What a wonderful week it has been for Royals designated hitter Billy Butler. Butler homered twice Friday night in Kansas City's 12-0 beating of the Cleveland Indians. Butler now has five home runs in his last four games and 12 on the season as the Royals picked up their seventh victory in their last 10 outings.
It may have been the best played game of the entire season for Kansas City, as Jeff Francis pitched eight solid shut-out innings while the offense broke out and looked much like Boston's did during the middle two games at Fenway when the Red Sox were putting up so many runs against the Royals.
The Royals hit four home runs on Friday evening, Butler with a shot in both the first and eighth innings, and Alex Gordon homered to right in the second inning for his 13th of the year.
In the fourth inning Melky Cabrera hit a grand slam to right, also his 13th of the year, and first grand slam of the year for the Royals. Indians starter Carlos Carrasco took exception to Cabrera posing at the plate to admire his home run and threw intentionally at the head of the next batter, Butler. Carrasco was immediately tossed out of the game by home plate umpire Scott Barry. With the long shot, Cabrera now is tied for the team lead with 61 RBI.
Kansas City collected 16 hits in the win, Alcides Escobar leading the way with three, while five others had two each. The Royals improved to 45-61 with the big win, and Francis won for the first time in his last eight tries to move to 4-11.