Cleveland Indians beat Royals, 9-0, in Kansas City

View the Slideshow >>

(Gallery by Wire Services)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The feast-or-famine Indians feasted Monday night at the expense of the Royals. On a scale of baseball importance that was secondary to the fact that for the first time this season the starting rotation produced consecutive victories.

Ubaldo Jimenez, making his first start in a week, threw seven strong innings in the Indians' 9-0 victory at Kauffman Stadium. The Tribe returns home with a 5-4 record on this trip through Houston, Chicago and Kansas City.

In winning his first game of the season, Jimenez took control well before Indians hitters slammed Wade Davis (2-3, 5.55) with a six-run fifth inning. The victory was Jimenez's first since Aug. 9, a stretch of 13 starts, as he combined on a three-hitter with Nick Hagadone and Cody Allen.

|

|

Last year, Jimenez (1-2, 7.13) led the AL in losses with 17. After the All-Star break, he went 1-10 with a 6.99 ERA.

"You're always looking to be encouraged, but I think we flew past encouraged and got excited," said manager Terry Francona. "Ubaldo had life on his fastball. He had all his off-speed pitches working.

"The hitters had to respect everything he threw. You saw some rollover groundballs to first, some awkward swings, [hitters were] late on the fastball. There was just so much to like."

Jimenez's problem from last year carried over to this year despite a decent spring. He seemed to get his legs under him April 21 against Houston when he retired 14 straight, but was hooked after just 65 pitches and didn't get credit for the 5-4 victory.

Monday night he was better, taking a one-hit shutout into the eighth. Jimenez has only pitched eight innings once since the Indians acquired him on July 31, 2011, from the Rockies. A leadoff double in the eighth by Mike Moustakas and a single by Jeff Francouer prevented him from making it Monday as Hagadone relieved to preserve the shutout.

"That felt really good out there," said Jimenez. "Those extra couple days really helped my arm. I was able to throw everything for a strike."

Jimenez struck out four, walked two and allowed three hits. He threw 67 percent (69-for-103) of his pitches for strikes.

"In the bullpen, my fastball was really running," said Jimenez. "We felt we had to take advantage of that."

Jimenez was hitting 93 to 95 mph. This was only the second time in 47 starts with the Indians that Jimenez has thrown seven scoreless innings. The previous time came May 6 against Texas.

The Indians' offense started and ended with two power strokes that have been long silent. Jason Kipnis gave the Tribe a 1-0 lead with a first-inning homer off Davis. It was his first homer since Sept. 13, a stretch of 129 at-bats.

The Tribe's scoring ended with Ryan Raburn's leadoff homer in the eighth. For Rayburn, who went 4-for-4 with four RBI, it was his second homer of the night. Raburn's first homer, a three-run drive in the fifth, was his first since May 15, a stretch of 153 at-bats.

"Sure I remember my last one," said Raburn. "It was against Jake Peavy, but last year was a bad year. I battled through injuries and a slow start. I'm just trying to have fun because there's going to be good days and bad.

"It's easy to have fun with these guys."

Michael Brantley started the fifth-inning rally with his second consecutive double. After Davis walked Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera doubled Brantley home with Kipnis stopping at third. The rally began to fizzle when Nick Swisher grounded out to short, but Mark Reynolds blooped a single into right to score Kipnis for a 4-0 lead. Carlos Santana, who entered the game leading the AL with a .388 batting average, doubled to make it 5-0.

After a brief conference on the mound, the decision was made to let Davis face Raburn. The decision backfired on the AL Central-leading Royals.

Davis allowed eight runs on 12 hits in 6 innings. Yes, the Indians were feasting again.

The Indians have been held to three or fewer runs in 14 of their 24 games. In seven games, however, they've scored six or more runs. In the past two games, they've ate well, scoring 19 runs.

Corey Kluber went seven innings to win Sunday's nightcap, 10-3, over the Royals. Combined with Jimenez's outing Monday, it's the first time Indians starters have won consecutive games this season. Before this series, Justin Masterson and Zach McAllister were the only starters with victories.