Royals Hold Court Over Cleveland Indians as Tribe Drop Fifth Straight

Indians struggles at Progressive continue

The Kansas City Royals added Johnny Cueto for their stretch run while the Cleveland Indians are grasping for anything to stop their freefall coming out of the break. The Royals dropped the Tribe 9-4 to hand them their fifth straight loss and the Indians have fallen to 19-32 at Progressive Field this season.

The Indians (45-53) fell into a quick hole as Cody Anderson (2-2) struggled for the second straight start, as he allowed seven runs in 5 2/3 innings including two home runs–a three-run shot to Eric Hosmer being the big blow early on. Even with another poor start, Anderson saw his ERA jump to just 3.26–just to give you an idea of how good he had been to start.

For the Royals (60-38), they got a quality start from their starter Edinson Volquez (10-5, 3.21) which proved to be more than enough. Volquez was charged with three runs, as two scored on the three-home run allowed by Joe Blanton in the seventh to Francisco Lindor. The only other run came on a solo home run from Carlos Santana in the second inning.

The loss was also Cleveland’s seventh in a row at home, and will only continue to fuel trade rumors for a team that had much higher expectations entering this season.

Next: Possible trade partners for Murphy