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Saturday, Sep. 23 8:05pm ET
Indians one game behind M's, A's | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Bartolo Colon did his part, now it's up to his teammates. Colon allowed two hits in seven shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to 17 innings as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 11-1 Saturday night. Cleveland remained one game back in the wild card race, trailing Oakland and Seattle, who also are battling for the AL West title. "We've got nine to play," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "We've got to keep playing and win as many of those nine as we can. "I'm sure Oakland and Seattle are going to win as many as they can as well. They're going to play again tomorrow and somebody is going to lose. It doesn't really matter to us who it is, as long as we win." Colon (15-8), coming off a one-hitter against the New York Yankees, gave up a third-inning single to Jorge Fabregas and fourth-inning single to Carlos Beltran. He struck out eight and walked three. "He's getting good life on his fastball and getting good command of it," Manuel said. "The last three games he's pitched he's been outstanding. That's the way we want to see him pitch." Colon reached the 200-strikeout plateau for the season, finishing the night with 202. "I felt good until the third inning, when my shoulder was a little tight," Colon said. "I got loose again and was all right until the seventh when I was a little tired but OK." Roberto Alomar was 4-for-4 with three RBIs for Cleveland, raising his average to .301. The Indians, who had 16 hits, scored in each of the first six innings. "We just have to keep going," Alomar said. "I keep saying, every game now counts. Everything is huge. Tomorrow is going to be another huge game. If we win tomorrow, the game against Chicago (on Monday) is going to be even bigger." The game was played mostly in a steady drizzle, with temperatures in the 50s. Colon said the weather didn't bother him too much, but Manuel said his pitcher had an advantage. "If you're a breaking ball pitcher, it's tougher," he said. "If you're a control pitcher, like the Royals pitchers are, you'll have trouble gripping the ball. Bartolo is a fastball pitcher. Once he got loose, he had better control of his fastball." Dan Reichert (8-9) gave up seven runs and nine hits -- all singles -- in three innings. He wouldn't blame the weather. "It was tough gripping the ball, but I don't blame that," he said. "I'm not throwing strikes and guys are really hitting me around." Alomar hit an RBI single in the first, and made it 3-0 in the second when third baseman Joe Randa misplayed Einar Diaz's grounder for a run-scoring error and Kenny Lofton hit a sacrifice fly. David Segui hit into a run-scoring double play in the fourth, and the Indians made it 8-0 in the fifth on Diaz's RBI single, which chased Reichert, Alomar's two-run double off Kris Wilson and David Segui's run-scoring grounder, which gave him a career-high 100 RBI. Wilson was knocked down by Wilson's sharp grounder and left the game with an injured heel. He was taken to a hospital for precautionary X-rays. Lofton hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Chris Fussell and Omar Vizquel added an RBI single for a 9-0 lead. Ramirez homered off Fussell in the sixth -- Cleveland's first home run in 50 innings. Carlos Beltran hit a ninth-inning sacrifice fly off Tom Martin to score the lone run for Kansas City, which had four hits. Game notesThe teams combined to use 29 position players (including designated hitters). The Indians used 14 and the Royals 15. ... With his single in the third, Ramirez extended his streak of reaching base safely to 49 games, the longest streak in the major leagues this season. ... The Indians improved to 40-27 (.597) since the All-Star break, the best record in the AL. ... It was the 22nd time this season the Royals have allowed 10 or more runs. They are 1-21 in those games. ... Rey Sanchez was removed for a pinch hitter, Luis Ordaz, in the sixth inning, ending Sanchez's hitting streak at 12 games. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Cleveland Clubhouse Kansas City Clubhouse RECAPS NY Yankees 13 Detroit 8
Cleveland 11
San Francisco 9
Milwaukee 5
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