KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Shin-Soo Choo hit three homers, including a grand slam, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 11-4 on Friday night.
Choo finished with a career-best seven RBIs as Cleveland moved out of the AL Central basement, taking a half-game lead over the Royals. Lou Marson also drove in three runs.
Mike Aviles and Billy Butler hit consecutive homers in the sixth for Kansas City, which has lost 10 of 14. Butler went 4 for 4 and Aviles had three hits.
Choo hit a two-run shot off Kyle Davies (8-10) in Cleveland's four-run second inning and connected against Bryan Bullington in the sixth for his third career slam, making it 9-0.
The right fielder capped his sixth career multihomer game and first with three with a solo drive off rookie Greg Holland in the eighth. The shot gave him 19 homers and 79 RBIs on the season.
Choo became the 12th player to hit three homers in a game this season in the majors. He is the first Indians slugger to accomplish the feat since Travis Hafner on July 20, 2004, against the Angels.
Carlos Carrasco (1-0) earned his first major league victory, allowing three runs and eight hits in six innings.
Davies gave up five runs and eight hits in five plus innings. He was 8-0 with a 1.26 ERA in his last eight September starts dating to 2008.
Michael Brantley led off the game with a single to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by an Indians rookie since Cory Snyder hit in 17 straight in September 1986.
NOTES: Royals 2B Chris Getz missed his fourth consecutive game since suffering a concussion Sunday at Chicago. ... Royals RHP Kanekoa Texeira, on the disabled list with a strained right elbow, is scheduled for another bullpen session and then throw batting practice before being activated. ... The Indians skipped RHP Mitch Talbot for the weekend series at Kansas City. Talbot left his previous start Sunday at Minnesota with shoulder inflammation after facing only three batters.
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