BASEBALL Indians strand 12, lose to K.C.

The Tribe went 2-5 on the first road trip of the season.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A seven-game trip to Minnesota and Kansas City saw the Cleveland Indians blow three saves and lose three times in extra innings while going 2-5. Typical of how the Indians have begun the year, they stranded 12 runners on Sunday before losing 5-3 when the Kansas City Royals scored twice in the eighth.
"Maybe we're just getting these blown leads out of the way. Hopefully we're getting them out of the way early so we'll just be that much better later in the season," said third baseman Casey Blake.
"It's a frustrating trip. We're 2-5 when we could be at least 5-2. We'll be better because of this."
Bullpen falters
Jason Davis pitched well for the second start in a row without a decision. He went six innings and gave up three runs on six hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. But the bullpen faltered once again, letting the Royals scored twice in the eighth.
"He was good again," said manager Eric Wedge.
"He threw the ball well. He had three pitches working, worked himself out of situations and did a good job today. We hit some balls hard but we didn't take advantage of the opportunity to score."
Jose Jimenez began the eighth by hitting Mike Sweeney, whose average had fallen under .200, and walking Joe Randa.
Rafael Betancourt then came in and faced two batters, giving up an RBI single to Ken Harvey and a run-scoring double to Benito Santiago.
It was the first RBI in 16 at-bats for Harvey, who's been struggling at the plate along with Sweeney, Carlos Beltran and Joe Randa.
The Indians blew leads and lost in extra innings to Minnesota on their first two days of the season.
"We did what we needed to do in almost every game on this trip to give ourselves a chance to win," Wedge said. "Obviously, we lost games we should have won."
Tied game
Cleveland had tied it 3-all in the seventh with the help of a throwing error by pitcher Jason Grimsley that left Ronnie Belliard sprawled on the field.
Grimsley picked up Belliard's slow roller in front of the mound and threw off balance toward first. The ball went behind Belliard's back as he crashed into the shoulder of Sweeney, who was reaching for the ball. Belliard lay motionless for several minutes but got back up and stayed in the game.
The Indians were in position to win five or six games on the first trip of the season. Instead, they returned to Cleveland for today's home opener having won just 2-of-7.
"It's frustrating," Blake said. "Hopefully, we're just getting these blown leads out of the way early. We could have been at least 5-2 on the trip, but we'll be better because of it."
Wedge was equally unhappy with the outcome of the visits to Minneapolis and Kansas City.
"We did things to give ourselves a chance to win just about every game," the manager said. "But the bottom line is we're 2-5. When you do the things you have to do to win, you have to finish things off."