Kris Medlen surrenders four home runs in Royals’ 7-6 loss to Indians

Wednesday afternoon at Goodyear Ballpark, the difference between progress and a momentary plateau was a handful of errant fastballs.

Starter Kris Medlen allowed five earned runs in his fourth appearance of the spring as the Royals suffered a 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Medlen was undone by a series of missed fastballs and hounded by a Cleveland power display, surrendering four solo homers. By the end, he did not appear overly concerned by the results.

“Overall, (I was) pretty encouraged,” Medlen said. “You never want to sit out there and get tattered like that. But I just felt like any mistake I made with the heater was just absolutely smashed.”

In his fourth start, Medlen lasted just 3  1/3 innings. He gave up homers to Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor, second baseman Jason Kipnis and two to center fielder Tyler Naquin. The problem, Medlen said, was not his off-speed pitches, which had functioned better than they had at any point this spring. The issue was a fastball that routinely found itself up in the zone.

“You try to make a pitch with your heater, and you don’t make that pitch,” Medlen said. “I think in spring training, you want to go back to it, to repeat and get that muscle memory.”

When Medlen wasn’t allowing homers or struggling with his command, he resembled the starting pitcher who could land one of the Royals’ final rotation spots. He finished with six strikeouts and one walk in 3  1/3 innings. His curveball was a tick sharper. A fifth run scored when Paulo Orlando lost a ball in the sun and played it into a triple. Medlen’s pitch count surpassed 70 for the first time this spring. From that perspective, he said, it was progress.

“I just think I was overaggressive at times,” Medlen said. “But overall, you’re obviously going to give up homers against a team like this when you’re not executing your pitches. But at the same time, you want to go right back at them and prove yourself.”

On the whole, the Royals’ pitching settled in after Medlen departed. Left-hander Brian Duensing finished the fourth inning before Wade Davis threw a clean fifth inning. Luke Hochevar allowed his first two runs of the spring in the sixth, coughing up a 6-5 lead, but Chien-Ming Wang and David Huff threw scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth. Wang, a surprise candidate for a roster spot, lowered his ERA to 2.70.

The regulars

Third baseman Mike Moustakas hit his second homer of the spring, crushing a third-inning offering off Cleveland starter Danny Salazar. Shortstop Alcides Escobar saw his spring average dip to .143 after going hitless for the second straight day. Salvador Perez finished 2 for 3 with a run scored.

The arms

With less than two weeks to go before opening day, the core of the Royals’ bullpen appears operational. Hochevar allowed two runs Wednesday. That was a rare sight. Entering Thursday, the quartet of Davis, Kelvin Herrera, Joakim Soria and Hochevar has allowed just three runs in 27 innings this spring. The group has combined for 27 strikeouts. Davis and Soria have yet to allow a run.

Position battles

Outfielder Reymond Fuentes continued his campaign for a roster spot, finishing 3 for 4 with two RBIs. As the hits have piled up, Fuentes has emerged as a leading candidate to win a reserve spot in the outfield. He is batting .429 this spring after spending last season at Class AAA Omaha. As the Royals wait for outfielder Jarrod Dyson to return from a strained oblique, Fuentes appears positioned to fill the void.

Up next

The Royals will return to action at 3:05 p.m. Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers in Maryvale, Ariz.

Wednesday’s summary

Indians 7, Royals 6

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E: Barmes (3), Byrd (1). DP: Cleveland 1. LOB:Kansas City 6, Cleveland 6. 2B: F.Schwindel (1), Naquin (3). 3B:Kipnis (1). HR: Moustakas (2), Lindor (1), Kipnis (3), Naquin 2 (2). CS: Venable (1). SF: C.Decker.

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Umpires: Home, Carlos Torres; First, Jim Wolf; Second, Tom Woodring; Third, Anthony Johnson. Time: 2:53. Att: 6,786.

AP-WF-08-31-14 0338GMT

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Kris Medlen surrenders four home runs in Royals’ 7-6 loss to Indians."