Fifth Inning Fallout Leads to Royals Dominating Indians 12-5; Three Takeaways from the Loss

The Indians and Royals did battle on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Kansas City, and it looked for awhile like the Tribe would be back on track after a one-day hiccup.

Then the Royals came to bat in the bottom of the fifth.

In one half inning all the good feeling the Indians and starter Carlos Carrasco built went away quickly, as KC put up a six spot enroute to a 12-5 win over the Indians for their second straight loss.

It's also third loss in four games for the Indians, sending them back to 28-26 on the season, and for now 1.5 back of the Twins for the top spot in the AL Central.

As best as we can here's three takeaways from this latest awful setback, as the team will hopefully put the last two days aside and get ready to salvage the finale of the three-game set Sunday in KC.

1. That Fateful Fifth

The Indians had built a 3-0 lead against Royals starter Jason Hammel, and things looked to be going just fine with Carlos Carrasco throwing well through the first four frames.

Then in the 5th the Royals went off against him, knocking him around with Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas each coming up with huge hits as both had two-run doubles to put the Royals ahead for good.

Carrasco looked solid up until that inning, only allowing one hit to that point, a single before Jorge Bonifacio and Brandon Moss led off the fifth with base hits, and Merrifield followed with a double to get KC's offense rolling.

Then a huge walk to Alex Gordon and two batters later, Moustakas doubled down the right-field line. Lorenzo Cain's two-run home run sealed the deal, as the Royals put up six runners across home plate to take a commanding 6-3 edge.

The collapse was complete, and Carrasco was out after allowing five runs on five hits in 4.2 innings with two walks and three K's.

Carrasco takes the loss to drop to 5-3, and it will go down as an outing that started so well, only to end up with disaster.

2. Making Hammel Look Awfully Good - Again

For the second time in 2017, the Indians took Royals lackluster starter Jason Hammel, who entered Saturday with a 1-6 mark, and made him look a whole lot better than he's been.

The only win for Hammel - you guessed it - a May 5th game at Progressive Field in which he went six innings allowing one run on three hits with two walks and six K's in a KC 3-1 win.

Saturday it looked early like the Indians had figured him out, getting to him for a three-run second with Carlos Santana and Bradley Zimmer both homering in the third, but he the Tribe did next to nothing, as Hammel retired 15 of his next 17 batters before giving departing with two outs in the seventh.

Hammel struck out seven, and for the first time this season in a start didn't walk a batter, another knock against the Tribe.

He went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits, for Hammel, a performance that has to be considered a huge success.

Consider that before Saturday he was 1-6 with a 6.18 ERA, it's pathetic that both of his wins now in 2017 are against the Indians.

1. Two Head Scratching Days

After winning three of four against a bad Oakland team, the Indians finally seemed to have some swagger as they got set to head to play a team in the Royals are entered Saturday last in the division at 24-30 and going nowhere in 2017.

Yet here we are after two games against them, and the Indians have been outscored 16-5, and were shutout on Friday night against a less than impressive pitching staff.

This has to be frustrating to not only the front office but to the coaching staff and manager Terry Francona, who has been patient with this team since the start of the season but just can't seem to get them to turn the corner for good.

The division is the Indians for the taking, and the American League is up for grabs despite the red-hot start for the Astros, who the Indians have beat 5 of 6 times.

Instead, here they are struggling with a bad Royals team that had dropped three of four before coming home and beating two Indians starters in Josh Tomlin and Carlos Carrasco.

Watching this team at times this season has been downright aggravating, and Saturday was another prime example the way things started and then almost in a flash fell apart in that fifth inning.

And to lose a game Saturday against a guy like Jason Hammel who the Royals are 1-9 with on the year when he takes the mound is inexcusable for a team that has big plans of playing in late October.

Something has to happen for this team to get it going - many including Francona and company probably wish they knew what that was.

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