Royals’ Greinke whiffs 15 Indians

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Zack Greinke struck out a team-record 15 in eight overpowering innings and got some rare offensive support, helping the Kansas City Royals end a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.

Greinke (12-8) passed his career high with 12 strikeouts in the first six innings, then broke Mark Gubicza’s 21-year-old team record of 14 by getting Andy Marte in the seventh.

Mike Jacobs drove in two runs and Miguel Olivo hit his career-high 17th homer off Justin Masterson (4-5), giving Greinke more run support than he had in the previous two games combined.

Mitch Maier added to it in the seventh inning with his first homer in 302 career at-bats, a two-run shot that put the Royals up 6-1.

As usual, Greinke was unpredictable, nearly unhittable at times, blowing high-90s fastballs past hitters, wobbling their knees with curveballs up to 30 mph slower.

The right-hander struck out Shin-Soo Choo in the first inning to surpass his career high of 183 in a season and had this exchange with Matt LaPorta in the third: slow curveball, slower curveball, slider in the dirt — no chance.

Greinke kept the mower rolling in the fifth inning by striking out the side in 12 pitches — two balls — including LaPorta again on a dirt-diving slider.

Greinke did make a mistake to start off the sixth: a belt-high fastball that Marte hit out for his first homer of the season. He also gave up a run-scoring double to Asdrubal Cabrera in the eighth that cut Kansas City’s lead to 6-2.

Greinke didn’t come out for the ninth, replaced by Robinson Tejeda after allowing two runs and five hits on a 117-pitch night that pushed his strikeout total to 197.

The Royals made sure, for once, not to waste his effort.

Greinke entered the game with the unfortunate distinction of having the AL’s lowest ERA and lowest run support. Eight times in his 25 starts this season the Royals failed to score more than two runs, including four shutouts, erasing any hopes of a 20-win season.

The Royals didn’t waste any time helping out their ace this time, scoring a run in the first on Jacobs’ single.

Kansas City added two more in the third on a fielder’s choice by Billy Butler and another RBI single by Jacobs to go up 3-0. Three innings, one more run than the Royals had in Greinke’s previous two starts.

Olivo made it 4-0 in the fourth inning, lifting a solo shot out to left-center, and Maier put it out of reach with a two-run shot in the seventh off Rafael Perez.

Tejeda added a strikeout to match the franchise record of 16, set five times previously.

Masterson overcame early control problems to allow four runs on seven hits in six innings.