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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Winning two in a row might not sound like much,
but it made for a happy Kansas City Royals clubhouse Wednesday
night.
|  | | Dave McCarty picks a fine time to unleash his first-ever grand slam as Royals shock Cleveland at Jacobs Field. |
Dave McCarty hit a grand slam and Johnny Damon had a three-run
homer to power the Royals past the Cleveland Indians 10-5. Kansas
City won consecutive games for the first time since June 28-29.
"We certainly need to get on a roll and maybe this will help
get us started," McCarty said after hitting his first career grand
slam to give the Royals a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning.
Gregg Zaun followed with a solo homer off Chuck Finley (8-7),
who had allowed only three hits over the first five innings.
Kansas City loaded the bases on singles by Rey Sanchez, Jermaine
Dye and Mark Quinn in the sixth. McCarty then hit a two-out, 2-1
pitch 412 feet into the bleachers in left-center for his ninth
homer.
"Finley made one mistake and we scored four on it," Royals
manager Tony Muser said.
Mike Sweeney had an RBI single and Joe Randa a sacrifice fly to
make it 7-4 in the seventh, and Damon connected off Jaime Navarro
in the eighth to make it 10-4.
Mac Suzuki (5-4) allowed four runs and nine hits over six
innings. His 3.47 ERA is second in the AL to Boston's Pedro
Martinez at 1.49.
Jim Thome hit two of Cleveland's three solo homers.
Finley allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings,
striking out five and walking one.
"I feel like I let my team down tonight," Finley said. "It
came down to one pitch that I had to make and I didn't make it."
Cleveland loaded the bases with none out in the seventh, but
left-hander Tim Byrdak struck out Thome and right-hander Jerry
Spradlin got Travis Fryman to bounce into a force out at home and
Ricky Ledee to foul out. Spradlin went 2 2/3 innings for his
seventh save.
"Getting out of that seventh inning was the key," Muser said.
"The last couple of years our bullpen has struggled to hold some
wins, so this one felt really good."
Thome gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead in the fourth by hitting the
first pitch into the seats in right-center for his 26th homer.
The Indians made it 3-0 later in the inning, helped by Damon's
throwing error in center.
Thome hit his 27th homer to pull Cleveland within 5-4 in the
sixth. It was his second two-homer game in three nights and 15th
multihomer game of his career.
Sandy Alomar hit his fourth homer for Cleveland in the eighth.
Game notes
The last time Kansas City won two consecutive games, the
Royals defeated Cleveland 8-1 and 6-1. ... McCarty is hitting .386
(17-for-44) this season against lefties. ... Twenty-one of Thome's
27 homers have come with no one on base. ... Thome has a .528
(19-for-36) average when putting the first pitch in play. ...
Indians second baseman Roberto Alomar left in the sixth inning with
a sore left ankle. ... Finley is 15-11 in his career against the
Royals. ... Cleveland's 421st consecutive sellout crowd made the
Indians the first team to surpass 2 million in home attendance this
season.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Kansas City Clubhouse
Cleveland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Kansas City 10
Cleveland 5
NY Yankees 9
Detroit 1
Toronto 5
Tampa Bay 2
Boston 0
Baltimore 0
Chi. White Sox 3
Minnesota 2
Texas 3
Anaheim 2
Seattle 6
Oakland 3
Atlanta 0
Florida 0
NY Mets 5
Montreal 3
Chicago Cubs 5
Philadelphia 4
Cincinnati 4
Houston 0
Milwaukee 6
Pittsburgh 0
Arizona 4
St. Louis 3
Los Angeles 9
Colorado 1
San Diego 4
San Francisco 3
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