Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Yuniesky Betancourt finished 2-for-4 with a solo homer and three RBI as Kansas City fended off a late charge by Cleveland to post a 9-7 decision in the second of three between the clubs at Kauffman Stadium.
Billy Butler and Mitch Maier each drove in two runs for the Royals, who have won the first two games in the set and four of five overall.
Bruce Chen (8-6) earned the win despite yielding 11 hits and four runs with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Joakim Soria worked out of trouble in the ninth to record his 35th save.
"They got a bunch of hits. They were swinging the bats real well. It seems like both teams were swinging the bats real well, but I tried to make good pitches," Chen said of his shaky start. "I tried to pound the strike zone. Luckily I was able to minimize the damage so we could win."
Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo each collected three hits and drove in two runs for the Indians, who slid to their eighth loss in 10 outings. Chris Gimenez also knocked in a pair and Shelley Duncan homered in defeat.
Fausto Carmona (11-11) surrendered nine hits and seven runs over five full frames in the setback.
"I thought he had good stuff tonight. He got hit a little bit. A couple times he missed some pitches up, but for the most part he had his normal stuff that he has every night," Gimenez said of his starter. "It just didn't work out for him tonight."
After Duncan tied the game with a leadoff homer in the second, the Royals went ahead for good in the home half as Wilson Betemit walked, Alex Gordon doubled and Maier's triple to right plated both for a 3-1 game.
Betancourt hit a two-run single in the fourth to push KC's lead to 5-1, then Cabrera plated Jason Donald with an RBI two-bagger in the fifth.
The Royals countered in the home half as Jason Kendall singled, stole second and scored on Butler's single. Butler later came home on a Betemit sacrifice fly for a 7-2 game.
Gimenez smacked a two-run double in the sixth to bring the Tribe within 7-4, but a Betancourt solo shot and a Kendall sac fly pushed KC's lead back to five in the home half.
Cleveland mounted a two-out rally in the eighth against Kanekoa Texeira, getting within 9-7 on Cabrera's RBI single followed by Choo's two-run double. Blake Wood was called on to quell the rally and he did so, by getting Duncan on a grounder.
Soria allowed a Jayson Nix single and a one-out walk to pinch-hitter Travis Hafner in the ninth, but recovered by inducing fly outs from Donald and pinch- hitter Trevor Crowe.
The Royals hit the scoreboard in the first, when Gregor Blanco hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Butler flyout to right.
Kansas City has won five in a row over Cleveland this season after dropping the first two meetings...Late Tuesday, the Royals placed pitcher Brian Bannister on the 15-day disabled list with right rotator cuff tendinitis, and recalled outfielder Jai Miller from Triple-A Omaha...Nix and Donald each posted a pair of hits for Cleveland, which rapped out 17 hits in the loss.