Indians rout Royals

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The surprising Cleveland Indians will get two chances to set the franchise record for wins in April.

The way they’ve been playing at home, it may take only one.

Fausto Carmona pitched seven solid innings Thursday night, and the Indians belted four solo homers in an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals — the 10th straight home win for Cleveland.

The Indians (16-8) opened a 41/2-game lead over the Royals and Tigers in the AL Central, heading into Friday night’s series opener against Detroit. The Indians’ 16 wins in April ties the club record set in 1988, 1996 and 1999.

“I’m proud of these guys,” manager Manny Acta said. “This was a very good series. We did just about everything. We swung the bat very well tonight, hit some balls loud, square.”

Carmona (2-3) was coming off a 10-3 loss Saturday in Minnesota and rebounded by throwing 60 of 86 pitches for strikes, walking two and allowing five hits and two runs.

It helped that his offense staked him to an 8-0 lead.

Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana connected for consecutive homers with two outs in the first inning off Kyle Davies (1-3). Grady Sizemore opened the third with his fourth homer and Shelley Duncan, a late lineup addition when DH Travis Hafner was scratched with an inflamed right ankle, began the fourth with his first of the year to make it 4-0.

That made it 17 homers allowed by Kansas City during its six-game losing streak.

“We’ve seen a bunch of them,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It hasn’t been a fun week — (hopefully) we can get home and start something.”

The Royals have dropped nine of 11 and open a nine-game homestand Friday against Minnesota, after going 0-6 on a trip to Texas and Cleveland in which they were outscored 46-22.

“I got my butt kicked by a good team who’s hot,” Davies said. “There’s no excuses. I have to get more swings and misses. I couldn’t stop it.”

Jeff Francoeur stretched his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games for Kansas City. He doubled in the seventh and Wilson Betemit followed with a two-run double to make it 8-2.