LaPorta’s grand slam powers Indians past Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Matt LaPorta’s(notes) first career grand slam powered the Cleveland Indians past the Kansas City Royals 6-4 on a long, stormy Saturday night that included four rain delays totaling 3 hours and 40 minutes.
The game, scheduled for a 6:10 p.m. start, did not end until 12:47 a.m. Actual game time was 2 hours, 57 minutes. The crowd had thinned out so much by the eighth inning the cleaning crew was already at work in the upper deck.
LaPorta’s grand slam off Sean O’Sullivan(notes) (2-6) gave Cleveland a 5-0 lead in the fourth. Then Jai Miller(notes) and Mike Aviles(notes) hit two-run homers for Kansas City in the fifth off Justin Germano(notes).
The rain delay in the top of football jerseys the fourth lasted only 2 minutes. Umpires signaled for the grounds crew to roll out the tarp, but suddenly the rain stopped and the confused youngsters were told to put the tarp back, eliciting laughter from a sparse crowd of Royals fans who’ve had little to laugh about this season.
Joe Smith(notes) (2-2), the third of six Cleveland pitchers, pitched one inning and gave up two hits but no runs and was the winner. Chris Perez(notes) pitched the ninth for his 21st save in 25 opportunities.
O’Sullivan retired the first nine batters but seemed to lose something during the 2-minute delay. Michael Brantley(notes) singled leading off the fourth, stretching his hitting streak to 18 games, then Asdrubal Cabrera(notes) and Shin-Soo Choo(notes) singled.
Brantley scored on Choo’s single and Shelly Duncan’s single loaded the bases for LaPorta. The 25-year-old first baseman hit O’Sullivan’s 2-1 pitch over the fence in center for Cleveland’s second slam in two days off the struggling Kansas City staff.
It was the 11th loss in 15 games for KC and dropped the last-place Royals 1 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
Brantley’s 18-game streak is the longest current run in the majors and the longest by a Cleveland rookie since Larry Doby hit in 21 straight in 1948.
Germano replaced starter Justin Masterson(notes) after a delay of Bills jersey
1 hour, 23 minutes with one out in the fourth. He hit Lucas May(notes) leading off the bottom of the fifth and Miller slammed an 0-2 pitch for his first major league home run.
The next batter, Jarrod Dyson(notes), doubled off the wall and Aviles slammed an offering from Germano 409 feet for another two-run shot that pared the lead to 5-4 as light rain began again to fall.
Jayson Nix’s(notes) RBI single made it 6-4 in the eighth.
Germano went 2 2-3 innings and gave up four runs on three hits and one hit batter.
O’Sullivan went four innings and was charged with five runs and six hits.
The first three delays, including 36 minutes to start, had totaled 2 hours, 1 minute when play was halted after the Royals made the final out in the sixth. The game was resumed after another wait of 1 hour, 39 minutes.
NOTES: Brantley’s 18-game streak is the 49ers jersey
longest by an Indian since Casey Blake(notes) hit in 26 straight in May-June 2007. … If the Indians win on Sunday and sweep the Royals, KC will get a chance to climb back out of the cellar in a four-game series in Cleveland Sept. 23-27. It will be Royals’ last road series of the season. … Dyson made an outstanding leaping catch at the wall in center field of Duncan’s drive in the fifth.