Salazar's 9 K's help Tribe stay tough on Royals

Naquin's home run, which had an exit velocity of 104.5 mph according to Statcast™, was the first of his career.

Naquin's first career homer

KC@CLE: Naquin hits first career home run

Tyler Naquin hits the fist home run of his Major League career, a solo shot to left field, and extends the Indians lead, 5-1

The Royals worked Salazar for five walks, but the only damage done came off the bat of catcher Drew Butera. In the third inning, Butera belted a pitch from Salazar to left field for a leadoff homer -- his second blast in as many games.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Chasing Volquez: Cleveland struck for three runs in the third inning, thanks in part to RBI hits from Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli. Volquez quieted down the Tribe's lineup for the next three frames, but he exited in the seventh, when Naquin padded Cleveland's lead with his opposite-field home run.

Lindor's RBI single

KC@CLE: Lindor plates Kipnis with RBI single

Francisco Lindor lines an RBI single up the middle off of Edinson Volquez, plating Jason Kipnis to give the Indians a 2-1 lead

Gomes goes deep: With two out in the second, Gomes went deep to left-center for his seventh home run of the season. Per Statcast™, the shot had an exit velocity of 106 mph and traveled 407 feet from the plate. It marked only his second hit in a span of 18 at-bats -- the other being a walk-off single on Wednesday against Texas.

Butera doubles down: After hitting his first home run of the season on Thursday, Butera homered in consecutive games for the first time in his career. Kansas City's catcher, who has garnered more playing time due to the injury to Salvador Perez, smashed a slider from Salazar over the left-field wall to tie the score at 1.

Butera's solo shot

KC@CLE: Butera blasts a home run to left

Drew Butera hits a solo home run to left field to lead off the 3rd inning and even the score at 1

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Leading off the sixth inning, Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar singled to center for his 1,000th career hit. It took Escobar 1,027 games to reach the milestone, which also snapped an 0-for-9 skid over the last three games.

Escobar gets 1,000th career hit

KC@CLE: Escobar reaches the 1,000-hit mark

Alcides Escobar bloops a single to center field off of Danny Salazar to record his 1,000th career hit

WHAT'S NEXT
Royals: Right-hander Ian Kennedy (4-3, 3.03 ERA) will take the mound against the Tribe at 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday at Progressive Field. Kennedy pitched seven scoreless innings in a win over the Indians on May 7. His ERA against the AL Central this year is 1.54.

Indians: Right-hander Josh Tomlin (7-1, 3.79) will start against the Royals on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET. Tomlin faced Kansas City earlier this season and tossed six innings, in which he gave up four runs on seven hits in the win.

Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.

Scott Chasen is a reporter for MLB.com based in Kansas City and covered the Royals on Friday. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Salazar's 9 K's help Tribe stay tough on Royals