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

CLEVELAND – The Indians entered the season with offense as a perceived strength and pitching a weakness. It’s worked the other way around.

While Cleveland’s offense has lagged at the bottom of the American League for the majority of the season, the pitching staff, especially the bullpen, has consistently improved to the point of bright-spot status.

“We’re very happy with the progress of the entire pitching staff,” said Indians manager Manny Acta. “I think a lot of people thought it was going to be kind of scary. I think the big thing is we’ve got good performances from our starters. Fausto (Carmona) has pitched well, and Jake (Westbrook), while he was here and some other guys have stepped up as well.

“But the bullpen has been a big-time step up for us. We’ve got a closer in place and we’ve got a lot of guys that can set up and pitch middle innings.”

With closer Chris Perez at the back end in place of Kerry Wood, and Rafael Perez, Joe Smith, Justin Germano and Frank Herrmann bridging the gap, the Indians’ relief corps has been one of the AL’s best as of late.

Though Cleveland’s bullpen ranked ninth in the league with a 4.13 ERA through Friday, it had posted a 1.61 ERA over the last 15 games and a 2.89 ERA over the last 168 1/3 innings.

Central casting

Call him crazy but probably the biggest reason Acta thinks the last-place Indians can contend next year is the Central Division, which is considered one of baseball’s weakest divisions and is largely void of superstars.

“The division’s our best friend. We love our division,” said Acta, whose club entered Saturday owning a 23-25 record within the Central. “Minnesota and Chicago show that anybody can compete. It doesn’t help to lose your best players (as the Indians did), but you get two good (starting pitchers) and you can compete.”

The Twins led the division by 3½ games over the White Sox through Friday. Minnesota has been bolstered by former Indian Carl Pavano (15-9, 3.56 ERA) and Francisco Liriano (12-7, 3.41), while Jon Danks (12-8, 3.31) and Mark Buehrle (12-10, 3.93) have led Chicago’s rotation.

Key cog

Though Shin-Soo Choo is considered the Indians’ best overall player, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera might be just as important.

“He’s real big for this ballclub,” Acta said. “He does a lot offensively and defensively, and he’s become a little bit of a leader.”

The leadership role is a surprising one for Cabrera, who is in just his third season and has never been real vocal publicly on or off the field.

“He may be quiet in English, but he’s not so quiet in Spanish,” Acta said. “He brings a lot of energy.”

Minor details

Right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who is expected to be promoted sometime in September, allowed just a run on five hits in seven innings of Triple-A Columbus’ 2-1 loss to Louisville. Carrasco (10-6, 3.65 ERA) has limited the opposition to two runs or fewer in 13 of his 25 starts, while striking out at least six 13 times.

• RHP Corey Kluber won for the second time in three starts Friday, allowing a run on eight hits over seven innings of Double-A Akron’s 5-2 victory over Erie. Kluber, acquired in the Westbrook trade with St. Louis, is 2-2 with a 3.76 ERA in five starts since joining the Aeros, with his 156 strikeouts between Akron and Double-A San Antonio ranking sixth in minor league baseball through Friday.

Roundin’ third

The Indians have tossed six complete games this season, which ranked sixth in the majors through Friday.

• Matt LaPorta drove in three runs and Michael Brantley two in the Indians’ 15-4 win Friday. It accounted for just the second time in 60 games that the key acquisitions from the CC Sabathia trade with Milwaukee in 2008, each drove in more than one run while in the lineup together.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.