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Moustakas, Pena power Royals past Tribe

Sep 22, 2012 - 5:43 AM Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Brayan Pena and Mike Moustakas each drove in a pair of runs to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 win over the Cleveland Indians in the opener of a three-game set.

Irving Falu had two hits, scored once, and knocked in a run and Eric Hosmer had an RBI for the Royals, who have won three straight.

Luis Mendoza (8-9) allowed two runs on eight hits and struck out three over six-plus frames to earn the victory. Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth to nail down his 15th save of the season.

Carlos Santana drove in a pair of runs and Michael Brantley had an RBI for the Indians, who have lost 10 of their last 13.

Justin Masterson (11-15) was pegged with the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits over six innings.

"That guy is a good pitcher. He's been doing it for a long time and he's got stuff," Moustakas said of Masterson. "We're trying to chip away. Get a run here, a scratch run there. We did what we can."

Kansas City plated a pair in the second inning. Jeff Francoeur singled, moved to second on a wild pitch then scored on Pena's base hit. Pena moved to second on David Lough's single before scoring when Falu stroked a base hit to center field.

Cleveland countered with a run in the third to make it 2-1. Asdrubal Cabrera singled, moved to second when Santana walked before scoring on Brantley's single to center field.

The Royals added a run in the home half on Moustakas' sacrifice fly. Jarrod Dyson walked before taking third on Alcides Escobars' base hit to left. Moustakas followed with a towering fly ball to right field to plate Dyson.

Kansas City loaded the bases in the fifth, but only came away with one runs. Falu reached on a bunt single before Dyson singled and Escobar was hit by a pitch to fill the bases. Moustakas followed with a grounder to second to score Falu.

Cleveland scored two in the seventh to make it 4-3. Ezequiel Carrera reached on a bunt single and Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch to put two on with no outs. Kipnis' groundout moved the runners to second and third before Santana roped a single to center to clear the bases.

The Royals added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on Hosmer's sacrifice fly and Pena's RBI double.

"I haven't pitched as well this year. It doesn't matter if you're scoring runs or not scoring runs," Masterson said. "I haven't pitched that well this year, so that's more of the disappointing part, consistently in the overall sense. Until you're able to do your job consistently, you're not talking about what other people are doing."

Game Notes

Pena extended his hitting-streak to a season-high five games ... Moustakas has played 44 straight errorless games ... Masterson is 5-9 in 16 road starts this season.