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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) – This one looked like a gimme for the Cleveland
Indians, who had spent the past two weeks pounding AL pitchers into
submission.
|  | | Luis Ordaz forces out Jim Thome to start one of four Royals double plays on the day. |
Brian Meadows had other ideas.
Meadows somehow shut down baseball's hottest team as the Kansas
City Royals snapped Cleveland's 10-game winning streak Thursday
night with an 8-3 win over the Indians.
Helped by three of Kansas City's four double plays, Meadows
(1-4) outpitched Bartolo Colon (4-3) and finally cooled off the
Indians, who were averaging 8.6 runs per game during their winning
streak and had been 5-0 vs. Kansas City this season.
"This was a big win," Meadows said. "At least now we know we
can beat them. We talked before the game actually and said, 'We're
going to win this game."'
Meadows entered with an 8.01 ERA, but limited the Indians to
five hits in 6 2-3 innings for his first win since Sept. 16. The
right-hander is the first Kansas City starter to pick up a victory
since April 30.
"Some things you can't explain," Kansas City manager Tony
Muser said. "We were due."
Carlos Beltran homered and Mark Quinn and Mike Sweeney had three
hits apiece for the Royals, whose pitching staff had given 43 runs
in their first five games with Cleveland.
The Indians didn't figure to have their longest winning streak
since 1994 snapped with Colon on the mound and facing Meadows, who
had given up 46 hits in 30 1-3 innings over six starts.
But other than Marty Cordova's two-run homer, Cleveland didn't
do much else offensively and hit into three inning-ending double
plays as well as one that short-circuited a potential rally in the
seventh.
"Sometimes that's just part of the game," Indians second
baseman Roberto Alomar said. "He pitched good and kept them in the
game."
Cordova went 3-for-4, raised his average to .420 and extended
his hitting streak to 15 games. He went 5-for-11 in the series and
is 11-for-23 with three homers and 10 RBIs in six games against the
Royals.
"We can't get Cordova out," said Muser. "We've tried pretty
much everything."
Trailing 3-2 following Cordova's second-inning homer, the Royals
tied it in the fourth on Luis Ordaz's RBI groundout.
Kansas City added a run in the fifth on Jermaine Dye's RBI
double and the Royals went up 5-3 in the sixth on Beltran's third
homer, a two-out shot off Colon.
Colon didn't have his best stuff. His fastball didn't seem to
have that extra boost and he gave up a season-high 10 hits in 6 1-3
innings. The right-hander, who came in tied for second in the AL in
strikeouts, fanned just one.
"I didn't feel right," Colon said. "I couldn't make the ball
move and I wasn't gripping the ball right. My location was really
bad."
The Royals made it 7-3 in the seventh on Dee Brown's fielder's
choice grounder off Rich Rodriguez and Quinn's RBI double off
Justin Speier.
Dye's error in right field set up Cleveland's three-run second
inning off Meadows.
Juan Gonzalez led off with a high fly to deep right that Dye
caught up to with a long run but dropped near the corner and
Gonzalez hustled into third. Jim Thome followed with an RBI double,
and moved up on a sacrifice.
Cordova then hit his seventh homer, a two-run drive that
scattered fans on the home-run porch in left and gave him 26 RBIs
in his 20 starts.
The Royals went up 2-0 in the second on Beltran's RBI single but
had a potentially big inning snuffed on a brilliant barehanded play
by shortstop Omar Vizquel, who was presented with his AL record
eighth straight Gold Glove before the game.
With a runner at first, Vizquel was breaking for the bag to take
a throw at second when Rey Sanchez hit a hard grounder toward
short. Vizquel stopped short, reached back and snared the high
hopper with his right hand before throwing out Sanchez.
Game notes
Cordova's hitting streak is his longest since a career-high
23-gamer in June of 1996. ... The Indians have not won 11 in a row
since 1982. The club record of 13 straight wins was set in 1942 and
'51. ... Beltran has hit safely in 10 straight games. ... The seven
runs were a breakthrough for the Royals, who had not scored more
than four in seven consecutive nine-inning games. ... Cleveland was
outhit for the first time in 16 games and failed to get 10 or more
hits for the first time in 12.
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RECAPS
Detroit 6
Texas 5
Seattle 5
Boston 2
Kansas City 8
Cleveland 3
Minnesota 5
NY Yankees 4
Oakland 14
Toronto 8
Baltimore 9
Tampa Bay 5
Anaheim 7
Chi. White Sox 6
Milwaukee 11
Chicago Cubs 1
St. Louis 11
Pittsburgh 5
Colorado 8
NY Mets 2
San Francisco 13
Montreal 0
San Diego 6
Atlanta 5
Los Angeles 4
Florida 3
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