Indians overcome five errors to defeat Royals in KC
Baseball Betting Lines
08/20/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's infield single drove home the final run in a five-run eighth inning, as the Cleveland Indians overcame shoddy defense to rally past Kansas City, 7-3, in the finale of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and two RBI for the Indians, who avoided being swept despite committing a season-high five errors.
Cleveland also snapped a five-game losing streak to the Royals.
Wilson Betemit had a two-run single for Kansas City, which was aiming for its first four-game winning streak of the season.
Royals starting pitcher Kyle Davies held the Indians to four hits through seven frames. However, Cleveland put up a five-spot in the eighth to erase a 3-0 deficit.
Trevor Crowe got things started with a one-out single, advancing to second on a wild pitch before Matt LaPorta capped a 13-pitch at-bat with a run-scoring single to center field.
Davies was lifted in favor of Blake Wood (1-3) after a single by Jason Donald. Pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan then greeted Wood with an RBI single. Michael Brantley walked to load the bases, and Cabrera lofted a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Shin-Soo Choo put Cleveland in front with an RBI single. Dusty Hughes replaced Wood on the mound, and Hafner made it 5-3 with a grounder to deep short.
The Royals stranded two runners in the bottom of the inning, as Chris Perez, who succeeded Rafael Perez (4-0), retired Jason Kendall on a grounder to defuse the rally.
Cleveland tacked on two more runs in the ninth on a RBI groundout by Brantley, who was injured on the play, and a run-scoring double by Cabrera.
The Tribe ran themselves out of a run-scoring opportunity in the first. Brantley doubled to begin the game and was eventually thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Choo's fly ball to left.
Kansas City had two men on in the third, but Kendall lined into a 1-6 double play to end the threat.
The Royals, though, got on the board in the next inning, loading the bases with one out on a pair of singles and a walk. Mitch Maier hit a bouncer to the first baseman LaPorta, who mishandled the ball before unloading a wild throw to the plate. Billy Butler scored the game's first run on the error.
Cleveland starting pitcher Mitch Talbot managed to limit the damage by getting Yuniesky Betancourt to ground into an inning-ending double play, but the right-hander couldn't make it out of the fifth.
Chris Getz singled to lead off the inning and Gregor Blanco followed by dropping down a bunt that was fielded by the pitcher, but Talbot's throw to first hit the runner, putting both men in scoring position. An intentional walk to Butler loaded the bases with one out and, after an infield pop up, Betemit stroked a bloop single to left that extended the Royals' lead to 3-0.
Game Notes
Chris Perez recorded his 15th save of the season...It was the first time since July 12, 1996 that the Indians won while making five errors in a game...Alex Gordon had three hits for the Royals...Davies retired 12 batters in a row at one point...Kansas City manager Ned Yost celebrated his 56th birthday on Thursday.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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