Royals Outlast Indians Again, 13-11

Not even John Rocker could save the Cleveland Indians’ battered pitching staff from the Kansas City Royals.

Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran and Raul Ibanez each homered at Cleveland for the third consecutive game as the Royals outslugged the Indians, 13-11, Sunday for their season-high sixth victory in a row.

Rocker got a standing ovation as he raced out of the Cleveland bullpen to pitch a perfect ninth in his first game at Jacobs Field. He struck out two of the three batters he faced.

“I’m glad I threw well,” Rocker said. “I wish we could have won, but I’m glad to get this first game out of the way. I needed to pitch.”

There are not many pitchers who would be eager to face the Royals’ big trio.

Beltran had four runs batted in and has combined with Sweeney and Ibanez for 11 home runs and 23 RBIs while hitting .451 (16 for 35) in the first three games of the four-game series.

“I’m not surprised because we have a good team,” Beltran said. “This was another great game for us.”

It was another disaster for Cleveland’s rotation.

Starter Charles Nagy (2-3) failed to get an out in the second inning and gave up eight runs and seven hits in his shortest start since going two-thirds of an inning Aug. 15, 1995.

“Everything I threw they hit,” Nagy said.

“We needed somebody to step up and I didn’t.”

That gave Indian starters an 8.88 earned-run average over the last 12 games, including an 18.90 mark in three consecutive losses to the Royals. In their last 41 games, Cleveland starters have a 6.99 ERA.

“We have to get our acts together,” Nagy said of the starting staff.

Blake Stein (4-6) gave up one run in three innings of relief for the victory. Roberto Hernandez got five outs for his 15th save.

“You score 13, you should win, but it took a great outing by Hernandez to save it,” Royal Manager Tony Muser said.

Ibanez hit a three-run home run in Kansas City’s five-run first. His fourth home run--and third in three games--came after Joe Randa’s two-run double off the left-field wall.

Cleveland cut it to 5-4 with four runs in the bottom half off Dan Reichert, but Nagy could not hold the Royals in the second.

Rey Sanchez singled and scored on Sweeney’s AL-leading 34th double. Reliever Roy Smith got two quick outs before issuing a walk and a two-run triple to Beltran to make it 8-4.

Beltran hit a two-run homer, his 12th of the year and fourth in three games, for a 10-4 lead in the fourth.

Boston 4, Toronto 0--Rolando Arrojo, Rod Beck and Derek Lowe combined on a two-hitter to lead the Red Sox at Toronto.

Arrojo (2-2) pitched seven innings in his first start since replacing injured Pedro Martinez in Boston’s rotation. Arrojo gave up only Alex Gonzalez’s leadoff single to center in the seventh.

Brian Daubach and Shea Hillenbrand homered off Chris Carpenter (7-5) for the Red Sox, who remained a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.

New York 6, Tampa Bay 1--Andy Pettitte led the Yankees at New York, pitching seven strong innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list.

Pettitte (8-4), sidelined since June 15 because of a groin injury, gave up five hits and the lone run as New York won for the seventh time in nine games.

Minnesota 8, Detroit 3--Corey Koskie homered and drove in three runs at Minneapolis and Tom Prince also homered as the Twins handed Detroit its eighth consecutive loss.

Koskie hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Willie Blair (0-3) and drove in another run with a groundout in the second as the Twins took a 6-0 lead.

Texas 3, Oakland 1--Bo Porter’s three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning lifted the Rangers to a victory over the Athletics at Arlington, Texas.

A’s starter Mark Mulder took a two-hit shutout into the eighth, then ran into trouble.

Over the first seven innings, the Rangers managed only doubles by Rafael Palmeiro in the second inning and Andres Galarraga in the fifth.

But Porter, who played for the A’s last season, hit a 3-2 pitch into the left-field seats for his first homer of the season and second career.

Baltimore 11, Chicago 3--Jason Johnson pitched seven strong innings and Fernando Lunar had a career-high three RBIs as the Orioles defeated the White Sox at Chicago.

Tony Batista and Jerry Hairston each added a pair of RBIs for the Orioles.

Johnson (7-5) gave up one run, six hits and two walks to win for the first time in three weeks. The Orioles took two of three in the series and went 5-2 on their seven-game roadtrip.