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Hochevar goes for Royals in finale against Tribe

Sep 30, 2012 - 2:11 PM (Sports Network) - Former No. 1 overall pick Luke Hochevar faces the Cleveland Indians for the 15th time in his career on Sunday when the Kansas City Royals visit them at Progressive Field to end a three-game series.

Picked No. 1 by the Royals out of the University of Tennessee in 2006, Hochevar reached the majors as a full-timer in 2008 and earned a career-best 11 wins across 31 starts for Kansas City last season.

He was 7-9 this season through 20 starts, but has won just once in the last 11 - a 10-5 defeat of the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 12 in which he allowed five runs in five innings.

Hochevar, who's 6-8 lifetime against Cleveland, last faced the Indians on July 31 and won an 8-3 decision after pitching six innings and giving up three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.

He gave up 12 hits and six runs in his last outing on Sept. 24 in Detroit while losing a 6-2 verdict.

Kansas City is 13-18 in games he's pitched this season.

For the Indians, Illinois-born righty Zach McAllister tries again to end a winless skid that stretches back to Aug. 11.

The 24-year-old was a 5-2 winner over the Boston Red Sox on that day after allowing two runs in eight innings, but has since gone 0-4 in eight starts while his earned run average has crept from 3.46 to 4.25.

The Indians have won just one of those subsequent eight starts and are 9-12 in the games he's pitched in 2012.

McAllister faced the Royals for the lone time in his career on Aug. 1 in Kansas City and was a 5-2 loser after the Royals touched him for five runs on five hits in six innings.

On Saturday, Tony Abreu hit the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 14th inning as the Royals edged the Indians, 7-6.

Facing Scott Maine (1-2), Mike Moustakas drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Abreu followed and hit a soft fly single up the middle to plate Moustakas, putting the Royals in front.

Vin Mazzaro (4-3) got the win after allowing just one hit over two scoreless innings. Kelvin Herrera gave up two hits in the bottom of the 14th, but worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam to notch his third save of the season.

"Today was a difficult game but it was fun. The guys came back and they fought early in the game," Indians interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said. "Then the bullpen did a remarkable job."

Jeff Francoeur belted a three run homer and Billy Butler added an RBI single while Moustakas had a two-run double for the Royals, who halted a six-game slide.

Shin-Soo Choo stroked a two-run single and Lonnie Chisenhall contributed an RBI double among three hits for the Indians, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

The Royals won nine of the initial 15 games between the teams in 2012, including two of three in a series at Kansas City from Sept, 21-23.