Cleveland Baseball Insider

Offensive firepower leads to 12-5 Tribe win over Royals; three takeaways

KANSAS CITY-- The Cleveland Indians were coming off of a 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, but bounced back in Sunday's rubber match with more

Ashley Bastock

KANSAS CITY-- The Cleveland Indians were coming off of a 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, but bounced back in Sunday's rubber match with more than enough offensive firepower.

The Tribe toppled their Central Division foes 12-5, ending a four-game losing streak in the process. As a team, they combined for 13 hits though 39 at-bats.

Shane Bieber earned his eighth win of the season, as the Indians conclude their 13th road game over a 16-game stretch.

Cleveland has an off-day tomorrow before they begin a nine-game homestand on Tuesday. Until then, here are three takeaways from Sunday's contest.

1. Kipnis bounces back

It's no secret that Jason Kipnis has been struggling over the last month. Coming into Sunday's contest, over the last 31 games he was slashing .190/.280/.267 in 118 plate appearances, per Jordan Bastian.

But "Dirtbag" was in a groove during this rubber match, going 4-for-5 from the plate, with four RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base.

In the fourth inning, Kipnis recorded an RBI single that gave Cleveland their first lead of the game, 2-1. In the top of the seventh, he hit an RBI double to put the Tribe up 8-4. The exclamation point on his day came in the top of the ninth inning, when Kipnis hit a two-run inside-the-park homer to give the Tribe a 12-5 lead. It was his 100th career home run and the second inside-the-park homer of his career (both of which have come at Kauffman Stadium).

As manager Terry Francona outlined prior to the game, the Indians are not considering moving Jose Ramirez over to second base for a myriad of reasons, most notably because he hasn't practiced there all year and they are worried about the injury risk. As of right now, Kipnis isn't going anywhere as far as the starting lineup is concerned-- so the importance of him getting into some kind of groove before playoffs can't be overstated.

2. "Not Justin's" afternoon Shane "Not Justin" Bieber went 5 1/3 innings on Sunday and struck out seven while giving up four earned runs. All of those runs came on homers for the Royals. In the first inning, Whit Merrifield hit a solo homer to center on a four-seamer in the heart of the zone, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth with the Tribe leading 5-1, Salvador Perez hit a solo homer of his own on another misplaced fastball. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer to right center to narrow Cleveland's lead to three runs, ending Bieber's night. While there are certainly a few pitches Bieber wishes he could have back, the fact that he still struck out seven and issued zero walks shows that there was still plenty of good in his afternoon.

3. Other Cleveland offensive notables

On Saturday, Lindor went 0-for-4 from the plate. On Sunday, however, the the All-Star shortstop went 2-for-5, recording his 50th multi-hit game this season, and added in two RBI. In the sixth inning, he recorded an RBI single to right that plated both Kipnis and Melky Cabrera and put Cleveland up 7-2.

Edwin Encarnacion also hit his 28th home run of the season, with a two-run homer to left during the eighth inning to give Cleveland a 10-4 lead. It's the third homer he's hit since making his return from the disabled list just four days ago.

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Ashley Bastock
ASHLEY BASTOCK

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