel, who allowed three runs in 6  2/3 innings and left to a warm ovation. It served to invigorate a stadium that watched the Royals fall behind 3-0 after a pair of Indians homers in the second.

Mike Moustakas finished 2 for 5 with a two-run double in the fifth. Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 18 games, the longest in the majors this season. Eric Hosmer and rookie Jorge Bonifacio collected two hits apiece, the latter raising his batting average to .288 on the season. The Royals waited four innings to strike against Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco. They dismissed him with five runs in the fifth.

The Royals can complete a three-game sweep on Sunday afternoon when rookie Eric Skoglund faces off against Trevor Bauer. With another victory, they can creep closer toward the fringes of contention after a disastrous April and a May that verged on stabilizing. In the early weeks of June, the standings do not matter, of course, yet a handful of Royals have found themselves peeking at them often. They are a reminder that not all is lost. For all that has gone wrong, for all the frustration and negative energy, for all the days in last place, the Royals remain a hot week or two from being in the thick of the race.

“Honestly, we felt like, ‘Man, we can’t do anything right,’ ” Merrifield said. “And then we turn around and we’re five games back in June. We know what we got in this team. We know we got a run or two or three in us.”

That run has not yet come. The Royals still have significant problems, including the loss of starter Danny Duffy. But they have found a way to solve the Indians, who took the division title last season before advancing all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. As the 2017 season began, the Indians were heavy favorites in the division again, with the Royals expected to be among their main competition. For most of the season, the Indians have hovered just a few games above .500.

“That’s always been in the back of your mind, that we’re still in this thing,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “And everybody knows that. Everybody in our locker room feels like we’re still in the middle of it.”

For one afternoon, Hammel weathered an early flurry of shots from the Indians offense. In the top of the second, Carlos Santana jumped a first-pitch fastball, ripping a solo shot into the right-field bullpen for his 16th career homer at Kauffman Stadium, tying Miguel Cabrera’s mark for the most by an active non-Royal. Moments later, rookie center fielder Bradley Zimmer, the younger brother of Royals prospect Kyle Zimmer, crushed a 3-2 breaking ball onto the porch in right-center field with one man on, giving the Indians a 3-0 cushion.

“It’s our job to make an adjustment after that at-bat,” Hammel said. “Because we’re supposed to be out there for three to four times through the lineup.”

Hammel would settle in. He retired 15 of the last 17 batters he faced. He didn’t issue a walk for the first time this season. With two outs in the seventh, he offered the ball to Yost, dapped hands with Moustakas and sauntered back to the dugout, earning a standing ovation.

The response to the quality start perhaps said as much about Hammel’s season to date — a 1-6 record and a 6.18 ERA before Saturday — as it did about this performance. But this was another building block, he said.

In that moment, the Royals already led 6-3. They would put up five more runs in the bottom half of the inning. The tone had already been set.

In the fifth, the pose had delivered a two-run blast to left. Cain had smiled his trademark grin. For a moment, the power had returned.

“I got to come back tomorrow and hopefully do the same thing,” Cain said, “have good at-bats and get on base for the guys behind me.”

Royals 12, Indians 5

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Royals lean on Lorenzo Cain as offense erupts in 12-5 victory."