Kansas City Royals Fall 7-3; Swept In Two Game Series By Indians

Well the Royals didn't give up 19 runs this evening, but the atmosphere was about the same as Cleveland jumped on Kansas City early and took Tuesday's nights game by a 7-3 final.

Facing Royals starter Sean O`Sullivan, the Indians scored three in the first inning on a bases clearing double by Travis Hafner to give then Indians a 3-0 lead after one. O`Sullivan went five innings on the night allowing six runs on eight hits as he fell to 2-3 on the season.

Kansas City did come back with one run in the bottom of the third as Eric Hosmer tripled and scored on a Matt Treanor single. After going through a month long slump, Treanor has rebounded nicely and boosted his averaged now to .243, hitting in the eight spot.

Taking to the mound in the sixth for the Royals and making his major league debut was Everett Teaford. The left-hander has just been called up Monday evening from AAA Omaha. Teaford looked good at times, but gave up a home run to Carlos Santana, finishing the night with 1.1 innings pitched, giving up one run on two hits. He also walked one batter. The highlight of his outing was a six pitch sixth inning.

Trailing 6-1 in the sixth inning, Kansas City scored their second run of the game after Jeff Francouer hustled on the bases to get a double, Hosmer drove in Francoeur. With Hosmer's two hits, he is now batting .,270/349/568 and has six RBI's. Hosmer's slugging percentage leads the Royals, besting Francoeur's .542.

Kansas City did briefly make things interesting in the ninth inning facing Indians closer Chris Perez. Two Royals walked and Melky Cabrera singled driving in Treanor. Alex Gordon then grounded out to end the threat. Gordon was 0-for-4 on the evening with a walk and struck out three times. He has now seen his batting average dip down to .284.

Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco picked up the win and moves to 2-2 as the Indians now are 26-13. The Royals now are losers of four straight and fall to 20-21. They are now below .500 for the first time since April 28th. Kansas City is 2-7 against the Tribe this season. Cleveland leads the division by five games, while Kansas City is seven back and in third place.

The Royals welcome Texas to town tomorrow evening as Alexi Ogando (4-0 2.06) faces Danny Duffy who will be making his major league debut tomorrow.

Kansas City Royals Look To Rebound Against Cleveland Indians And Split Series

The Kansas City Royals had a game to forget on Monday, but could still split their two-game series with the Cleveland Indians by picking up a victory on Tuesday evening. And, even if Game 2 of the Royals-Indians series doesn't go as planned, the Danny Duffy era is scheduled to begin on Wednesday!

The Royals, 20-20 on the season, will trot out right-hander Sean O`Sullivan (2-2, 3.79 ERA) as their starting pitcher Tuesday evening after using seven other pitchers on Monday. For the Indians, Carlos Carrasco will get the start while looking for his first win since April 8. 

According to MLB.com's preview, O'Sullivan may have the other hand in that match-up as current Indians are batting just .234 against the 23-year-old starter. All in all, though, as long as O'Sullivan doesn't pull a Kyle Davies or Vin Mazzaro (who has since been reassigned to Triple-A Omaha) Royals fans probably won't have too much to complain about.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The game is on the radio (KCSP 610), television (Fox Sports Kansas City) and even free online as the MLB.tv Free Game of the Day.