CLEVELAND – Manny Acta spent part of his pregame news conference Saturday talking about the importance of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Then, Cabrera went out and provided some proof.
Cabrera’s walk-off solo home run to lead off the 10th inning lifted the last-place Indians to a 4-3 victory over Kansas City, moving them closer (one game) to the fourth-place Royals in the Central Division standings.
“I feel really good for the team,” said Cabrera, who connected on a 2-1 fastball from Jesse Chavez for his first career walk-off homer, then pointed to his wife Lismar in the stands as he headed to home plate. “He’s got a pretty good fastball. I was looking for that pitch.”
The Indians, who improved to 3-2 on the current nine-game homestand, led for the majority of the game before Kansas City tied it in the eighth on a double from Wilson Betemit.
Neither starting pitcher, Cleveland’s Jeanmar Gomez or Kansas City’s Zack Greinke, figured in the decision, both taking different directions to the end results.
Gomez was on track early, shutting out the Royals on four hits over the first five innings. But the right-hander ran out of fuel at the end of his outing, allowing a two-run homer to Betemit that brought KC within a run in the sixth.
He allowed two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings, keeping pace with Greinke, who allowed three runs over the first two innings.
“It looked like he got tired at the end,” said Indians manager Manny Acta. “But the main thing was we wanted him to keep them down so we could compete with Greinke, and he did that.”
“I feel very, very good,” Gomez said. “My pitches were good. I tried to keep the ball down.”
Gomez was coming off his worst start in seven outings since joining the rotation from Triple-A Columbus. Sunday in Detroit, he allowed eight runs on 11 hits over just three innings.
“It was nice to see, because this was going to be a test for him,” Acta said. “It was nice to see him attack the strike zone, because he was hit around pretty good in Detroit. He went out there and acted as if nothing happened.”
“That was one game that I had to learn about my mistakes,” Gomez said of the start against Detroit. “I stayed focused for my next start.”
The Indians took advantage of a slow start from Greinke to take an early 3-0 lead.
Michael Brantley scored the first run of the game in the opening inning after leading off with a double. Greinke walked three in the second inning, and the Indians capitalized by scoring once on a single from Brantley and a walk with the bases loaded.
Greinke allowed three runs on eight hits and four walks over eight innings.
Cleveland’s bullpen, which has been the team’s strong suit as of late, buckled a bit to allow the Royals to tie it in the eighth.
Joe Smith walked the leadoff batter of the inning and was replaced by Rafael Perez, who got an out before allowing the game-tying double from Betemit. Perez pitched a scoreless ninth before handing it over to closer Chris Perez.
Chris Perez walked the leadoff batter in the 10th but retired the next three in order to set the stage for Cabrera’s heroics.
“The end result is what counts,” Acta said. “Our bullpen has been very good. We’re not going to complain about them.”
Cabrera came to the plate with just two homers on the season, but hit a towering shot that landed well over the wall in right field and into the visiting bullpen.
It was Cabrera’s third career game-ending hit and the Indians’ second walk-off homer of the season.
“Cabrera played the hero but the night belonged to Gomez,” Acta said.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
TODAY
• WHO: Cleveland vs. Kansas City
• TIME: 1:05 p.m.
• WHERE: Progressive Field
• PITCHERS: Carmona (11-12, 4.20 ERA) vs. Chen (8-7, 4.88)
• TV/RADIO: Channel 3, SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM
