<table> </table> CLEVELAND | It&#8217;s happening all over again. The Royals have, somehow, descended into their <em>La Cage </em>act of recent years, piling one folly upon another in numbing repetition.</p><p>The latest example came Thursday afternoon in a 10-3 loss when they put themselves in an early five-run hole against Cleveland ace Cliff Lee, in part, by committing two costly errors of the laugh-or-cry variety.</p><p>One error was a dropped pop-up &#8212; yes, another one &#8212; that led to three unearned runs and resulted from &#8230; wait for it &#8230; the lack of sunglasses.</p><p>&#8220;I ordered some,&#8221; shortstop Tony Pe&#241;a said, &#8220;but we never got them in.&#8221;</p><p>Sheesh.</p><p>So it didn&#8217;t really matter when the Royals roughed up Lee a bit in the middle innings. The hole was too deep. Throw in a monster day by Grady Sizemore, which included a career-high seven RBIs, and Cleveland had a three-game sweep at Progressive Field.</p><p>The math keeps getting grimmer.</p><p>The Royals have now lost five in a row and 12 of their last 14. Thursday completed a 1-8 road trip that began in Chicago and continued in New York before concluding in Drew Careyville.</p><p>Check the standings. The Royals are a season-worst 17 games under .500 at 55-72, which leaves them two games worse than last year&#8217;s record through 127 games.</p><p>&#8220;Right now,&#8221; outfielder David DeJesus said, &#8220;it&#8217;s getting back to that feeling where if we go down, the game is over. I&#8217;ve been there too many times, but that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s feeling like right now.&#8221;</p><p>The quest to avoid finishing last for the fifth straight year also took another hit. The Royals now trail fourth-place Cleveland by 4 1/2 games.</p><p>There&#8217;s more.</p><p>Third baseman Alex Gordon left the game after aggravating a sore upper right quadriceps muscle on a throw for the final out in the fourth. Gordon has been also battling a sore lower back.</p><p>The Royals, these days, seem to be losing a player a day. The rotation is down to three pitchers, the bullpen is beat up, the lineup is patchwork. None of that explains why the Royals can&#8217;t seem to catch pop-ups, though.</p><p>Lee improved to 18-2 after allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings. He is only the fifth pitcher since 1970 to win 18 of his first 20 decisions. The others: Ron Guidry 1978, Greg Maddux 1995, Randy Johnson 1995 and Roger Clemens 2001.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t feel like I had my best stuff,&#8221; Lee said. &#8220;I had to battle. When you get five runs in the first three innings, it gives you some cushion.&#8221;</p><p>Sizemore provided much of that cushion after entering the game in a 12-for-65 slump. He had four of the Indians&#8217; 10 hits, including a three-run triple that opened the scoring after Pe&#241;a&#8217;s error in the second inning.</p><p>&#8220;Every day is different,&#8221; Sizemore said. &#8220;I feel good, and I&#8217;m seeing the ball well.&#8221;</p><p>Sizemore&#8217;s three-run homer against reliever Josh Newman closed the scoring in the eighth. The Indians also got homers from Shin-Soo Choo and Jhonny Peralta. They hit three homers in each of the three games. The Royals didn&#8217;t hit any.</p><p>Zack Greinke, 9-9, took the loss despite allowing only one earned run in five innings. Those two errors contributed to four unearned runs, although Greinke only made things worse.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not like those errors allowed runs to score,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like I didn&#8217;t have a chance to get out of the jams. I was just not making good pitches after them.&#8221;