Santana is Dominant again as Royals Beat Indians

Salvy Perez provided the Royals with an early lead by hitting a two-run homer in the second inning, and Santana took it from there – with a little late scrambling from Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland.

He allowed just five hits, all singles, while striking out five, walking none and lowering his ERA to 2.00.

A wild pitch moved Brantley to third before Herrera struck out Jason Kipnis and retired Asdrubal Cabrera on a pop to third.

That quickly, the lead was down to one run – with the trying run at third.

Santana has allowed just four runs over 30 innings in his last four starts.

The Indians’ best chance against Santana came in the third inning when they loaded the bases with one out on singles by Stubbs, Kipnis and Cabrera.

Cleveland starter Scott Kazmir, 0-1, wasn’t particularly efficient – he threw 99 pitches in five innings – but still limited the Royals to two runs before exiting.

Those two runs came on Perez’s homer, which followed a leadoff walk by Jeff Francoeur in the second inning.

It was also the only scoring until the seventh, when the Royals produced a run against a relay of five Cleveland relievers.

Hosmer swung through a 1-0 pitch before taking the next three for a walk that forced in a run for a 3-0 lead.