The only Indian who did not get a hit last night — Grady Sizemore — rectified that by leading off tonight’s game with a single, but Sean O’Sullivan got Asdrubal Cabrera to fly out, got Shin-Soo Choo to strike out on a foul tip and retired Carlos Santana to foul out on a pop up, stranding Sizemore at first.
After Josh Tomlin retired the Royals in the first with the only runner coming on a two-out hit batsman, Travis Hafner struck out swinging to start the Cleveland second. Michael Brantley was retired on a fly ball to left, and Matt LaPorta grounded out on the first pitch he saw from O’Sullivan for a rapid half-inning for the Kansas City defense.
Adam Everett booted a grounder at second to allow Jeff Francoeur to reach leading off the second, but Tomlin got Wilson Betemit to fly out, the runner holding. Tomlin then fanned Kila Ka’aihue for the second out, and got Matt Treanor to ground to short, negating any damage from the error and keeping the game deadlocked at 0-0 going to the third.
Jack Hannahan struck out leading off the third — O’Sullivan’s third K — then Adam Everett singled softly to right, but Sizemore struck out swinging for out number two. Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to second, and O’Sullivan had worked through three innings on 44 pitches.
Tomlin opened the bottom of the third with his third strikeout, getting Alcides Escobar swinging, then got Chris Getz to line out to center. Melky Cabrera followed with a triple to left for the Royals’ first hit, but Alex Gordon grounded out to end the inning.