Royals Lose, 15-13, After Leading, 10-1

Paul Byrd couldn’t believe it. The Kansas City Royals also were in shock.

The Cleveland Indians gave up 10 runs in the first then rallied to beat Kansas City, 15-13, Wednesday night when Ryan Garko and Hector Luna hit run-scoring singles in the 10th inning.

The Royals’ first-inning total was a club record and they also blew their biggest lead in a loss. They finished with a season-high 19 hits, setting the team record for most hits in a loss. The Royals led, 10-1, after the first inning, sending 15 batters to the plate.

“The word is unbelievable,” said Byrd, charged with nine of Kansas City’s 10 first-inning runs. “I really don’t know what to say. It was incredible. I’m in shock that our team came back.”

Grady Sizemore was hit by a pitch from Kansas City’s Andrew Sisco (1-3) leading off the 10th. He moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Garko’s two-out single.

Luna added a run-scoring single to make it 15-13 and finished with four RBIs.

“It was like climbing a mountain, and you finally get to the top,” said Garko, whose error at first base led to six unearned runs in the first.

Kansas City led, 13-9, going into the ninth but the Indians rallied again.

“Forget 10-1,” Byrd said. “We were down by four runs in the ninth. It’s just unbelievable.”

Cleveland also staged a similar rally in Kansas City last season, scoring 11 runs in the ninth to beat Kansas City, 13-7, on Aug. 9, 2005.

It was the most runs the Indians have given up in the first inning since they surrendered 11 against Minnesota on July 18, 1962. It broke the Royals’ record of nine runs in the first, which had been done twice, most recently against Oakland in 1993.

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ROUNDUP

Chicago 7, at Detroit 5: Jermaine Dye hit a three-run homer and Joe Crede homered twice to help the White Sox retain their half-game lead over Minnesota in the wild-card race despite losing Jim Thome to a hamstring injury. Thome, hurt while rounding first on a ground-rule double in the second inning, is expected to sit today but Manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t rule him out for this weekend against Minnesota.

Minnesota 4, at Baltimore 1: Rookie Matt Garza (1-2) gave up one unearned run in six innings for his first major league victory, and Michael Cuddyer had three hits and two RBIs.

New York 9, at Seattle 2: Chien-Ming Wang (15-5) gave up seven hits in seven innings and Robinson Cano drove in three.

at Tampa Bay 7, Texas 3: Jorge Cantu ended a 0-for-19 slump with a home run and three RBIs to lead the Devil Rays.

Oakland 6, at Toronto 0: Esteban Loaiza (7-7) pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout since April 2004.