Royals can't solve Salazar, drop second straight in 6-1 loss to Cleveland
CLEVELAND -- Edinson Volquez headed straight from the mound to the video room. He couldn't wait to watch what he did wrong.
The right-hander allowed five runs and threw two wild pitches in 6 1/3 innings on Friday night, propelling the Cleveland Indians to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Yan Gomes and Tyler Naquin both homered off Volquez (5-5), who has only won twice in his last eight starts after opening the year with three wins.
Watch the Royals Live postgame show after every Kansas City Royals game on FOX Sports Kansas City.
"I've got to work on my mechanics, that's what I saw," Volquez said. "My fastball command wasn't there and I was all over the place. I made a couple of mistakes and they made me pay with the home runs. It's nothing I can't fix, so I'll be working on that in the next couple of days."
The loss was Kansas City's second straight and sliced its lead in the American League Central to one-half game over the Indians. The defending World Series champions dropped the series opener 5-4 when Joakim Soria allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth Thursday.
Catcher Drew Butera hit his second homer in two days to account for the Royals' lone run, while shortstop Alcides Escobar collected his 1,000th major league hit with a sixth-inning single.
Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert had Kansas City's only other hit off Indians right-hander Danny Salazar (6-3), who struck out nine in eight dominant innings.
"Salazar threw 98 mph on his 112th pitch," Royals manager Ned Yost said incredulously. "You take a 96, 98 fastball and add an incredible split like he has, there's not much you can do. He was really good tonight."
Volquez fell to 2-6 with an 8.12 ERA in nine career outings against the Indians. Cleveland banged out four consecutive hits and scored three runs in the third, aided by two wild pitches, one of which scored Mike Napoli from third base.
"I thought Eddy settled in pretty good after the third inning, but the damage was done," Yost said. "He only gave up one run after that, and the nice thing was he gave us some length by pitching into the seventh."
Division rival or not, Yost says #Royals treat each game the same: "You go out and play it hard & play it to win."https://t.co/EiiGCV0Bbu
— FOX Sports KC (@FSKansasCity) June 4, 2016
Escobar singled to center to become the 31st Venezuelan-born player with 1,000 hits. He is the 10th active shortstop to reach the milestone, which he celebrated in the dugout between innings.
"I'm so happy to get 1,000 hits in Major League Baseball," said Escobar, who has 841 hits with Kansas City after beginning his career with Milwaukee. "I was just trying to put the ball in play and do my best every time I batted. My teammates all congratulated me for it, so it was really nice."
NEW DREW
Butera is making the most of his opportunity to play every day, hitting .400 (8 of 20) with two home runs and six RBIs over the last eight games. The 32-year-old backstop has never batted above .198 in a season, but is hitting .308 this year. "We knew Drew was real, real good behind the plate, but he's been phenomenal offensively of late," Yost said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Royals: All-Star C Salvador Perez (left thigh bruise), who has not played since a May 28 collision with Cuthbert, is expected to see action behind the plate this weekend.
Indians: C Roberto Perez (right thumb fracture) is rehabilitating at the team's training complex in Goodyear, Arizona. He has been on the 60-day DL since May 1.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy threw seven shutout innings in a 7-0 win at Cleveland on May 7. He is 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA in three starts against the Indians.
Indians: RHP Josh Tomlin suffered his first loss since Sept. 15, 2015 in his last outing. He surrendered eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against Texas.
