Lee struggles but Indians overhaul Royals
KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - Southpaw Cliff Lee earned his eighth win in nine decisions as the Cleveland Indians came from three runs behind to edge Kansas City 5-4 on Friday, handing the Royals their 12th loss in a row.
Lee struggled on the mound, allowing four runs and 10 hits in six innings, but Grady Sizemore homered twice and pulled off a game-saving catch in the ninth to lift the Indians to their 25th win of the season.
The Royals blew a 4-1 lead before slipping to their 12th consecutive defeat, an unenviable run they have produced on three previous occasions.
"I missed over the plate and they hit the ball," Lee told reporters. "For us to pretty much take runs from the other team is pretty much the same as scoring runs. That's big for us."
After Lee's pitching had given Kansas City an early advantage in front of 25,243 fans at Kauffman Stadium, Sizemore's two-run homer in the fifth inning against starter Gil Meche made it 4-3.
Casey Blake then completed the fightback by hitting a two-run shot off reliever Brett Tomko into center field in the sixth.
The Royals narrowly missed out on a tying run for 5-5 in the sixth when Esteban German lined a single to right field with two outs, Joey Gathright on second and David DeJesus on first.
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As Gathright sped for home, DeJesus was tagged out in his bid to come back after making a wide turn at second base.
Plate umpire Brian Runge ruled that shortstop Jhonny Peralta tagged DeJesus a split second before Gathright crossed the plate.
"It felt like there was no way we were going to lose this game after they didn't count that run," first baseman Blake said.
Franklin Gutierrez caught a Mark Teahen line drive in the seventh to preserve Cleveland's lead and Sizemore followed suit in the bottom of the ninth, catching Jose Guillen's rip to deep left center for the third out despite crashing into the wall.
"I knew I had it," Sizemore said. "It was one of those plays where I caught it before I hit the wall. I just had to make sure I held on to it."
Lee, despite his struggles, moved joint top with eight victories in the American League while his ERA of 1.88 continued to set the standard.
(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
