Much like what happened over the weekend in Arlington, long balls did in the Royals on Tuesday evening resulting in a 9-4 loss at the hands of the first-place Cleveland Indians. Four different Indian batters combined for five home runs, three coming off Kansas City starter Luke Hochevar.
Hochevar went 6.1 innings giving up six runs on eleven hits, including two home runs to Indians ninth in the order batter Jack Hannahan. After manager Ned Yost allowed Hochevar to come out to start the seventh inning, Hochevar promptly gave up two singles before Louis Coleman gave up a three-run home run to Shin Soo-Choo on the first pitch he saw, opening up a 7-3 lead for the Tribe.
Over the course of the seventh and eighth innings, Cleveland stretched a 4-3 lead quickly to 9-3, before Kansas City posted a single run in the ninth on a Melky Cabrera single. On the evening, Cabrera was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a walk. He also hit his second home run on the season, a sixth inning solo home run off Indians starter Justin Masterson. Masterson improved to 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA. Tonight he allowed three runs on five hits over 6.2 innings. Hochevar fell to 2-3 overall with a 5.68 ERA.
Alex Gordon went 1-for-4 with a RBI double and walk to raise his current hitting streak to 19 consecutive games. The leftfielder has turned in a a triple slash line of .351/.402/.521 so far in 22 games.
Kansas City falls to 12-11 thus far, riding a current four-game losing streak. Cleveland improves to 14-8 and opens up a three-game lead on the Royals in the division standings. Jeff Francis (0-2 4.06 ERA) will look for both his first victory and to end the losing streak tomorrow as he takes on Josh Tomlin (3-0 2.33 ERA). Tomorrow's game begins at 6:05 Central time.