Road Trip Wraps Up 8-3 Following Indians 7-4 Loss to Royals; Three Takeaways From the Setback

The grind of the Indians 11-game road trip through four cities is over, and all in all there's no complaints as the team went 8-3, topping four of six from the

The grind of the Indians 11-game road trip through four cities is over, and all in all there's no complaints as the team went 8-3, topping four of six from the rival Twins and Royals, three of four from Tampa, and a win in a makeup game over the Red Sox.

Sunday though was not their day, as Danny Salazar has his worse outing since coming back from the DL, and Jason Hammel did what he did best against the Tribe, which is hold them off most of the day, something he's done three times in 2017.

So in the end, the finale of the 11-game trip ends with a 7-4 loss to the Royals, this after the Tribe took the first two in the series.

The Indians played a clunker of a game, and maybe it was coming after the team played so well in the first 10 games of the trip.

Here's three takeaways as the team now sets to come home to take on the Red Sox starting Monday evening at Progressive Field.

3. Hammel Stops Indians Again

Looking at Jason Hammel you have to wonder what it is why this particular Indians team can't hit this guy. He came into Sunday's game 5-9 with a 4.74 ERA.

He was 2-0 already against the Indians entering Sunday, and in the latest win over the Tribe went six innings, allowing three runs. In three games against the Indians he boasted a 3.38 ERA and went 3-0.

Hammel held the Indians in check other than a Francisco Lindor two-run homer and a run in the 4th when Austin Jackson gave the Tribe a lead with a sac fly.

The good news is you won't be seeing Hammel in the postseason, and while it's tough to see the Indians lose three times to him, sometimes you have to tip your cap to a pitcher who no matter how bad his record is, just has another teams' number.

That's the case in 2017 with Hammel and the Indians.

2. A Step Back for Salazar

It was hard to imagine that Danny Salazar was going to be able to continue the run he was on, and Sunday it came to a screeching halt as he allowed more runs in the loss than his last five starts combined.

He went 4.2 innings, gave up way too many hits (12) and allowed six earned runs with one walk and five strikeouts.

It took him awhile to get settled in, and seemed off most of the day, and it showed with the amount of hits that the Royals were able to amass against him.

"Didn't have his best fastball most of the day," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "At some point there's just so much traffic they are going to score."

He had issues with his command as well as mechanics, and let's hope for him and the Indians sake it's a minor bump in the road and not a regression back to what stopped him from being successful earlier in the season.

Salazar is set to be back on the mound Friday against the Royals.

1. Don't Lose Sight of a Great Trip

When this trip began, the Indians trolls on twitter were already declaring that this would be the trip where the team was going to finally show their true colors and have struggles on the long trip.

Instead they stepped up, picked up a huge piece in Jay Bruce, and went 8-3 to cement that they are the best team in the division and put more distance between themselves and the Twins and Royals.

The team comes home 68-54, 5.5 up on the Twins, and 6.5 up on the Royals. They still have seven games left against the Royals, including three big ones starting Friday at Progressive Field.

Things didn't look so good after they lost the first game of the trip in Tampa, but then they ran off six straight before losing the second game of a double header against the Twins on Thursday.

They got great pitching and clutch hitting in just about the whole trip, and while some maybe worried they are peaking a little too soon, this was much needed to show they are truly contenders in the AL and should cruise now to a second straight division title.