Brandon Moss, Indians bash Royals in 6-2 defeat

The dimensions of Kauffman Stadium can humble a power hitter, can reduce their ferocious drives into a harmless flyballs, can send batters grumbling back to their dugout cursing this park’s architects. Brandon Moss is not one of these men.

He launched a pair of home runs for Oakland in the American League Wild Card Game and nearly dashed the dreams of a generation of Kansas City fans. Here in 2015, with Moss now slugging for Cleveland, he continues to run roughshod over the Royals, their pitchers and their ballpark. He blasted his third homer in six games here in Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the Indians. The game was called due to rain with one out in the top of the eighth.

Moss unleashed a two-run drive in the fifth inning off starter Chris Young. The offending pitch was an 86-mph fastball on the outer half of the plate but near Moss’ waist. Young was operating without his sharpest slider, and with sometimes inexact command. Moss had fouled off the last four pitches. This one he powered out to right-center field.

“He’s so strong,” Young said. “He’s got a good eye. He’s aggressive. He’s just a really good hitter.”

The homer inflated Cleveland’s lead back to four. The Indians pounded Young for six runs in five innings. Young (4-2, 2.56 ERA) has now given up 10 runs in his last 11 innings. He had allowed only two in his first four starts.

Kansas City (30-21) have now lost six of their last eight games. They lacked answers against Indians starter Trevor Bauer, who yielded four hits and four walks, but only two runs, in 6 2/3 innings. After a two-run homer by Lorenzo Cain in the third, the Royals did not place a runner at second base again until the seventh.

This weekend they host the Rangers, who have scrapped back into contention after an early-season swoon. The Royals hope to slow their skid before they erase all the ground they gained in April. Manager Ned Yost chalked up their recent offensive doldrums to a slate of tough pitching.

“Bauer was pretty good,” Yost said. “He’s pounding you inside, gets you looking in, and then slow stuff away. He did a good job of keeping us off balance.”

On Thursday, to finish off a series already featuring Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber, the Indians flaunted yet another hard-throwing, strikeout-collecting right-hander. This one was Bauer, the former No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft. Bauer mixes a diverse collection of changeups and curves, sliders and splitters. Before the game, first baseman Eric Hosmer did not exactly shower Bauer with praise.

“You’ve just got to stay patient and attack pitches in the zone,” Hosmer said. “He’s got a lot of different pitches he likes to throw. But if we stay aggressive in our zone, and don’t go outside the zone, we should be good.”

The Royals could not adhere to their own strategy. And they fell into a four-run hole early.

Cleveland capitalized on a fortuitous bounce in the third. Young flashed his glove to snag a comebacker off outfielder Michael Bourn’s bat. The baseball glanced off his glove and trickled into the outfield. Omar Infante looked positioned for a relatively painless groundout. Instead the Indians had a runner on base with none out.

Bourn swiped second base soon after. He scored when second baseman Jason Kipnis shot a single past Infante. Next first baseman Carlos Santana bounced a double down the first-base line, which Hosmer had just vacated. A single by Michael Brantley doubled Cleveland’s lead.

“I felt like I didn’t have put-away pitches,” Young said. “If I made good pitches, it felt like they either fouled them off or took them. I just couldn’t finish them the way I wanted to.”

Young recovered to strike out Moss. With two outs, Young flung a trio of sliders inside to outfielder David Murphy. Young attempted to elevate a fastball to finish the encounter. Murphy was not fooled. He mashed a drive over Cain’s head in center field. Two runs scored.

“I just got burned,” Cain said. “I was playing him kind of opposite-field, left-center gap. He just hit a line drive over my head.”

In the bottom of the frame, Cain reduced the four-run deficit to two with one swing. After Omar Infante led off with a single, Bauer fed Cain a belt-high fastball. Cain blasted it off the batter’s eye in center field, well past the 410-foot sign.

Soon after, Kansas City would bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Hosmer took a five-pitch walk, including a fastball that buzzed his tower. He glared at Bauer as he trotted to first base, then raced to third on a single by Kendrys Morales.

It was up to Alex Gordon. He passed on a fastball inside. Bauer followed up with a changeup, right down the middle. The pitch must have disrupted Gordon’s timing. He rolled into a harmless grounder. The Royals did not threaten again.

Two innings later, Moss took Young deep. Young was not the first Royals pitcher punished by Moss this season. Just the latest.

“They were better than me tonight,” Young said. “I wish I could have kept it closer, given the team a chance. But it wasn’t my night.”

Thursday’s Royals-Indians box score

2B: Carlos Santana (Chris Young)David Murphy (Chris Young)Mike Aviles (Chris Young)

HR: Brandon Moss (5, 1 on, 0 out)

Kansas City

HR: Lorenzo Cain (3, 1 on, 2 out)

Umpires: HP: David Rackley1B: Clint Fagan2B: Hunter Wendelstedt3B: Bob Davidson

Weather: 78°, Low Clouds

Wind: 5 MPH In From Center

Attendance: 29,552 (37,903)

This story was originally published June 4, 2015 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Brandon Moss, Indians bash Royals in 6-2 defeat."