Hosmer's Homer Sinks Salazar and the Indians in Royals 3-1 Win: Three Takeaways From the Setback

After a rain out on Thursday in Detroit, the Indians were back in action on Friday evening in Kansas City against the Royals, but offense must have left their

After a rain out on Thursday in Detroit, the Indians were back in action on Friday evening in Kansas City against the Royals, but offense must have left their bats in Motown.

The Tribe up against Royals pitcher Jason Hammel, who came into the game with an 0-3 mark and an ERA of 5.53, were held to just one run on four hits, and a huge Eric Hosmer homer was enough for the Royals to pull out a 3-1 win.

The loss drops the Indians to 15-13 on the season, 9-7 away from Progressive Field. Danny Salazar was on cruise control until Hosmer blasted an offering for a two-run blast in the 5th, which in the end turned out to be enough to top the lackluster Indians bats.

Here's three takeaways from the loss as we look closer into just how the Tribe wasted a good outing from Salazar, and even more so were unable to take advantage of Hammel, to this point hadn't recorded a win in 2017.

1. Salazar's Good Night Stopped in the 5th

It looked like things were going as planned for Indians starter Danny Salazar, who was handed a 1-0 lead entering the home half of the 5th.

While he had struck out seven to that point, things were about to go South in a hurry for the Tribe starter in a big way against a player who has had lots of success against him in the past.

The inning looked like it would pass with no damage after Salazar was able to induce a double-play that left a player on third with two outs.

That player was Royals slugger Eric Hosmer, who already had three career homers against Salazar.

Make that four.

Hosmer didn't wait long, crushing Salazar's first pitch 469 feet, the longest home run this season in the Majors, to put the Royals up 2-1.

The immediate thought it why not walk a guy who had so much success against Salazar in the past? Even putting the go-ahead run on first with two outs likely would have been better for Salazar, as he would have been facing catcher Salvador Perez.

Instead, Salazar pitched to Hosmer, and just like that in one pitch that went a very long way - the game was basically over.

2. Where Have the Tribe Bats Gone?

The Indians were taking on a pitcher in Jason Hammel who entered the game with an ERA over 5.50, and had yet to win a game all season, but the Tribe bats were on silent mode all night.

Minus a homer by Edwin Encarnacion, who has now four in his career against Hammel and is hitting a lofty .389 against him, the other eight players in the Indians starting nine did little for the six innings Hammel pitched.

The Indians managed four hits, with Encarnacion and Jason Kipnis the only two Indians to do anything at the plate, both recording two hits on the night.

The bottom three of the Tribe lineup, Lonnie Chisenhall, Abraham Almonte, pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer, and catcher Roberto Perez combined to go 0-for-8 with one walk and six strikeouts.

It wasn't a pretty night for this offense, which in the first four games in the month of May have managed just seven runs in four games, leading to one win against three losses.

3. Central Struggles

The Indians were very good within the AL Central last season, winning 49 games and losing 26. With Friday's 3-1 loss the team is now just 8-8 in the division, with the only real success coming against the Minnesota Twins, who they beat in three straight in Target Field two weeks back.

They are 2-4 against the Tigers, now 0-1 against the Royals, and 3-3 against the White Sox.

Yes, it's still considered to be 'early' by baseball standards, but dominating the division is one quick way this Tribe team can stack up wins to hopefully win the AL Central and also try to get homefield in 2017 for the postseason.

Usually throughout the course of the season things will equal out when you play a team as many times as the Indians will play teams in the AL Central, but it doesn't look to this point that any team in the Central has been intimated to play the Indians.

Let's hope that there's a switch to be flipped, and not only against all their opponents but against teams in the AL Central these bats get hot and this team gets back on track in the dominating fashion many felt they would have in 2017.