Indians Sweep Royals with 6-4 Win

With the way the Indians are playing, they’d probably prefer to skip the All-Star break and continue on their victory trail.

After Sunday’s 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals, the Tribe has taken two straight series, winning four straight games and five of their last six. Cleveland cruises into the four-day break at 51-44 and trailing just 1 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit in the American League Central standings.

Things are looking much brighter for the Indians after last weekend, when the Tigers took three of four at Progressive Field.

“It was nice that we could help the city of Cleveland kind of step back off the ledge after the Detroit series,” All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis said. “We knew that we had this break coming up and four days of rest for a bunch of guys that could use it, both physically and mentally.”

Kipnis was a major factor in the Tribe’s back-and-forth win over the Royals. His sacrifice fly in the first inning gave Cleveland an early lead, as he finished the day 2-for-2 with a double, two walks, a run scored and two RBIs.

The second baseman ended the first half with 57 RBIs, the highest total for an Indians hitter before the break since Victor Martinez had 59 heading into the 2009 All-Star Game. Kipnis also is batting .301 with 13 home runs and 21 stolen bases. The Indians are 31-9 when Kipnis scores a run, 39-23 when he notches a hit and 13-6 when he steals a base.

“He’s been awesome,” Nick Swisher said. “That’s why he’s an All-Star. He’s done such a great job for us. He’s stepped up when we needed him, and I could not be more happy that he’s representing us in the All-Star Game.

“It seems like if he rolls, we roll. He’s kind of table-setting our lineup and it’s a lot of fun to hit behind him.”

Kipnis is one of two players in franchise history since 1933 — the year of the first All-Star Game — to have at least 20 stolen bases, 35 extra-base hits, 45 walks and 55 RBIs in the season’s first half. Robbie Alomar accomplished the feat in 1999. Additionally, Kipnis joins Kenny Lofton as the only Indians players to enter the break with at least a .300 batting average, 20 or more steals and at least 39 extra-base hits.

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