Omar Infante had not appeared in a game for the Royals in more than a week before seeing his name in the starting lineup on Thursday night. The second baseman then knocked in a week’s worth of runs in an 8-4 romp over the Indians at Progressive Field.
Infante powered Kansas City’s offense with a career-high seven RBIs, ending the evening 3-for-4 to help the Royals split the four-game series. He got them rolling with a three-run homer in the second inning — his second long ball on the year, both at Progressive Field — and added a two-run double and two-run single.
The Royals’ magic number to clinch the American League Central fell to six, after the Twins lost to the Angels, 11-8, and Kansas City maintained a two-game lead over Toronto for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs (Blue Jays own the tiebreaker). For Cleveland, the loss hindered the club’s progress in the AL Wild Card standings. The Indians remained four games back of the second Wild Card spot, after the Astros fell to the Rangers, 8-2.
Indians ace Corey Kluber (8-14) was hung with the loss after logging four innings in his first start this month, following a comeback from a strained right hamstring. After Kluber left the game, the Tribe’s bullpen was charged with five runs. While Infante did the bulk of the damage, Eric Hosmer also contributed an RBI double in the fifth.
“For the most part, we made some mistakes to Infante tonight,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He had seven RBIs. When we got it where we needed to, we were OK. And when we didn’t, he killed us.”
Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura improved to 12-8 after allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits in five innings. He surrendered an RBI single in the second inning to All-Star Jason Kipnis — plating two due to an error — and later loaded the bases in the fifth before giving up a run-scoring groundout to Jose Ramirez.
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