Indians earn doubleheader split with win over Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Mike Aviles haunted the team Sunday night that drafted him, he broke into the majors with in 2008 and traded him in 2011.

Aviles drove in a career-high five runs and Corey Kluber pitched seven solid innings as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 10-3 Sunday night to split their doubleheader.

Jeremy Guthrie and two relievers combined to shut out the Indians 9-0 in the afternoon game.

Aviles hit a three-run homer in the third, brought in a run with a fielder's choice grounder in the first inning and his sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Nick Swisher. Aviles was drafted by the Royals in 2003 and played from 2008-11 with Kansas City before being traded to Boston.

"In all honesty, it's not as much of a significant thing as you might think, but it is nice to have it here in Kansas City," Aviles said. "I've always liked it here. I've got a soft spot in my heart for KC, but tomorrow it all gets wiped away and we start over at zero."

Said Indians manager Terry Francona, "I was thrilled for him. Aviles is not an everyday player, but then you play the guy and he leads your offense. That's impressive. You can move the guy all over the place and he can play."

Kluber was making his first start of the season after being the victim of two April rainouts. Kluber (2-0) limited the Royals to seven hits and two runs, retiring the last 10 batters he faced.

"The first few innings there was a little more traffic out there than I like, but we stayed in it and got some runs," Kluber said.

Francona liked what he saw of Kluber, who had been limited to two relief appearances.

"He was up early on, then he reeled it in and got into the flow of the game," Francona said. "He was aggressive and moved guys off the plate. For him to pitch that way, with the way he's been bounced around, it's very impressive. He maintained his velocity and didn't overthrow. He was very impressive. He's pitched in difficult circumstances. He pitched a whale of a game."

Carlos Santana went 4-for-5, raising his average to .388, as the Indians collected 14 hits. The Indians, who had scored only seven runs in their previous four games, had four players with multi-hit games and every player had at least one hit.

The Royals helped out by committing three errors, leading to four unearned runs.

"We played crummy," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We didn't play good. We didn't play good defensively. We didn't make smart decisions on the base paths. It happens. You have games like this. The important thing is you forget it and come back tomorrow ready to go.

"It was a tough ball game all the way around. You have situations like that where you make errors. We got some balls up in the zone they took advantage of put some runs on the board. We were playing catch up from the first inning on."

The Indians jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second game with Aviles' three-run homer in the third being the big blow. Aviles' homer on a 2-0 Will Smith pitch was a no-doubter to left-center, and it drove in Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera, both of whom had singled.

A Mike Moustakas first-inning error led to two unearned runs. Aviles drove in one run with a fielder's choice grounder, while Santana singled in the other run.

Yan Gomes led off the fourth with a triple and scored on Drew Stubbs' sacrifice fly.

The Royals got two runs back in the fourth when Chris Getz's two-out bloop single to center fell in, scoring Jeff Francoeur and George Kottaras.

Smith, who took the loss, gave up six runs, four earned, on seven hits in four-plus innings. He was immediately sent back to Class AAA Omaha after the game.

"It's always frustrating when you lose, but you've got to know what you did wrong and keep working on it and get it right," Smith said. "Aviles hit a two-seam (fastball) right down the middle, a bad spot."

In the first game, Jeremy Guthrie tied a Royals' record by going 8-0 in his past 16 starts. He tied Paul Splittorff's club record of 16 consecutive starts without a loss in 1977-78.

"Ultimately it means a lot because it means the guys behind me are confident that we're going to win," Guthrie said.

Guthrie, who threw just 64 strikes in 112 pitches, allowed six hits, five of them singles, in 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking three.

Justin Masterson (4-2) took the loss, giving up seven runs on nine hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings, while striking out nine.

The Royals broke the game open with a three-run seventh when they batted around. The inning included Moustakas drawing his third walk, this one with the bases loaded, and an Eric Hosmer RBI-single.

NOTES: The Indians recalled Gomes and left-handed pitcher Scott Barnes from Class AAA Columbus. They placed catcher Lou Marson on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. This is the second time this season he was placed on the disabled list. ... Royals right-hander Ervin Santana is 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA in five starts. He began last season 0-5 with a 6.16 ERA in April for the Angels.