Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kansas City 8, Cleveland 3
When: 8:10 PM ET, Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 100°
Umpires: Home - Tim Welke, 1B - Mike Everitt, 2B - Lazaro Diaz, 3B - Mike Estabrook
Attendance: 18569

Royals 8, Indians 3: Chris Getz's two-run double highlighted a five-run third inning and Luke Hochevar settled down after a shaky start as host Kansas City avoided setting a franchise-worst mark for the month of July.

Alcides Escobar drove in three runs and Alex Gordon collected three hits - including an RBI double - for the Royals, who snapped a five-game losing skid to finish the month with a 7-19 record. Kansas City posted a franchise-worst mark of 7-20 in July 2004.

With the teams locked in a 3-3 tie, Derek Lowe (8-10) balked in a run during the third inning after losing his footing while delivering a pitch. Getz followed with a two-run single to shallow right before coming around to score on Gordon's double. Escobar completed the uprising with an RBI triple.

Hochevar (7-9) improved to 2-1 against Cleveland this season after yielding three runs on seven hits in six innings.

Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman had RBI singles in the second inning for the Indians, who suffered their fourth straight loss overall and second in nine matchups in Kansas City.

Lowe fell to 2-9 in his last 13 starts after getting roughed up for seven runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kansas City shipped closer Jonathan Broxton to Cincinnati prior to the trade deadline for a minor-league pitchers Donnie Joseph and J.C. Sulbaran. Greg Holland, who has four career saves, was named as the team's new closer. ... The Royals batted around for the fifth time this season when they did so in the third inning. It was the first time they batted around since June 18 at Houston. ... Cleveland C Carlos Santana reached base for the 22nd time in 24 games in July.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Cleveland   Kansas City
Derek Lowe Player Luke Hochevar
Loss W/L Win
2.1 IP 6.0
1 Strikeouts 6
8 Hits 7
27.00 ERA 4.50
Hitting
Cleveland   Kansas City
Michael Brantley Player Jarrod Dyson
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 6
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Cleveland 8 0 11 .242 18 9 2 5 0 0
Kansas City 14 0 22 .378 16 4 7 2 1 1