Meche, two relievers combine on shutout against Cleveland

CLEVELAND | Here it was, finally, the Royals hope, that dominant, shutdown performance that kicks Gil Meche into gear. Maybe the Royals, too, for that matter.

Meche pitched seven shutout innings Sunday afternoon — and needed to be that good for Kansas City to eke out a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians that completed a two-game sweep of their rain-shortened series.

“That was the Gil that we know and love,” catcher John Buck said. “He was constantly going after hitters. The last time I caught him, it seemed like he was just nipping and trying not to get hit.

“Today, it was like, ‘Try to hit me.’ He just had a different demeanor about him: This is my stuff; see if you can hit it. When he does that, that’s when he pitches like he pitched.”

It was easily Meche’s best start of the season. He improved to 2-4 and lowered his ERA to 5.98 by limiting the Indians to four hits, all singles, before handing a 1-0 lead to Leo Nuñez in the eighth.

Nuñez pitched a one-two-three inning on 10 pitches — all strikes — before Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his eighth save in eight opportunities.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Meche said. “My last game was a little bit better. I had made some adjustments with (the positioning of) my hands. The last two games were what I’ve been working for, and I definitely needed to see the results.”

The changes involved lowering his hands in his delivery. The result is Meche is able to get his arms into motion a little quicker — which he believes resulted in sharper control of his off-speed pitches.

“My biggest problem in my first six starts,” he said, “is I haven’t been consistent with my off-speed pitches. Once I can do that, then my fastball is much better.

“When they’ve got to watch out for a slow breaking ball, that makes the fastball tougher to catch up with. Everything was just working today.”

Cleveland lefty Aaron Laffey, 0-2, was the tough-luck loser. He limited the Royals to one unearned run and four hits in seven superb innings. He struck out five, walked two and deserved better.

“Laffey was keeping everybody off-balance,” Buck said. “We kept giving in to him and not waiting to swing at our pitches. You have to tip your cap to him, too, but Gil did better.”

The Royals scored their first run on a two-out throwing error by Indians third baseman Casey Blake in the fifth inning. Miguel Olivo’s two-out homer in the ninth against reliever Rafael Betancourt provided an extra cushion for Soria.

“I was just looking for one pitch to hit,” Olivo said. “I saw it, and I made good contact. When I hit it, I knew it was gone.”

Gone, too, were the Indians because Soria was poised to enter. He has yet to allow a run this season, a streak he stretched Sunday to 13 innings over 13 appearances.

“He throws strikes and doesn’t walk people and doesn’t give up hits,” Meche said. “What more do you want out of a closer? We have a really good pen. I don’t know if everybody in the league knows that, but they will.”

The Royals didn’t get a hit until Olivo’s two-out single in the fifth. Buck followed with another walk, but Laffey should have been out of the inning when Tony Peña hit a routine grounder to third.

Blake threw wildly to second, however, and the Royals got a run as Olivo scored from second. The error also put runners at second and third and opened the way to a possible big inning — but David DeJesus flew to right.

Olivo’s homer in the ninth was a 392-foot rocket to left on an 0-1 pitch.

The victory boosted the Royals to 14-16 and kept them two games behind first-place Minnesota in the American League Central. It also completed a 3-2 road trip that began with three games in Texas.

Luke Hochevar and a strong bullpen effort Saturday produced a 4-2 victory after rain forced a postponement to Friday’s series opener.

“Most of the games that we win are probably going to be tight games,” Hillman said, “because of lack of offense so far. Pitching keeps us in it. If we play good defense, most of the time we’re going to have a chance.”

To reach Bob Dutton, Royals reporter for The Star, send e-mail to bdutton@kcstar.com