Royals win second straight over Indians

Associated Press

Kansas City, Mo.

Homer Bailey has endured some tough times since he pitched no-hitters in 2012 and 2013. He showed flashes of nearly that kind of dominance in his latest start.

Bailey pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0 Saturday night for back-to-back wins after a 10-game skid.

Ian Kennedy pitched a perfect eighth and Willy Peralta followed in the ninth for his first save to complete the two-hitter.

“We executed a lot of pitches tonight,” Bailey said. “It was about time the pitching stepped it up. Our offense has been outstanding all year. To be able to go out and do that and pick them up was great.”

Ryan O’Hearn homered, and Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi each had an RBI single for the Royals.

Bailey (1-1) entered the game with an ERA of 9.00 in two starts this season, including his last outing when he gave up seven runs, eight hits and two walks in five innings against Seattle on Monday. He had one win in his last 22 home starts, and had not won in an American League ballpark in nearly seven years.

Everything was working for Bailey, who gave up two hits to eighth-place hitter Brad Miller.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona was impressed.

“He kind of sped our bats up with his fastball and then he spun the breaking ball,” he said. “We knew there were chances there were going to be times like this. (It’s) hard to go through, but gotta keep fighting, gotta fight for everything you can get.”

Jefry Rodriguez (0-1) gave up two runs and five hits over 52/3 innings in his first start with Cleveland. He was acquired in the offseason from Washington in the trade that sent catcher Yan Gomes to the Nationals.

“I thought he really represented himself well,” Francona said. “I mean he made a couple of mistakes that he paid for, but a lot of nights we’re sitting here saying the kid pitched great and he got a win. I thought he really handled himself well.”

The Royals got on the board in the bottom of the third. Martin Maldonado led off the inning with a double to left center, snapping an 0-for-17 stretch. He moved to third on a flyout to left and scored on Mondesi’s two-out single.

The Royals added another run in the fourth when O’Hearn hit his second homer of the season,.

Merrifield had his second hit of the night, a two-out single in the seventh that drove in Hunter Dozier to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.

ROSTER NEWS

Indians RHP Cody Anderson was added to the bullpen and OF Carlos Gonzalez is expected to be recalled from Columbus before today’s game. Gonzalez hit .348 with a home run and three RBIs in six games at Columbus.