Indians finally figure out Greinke; Pirates win also

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Shin-Soo Choo had four hits and the Cleveland Indians beat Zack Greinke for the first time in two years, moving out of last in the AL Central with a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Luis Valbuena and Jordan Brown had two hits apiece for Cleveland. Jeanmar Gomez (4-5) pitched five solid innings to win for the first time beating Baltimore on Aug. 12.

Greinke (9-14) lasted just 32/3 innings in his second shortest outing of the season. He was charged with seven runs and a season-high 11 hits.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner was 5-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his previous nine starts against Cleveland, including a 2-0 record with a 3.15 ERA in three outings this season. It was his first loss against the Tribe since Sept. 7, 2008.

Greinke retired six of the first seven hitters Saturday night, including four strikeouts, but the Indians pushed across three runs in the third and four in the fourth.

Pirates 6, Astros 4

PITTSBURGH

Pedro Alvarez hit a three-run homer and Zach Duke pitched into the seventh inning for the second consecutive start.

Duke (8-14) was pulled by manager John Russell after giving up Humberto Quintero’s leadoff single in the seventh. The left-hander allowed three runs and seven hits while walking one and striking out three.

Duke tossed 71/3 innings in a no-decision against Arizona last Sunday. He had not made it into the seventh in back-to-back starts since pitching seven innings against Atlanta on April 10 and Cincinnati on April 16.

Joel Hanrahan gave up an RBI double to pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic with two outs in the ninth, then retired Geoff Blum on a grounder for his sixth save.

Alvarez had two hits, including a home run off Bud Norris (9-9). Andrew McCutchen also had two hits and scored twice as Pittsburgh rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win for the sixth time in eight games.