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Sweeney, red-hot Royals outslug Indians

May 24, 2007 - 5:39 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- For the second straight night, Mike Sweeney and the red-hot Kansas City Royals gave the surging Cleveland Indians all they could handle.

Sweeney and John Buck each homered and drove in two runs as the Royals used a five-run second inning en route to their second straight victory over the Indians, an 11-7 triumph on Wednesday.

Rookie Alex Gordon knocked in two runs for Kansas City, which has won eight of its last 10 games - its best stretch since capturing eight of 10 from September 13-22, 2003.

"This feels like the best we've played," Buck said. "Even before the last week or two, with all the one-run games, we weren't getting beat because we didn't play good baseball. We were in a lot games and now it feels good to be on a roll and have things working for us."

"Our guys feel good about themselves right now, and if they don't, they should," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

In the series opener on Tuesday, Sweeney hit a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth inning and Mark Teahen drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh as the Royals posted a 4-3 victory. It was more of the same one night later.

Both teams provided early offensive fireworks as Kansas City trailed, 3-2, entering the second frame.

"Getting two quick runs with none out, and then getting another one in the first, that was big," Cleveland's Casey Blake said. "We've got to come out and shut them down, though. I was thinking that if we could get out of the first without those runs scoring, we'd be in good shape."

But Buck led off the inning with a blast and, after Tony Pena Jr. was thrown out attempting a bunt, David DeJesus started a string of four straight hits - capped by Sweeney's two-run blast off Indians starter Cliff Lee to make it 7-3.

"We did an outstanding job offensively, especially after they got the three runs," Bell said. "Buck has done a great job offensively all year, and it's not just the home runs. This was probably our best night."

Mark Grudzielanek had an RBI double and Teahen added a run-scoring single in the decisive rally.

Lee (2-1) began the season on the disabled list with an abdominal strain sustained in February during a bullpen session. He joined the rotation on May 3 and threw a complete game in his second start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on May 8 but has not been on top of his game since.

"He knows that is unacceptable with what we saw in the first inning," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He's better than that. We're better than that. We go out there and take it to them like we did in the top half of the first inning, he sure as (heck) has got to go out there and do a lot better than that. If you're not ready for this game, it will kick you hard and that's what happened right there.

"He needs to learn from that, it needs to be a lesson learned. He needs to come back out the next time and start moving in the right direction."

The lefthander yielded eight runs - six earned - in 11 innings in his last two starts and did not make it out of the fifth inning on Wednesday. He allowed eight runs and 10 hits, striking out three and walking one.

"I pretty much threw a lot of balls down the middle and made a couple of bonehead plays on the mound," Lee said. "We scored three runs in the first. A good starting pitcher goes out there and gets the team back in the dugout and ready to score some more runs and I wasn't able to do that.

"I pretty much gave them two runs in the first and five more in the second. That's definitely not what you're supposed to do when your team scores three runs in the top of the first."

Royals starter Scott Elarton did not fare much better but was the beneficiary of some much-needed run support. He yielded four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 frames, walking four and striking out three.

"It was a battle, obviously, for me from the first hitter," Elarton said. "I just couldn't fall into a rhythm and not a lot of the pitches were working. The bottom line is that we won. I picked the right night to give it up."

"It was typical Scottie," Bell said. "He could not get the ball down in the zone and you have to do that against that team. At least he got us to (reliever Brandon) Duckworth and he did a great job for us, settling things down."

Duckworth (2-3) kept Kansas City in the game, tossing three solid frames in relief, allowing one runs and three hits. He struck out one without walking a batter.

"We're clicking on all cylinders," Duckworth said. "We went through that phase early on where we weren't clicking, but we are now. I just think everyone is getting in there; we're getting good pitching, good hitting and good defense. Everything is starting to roll for us."

He got into some trouble in the eighth, allowing a two-out double to Ryan Garko and an RBI double to Josh Barfield to make it 9-5. Jimmy Gobble relieved Duckworth and struck out Grady Sizemore to end the threat.

"Duckworth was as good as it gets," Bell said. "The bullpen has been great and he was the biggest factor for why we won today."

Garko, who has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, smacked two more hits and Travis Hafner added a two-run homer for Indians, who suffered just their third loss in their last 10 contests.

"Give the Royals credit," Garko said. "They got a lot of big hits. Sweeney's their best player and the home runs he's hit have changed the tide of the game in both these games. That's what superstars are supposed to do."

"Kansas City is a good ball club," Wedge said. "They're playing good baseball right now. They're a much better team and they've taken it to us."