The Kansas City Royals have the record of a last-place team, and a pitching staff to match.

The Detroit Tigers found out again Monday night that the Royals don’t have a last-place offense.

The Royals got 18 hits in their second August win over Max Scherzer, beating the first-place Tigers 9-5 on Monday night.

Salvador Perez, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon all homered while Johnny Giavotella added a bases-loaded double for the Royals, who came in 18 1/2 games behind Central Division leaders.

“I don’t know what it is about Scherzer,” Giavotella said. “We’ve put good swings on the ball against a lot of pitchers and not gotten anything to show for it, but we’ve been better against him.”

Scherzer (13-8) allowed seven runs, 10 hits and a walk in three-plus innings to drop to 2-2 in August.

“We were swinging the bat really well against him, and they weren’t bad pitches,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Detroit has a great lineup, so you really want to put up as many runs as you can as quickly as you can.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland wasn’t surprised.

“People need to realize that isn’t the team that fell way out of the race,” he said of the Royals. “They’ve brought up some young, aggressive hitters that are pretty impressive.”

Luke Hochevar (9-10) wasn’t brilliant, but used the offensive support to end a four-start winless streak. He gave up five runs and eight hits in seven innings.

“My job is to go out and execute pitches, whether we’re leading by 10 runs or down by 10 runs,” he said. “We really swung the bats well.”

Gordon led off the game with his 19th homer, and Perez’s RBI double made it 2-0 in the second.

“I remembered that he likes to start fastball, fastball, fastball, so I was expecting the last one,” Gordon said. “We knew we needed to score runs against them.”

The Royals then broke the game open with three runs in the third. Melky Cabrera and Billy Butler started the inning with singles, and Eric Hosmer walked to load the bases. Scherzer retired the next two batters, but Giavotella hit a line drive into the right-center gap, scoring all three runners.

The Tigers made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning on an RBI groundout by Ramon Santiago and run-scoring singles by Delmon Young and Victor Martinez, but Scherzer couldn’t keep the Tigers in the game.

Perez led off the fourth with his first career homer — a 415-foot drive to left-center that bounced off the brick wall behind the seats — and Escobar followed with a shot into the left-field stands.

“I crushed that ball,” said Perez, who got a postgame beer shower from his teammates. “I felt so happy — it was unbelievable.”

Gordon singled, ending Scherzer’s night, but Duane Below got out of the inning.

“There are times when your pitcher gives us a couple hits and you can get him out of there, but when they hit two quick homers like that, there’s not much you can do,” Leyland said. “We were back in the game after the three-spot in the third, but that took a lot of sting out of us.”

Miguel Cabrera’s RBI double pulled the Tigers within 7-4, but the Royals got RBIs from Cabrera and Hosmer to put the game away in the sixth.

Detroit threatened in the eighth, adding a fifth run, but Blake Wood came in to get a double play and a strikeout to escape further damage. Wood finished for his first career save.

“They’ve got a potent lineup, which is why it was big for Woody to come in and get that double play,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Manny Acta has seen the injuries for his team mount on a daily basis.

The Cleveland Indians manager also realizes there isn’t anything he can do about it.

“We can’t call the commissioner and ask for a month off,” Acta said after watching his team drop a 2-1 decision to Kansas City on Sunday.

After rallying to win the first two games of the series, the Indians’ revamped lineup, which was without five regulars, was no match for Bruce Chen, who overcame a shaky first inning to win his career-high fifth straight start. Chen (10-5) allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base and walked Carlos Santana with the bases loaded to force in Cleveland’s only run. The left-hander, who allowed five hits in 7 1/3 innings, is 4-0 in his last five starts against the Indians.

Justin Masterson (10-8) allowed two runs in six innings and lost for the first time since July 24.

The Indians announced before the game that outfielder Michael Brantley will have surgery to remove a portion of the hamate bone in his right hand this week and will miss the rest of the season.

Cleveland also played without outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who will miss at least the next few days with soreness in his left side. Designated hitter Jim Thome, acquired from Minnesota on Friday, wasn’t in the starting lineup. The addition of Thome paid off immediately for the Indians. Not only did he hit his 602nd career home run Saturday, his return sparked an increase in ticket sales. The three-game series drew 104,615 fans.

Thome, who was cheered by Cleveland fans all weekend, received another standing ovation when he pinch-hit with a man on first in the eighth. He struck out on four pitches by Greg Holland.

Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Jason Kipnis are three more Cleveland regulars who are on the DL.

“It’s a challenge, but everybody has their issues,” Acta said. “I’m not going to sit here and complain. That’s part of the game. I knew we couldn’t survive some of those injuries. We have to continue to battle.”

The Indians lost the tussle with Chen after the first inning. Singles by Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Donald and Asdrubal Cabrera loaded the bases before Santana walked on four pitches to force in a run. Shelley Duncan, swinging at the first pitch, fouled out and Kosuke Fukudome tapped into a pitcher-to-home-to-first double play.

“The first inning killed us,” Acta said. “We let him off the hook right there. That’s on us.”

Cleveland, which entered the game 6½ games behind Detroit in the AL Central, was trying to win three straight for the first time since June 29-July 2.

“We’ve still got six games against Detroit,” Masterson said. “We won this series, although today was a tough one. Detroit’s been hot, but we’re a team that can stay right there.”

Chen gave the Royals a major positive after their bullpen lost leads in the first two games.

“I am feeling good,” he said. “I feel like I am throwing my pitches really well. It was a very good day for us.”

Mike Moustakas’ RBI single broke a 1-1 tie in the third for the Royals, who held on to win after losing late leads in the first two games of the series.

Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save.

Both teams loaded the bases with nobody out in the first, but only scored one run. Jeff Francoeur hit into a force play, scoring Alex Gordon, for Kansas City’s run before Chen walked in a run.

The game was delayed briefly in the fifth inning when a woman seated near the Indians dugout was struck in the head by a line drive hit by Hosmer. The woman was given medical attention and walked with assistance to a first aid station in the ballpark.

— Associated Press —

Asdrubal Cabrera helped Jim Thome celebrate his 41st birthday in true slugger’s style.

Two innings after Thome hit his 602nd career homer, Cabrera belted a three-run shot with two outs in the eighth inning to lift the Cleveland Indians to an 8-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

“It felt great. Great because we won the game,” Cabrera said after connecting on a 1-1 pitch from Louis Coleman (1-4) to give the Indians their 21st last-at-bat win and 32nd comeback triumph overall.

Second-place Cleveland remained 6 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central, while the last-place Royals dropped to 21-28 in one-run games, 4-17 on the road.

“It’s a very important win,” manager Manny Acta said. “We never gave up. We’ve done it all year. It was a roller coaster of emotions, but fortunately we won and we’ll keep trying to win and see where it takes us.”

Joe Smith (3-3) got the final out in the eighth for the win and Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his 29th save. Perez threw out a runner trying to go to third on a sacrifice bunt, then fanned two Royals to strand a runner at second.

“That was a quality save and great play on the bunt,” Acta said. “It takes guts to do that type of play.”

Perez said that he thought about the situation before Alcides Escobar — bunting on his own — tried to sacrifice.

“I’ve got to make that play,” the right-hander said. “I had time that if the runner was going to get to third, I could still get an out at first.”

Escobar stole second and Perez struck out two tough lefties in Alex Gordon and Melky Cabrera — who came to bat 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs this season against Cleveland’s closer.

“I knew the history there,” Perez said of Melky Cabrera. “I got him on a slider, the pitch he hit to beat me earlier this year.

“We needed this win and we got it. What a fun game!”

Thome said Cleveland’s Comeback Kids make him feel rejuvenated. His solo homer in the sixth in his second game back with the Indians tied it at 4.

“I’m old enough to be some of these guys’ dad,” Thome said. “They make me feel young again.”

Gordon, who had three hits, belted a three-run homer in the seventh off reliever Tony Sipp to put the Royals ahead 7-4. Sipp replaced Fausto Carmona with runners on first and third in a lefty-against-lefty matchup, but yielded Gordon’s 18th homer.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI single pulled Cleveland to 7-5 in the seventh.

In the eighth, pinch-hitter Lonnie Chisenhall singled with two outs and Kosuke Fukudome walked. Cabrera followed with his 21st homer into the right-field seats.

Thome got a rousing standing ovation as he slowly rounded the bases with his 335th homer in a Cleveland uniform, a line shot to left-center that extended his club record. The crowd kept cheering until Thome came out for a curtain call in a scene reminiscent of the slugger’s glory days in Cleveland from 1991 until leaving as a free agent following the 2002 season.

“That’s why we got him,” Acta said. “He’s always one swing away from something special.”

It was Thome’s first homer for Cleveland since Sept. 28, 2002, off the Royals’ Jeremy Affeldt. That was his 52nd homer that year, still the Indians’ single-season record.

Thome needs seven homers to tie Sammy Sosa for seventh on the all-time list.

Kansas City used three pitchers to get one out apiece in the seventh and strand two Indians on base.

“It felt like we were trying to stick our fingers in the dike all day long before it caved in on us,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of the back-and-forth game. “We couldn’t get anybody to have a clean inning.”

Kansas City scored three runs with two outs in the third off Carmona to go ahead 3-1. Mike Moustakas had a two-run double after Eric Hosmer singled home the tying run.

Jack Hannahan had three RBIs for Cleveland. His two-out single in the second off Royals starter Danny Duffy made it 1-0. He tied it at 3 with a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth.

Melky Cabrera put Kansas City ahead 4-3 with an RBI double in the fifth, though Gordon was out trying to score from first. Duncan’s strong throw from the left-field corner to Hannahan and the third baseman’s accurate relay to Lou Marson gave the catcher a chance to make a play. Marson blocked the plate and made a sweeping tag as Gordon tried to go around him.

— Associated Press —

As they were about to take the field, the Cleveland Indians held a last-second meeting. Something had to be done.

On a night filled with memories and hope, the Indians turned to their glorious past.

So they hiked up their pants and showed off their socks — just like Jim Thome.

“It was a little welcome present for the big guy,” said third baseman Jack Hannahan.

Thome was grateful.

“It was similar to ’97,” Thome said following Cleveland’s 2-1 win Friday night over the Kansas City Royals. “They did that for my birthday, and that year went to the World Series.

“So we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Thome went hitless but was warmly welcomed in his Cleveland homecoming after nearly a decade away and the Indians, getting a strong outing from Ubaldo Jimenez (2-1), slowed their slide in the AL Central. The Indians won for just the second time in eight games but didn’t lose any ground to the Tigers.

Thome went 0-for-4 and struck out twice in his first game back with Cleveland since 2002, when he disappointed Indians fans by leaving as a free agent. The slugger waived a no-trade clause to return to Cleveland and a chance to help the Indians get back to the postseason.

And in his return, a sellout crowd cheered his every move.

Thome received a thunderous standing ovation when he came up for the first time in the second inning. Holding “Welcome Thome” signs, fans clapped and yelled and he returned the love before his first at-bat with the Indians in nine years by taking off his batting helmet and bowing slightly.

“The single coolest thing I’ve seen in the big leagues,” said Indians reliever Vinnie Pestano.

Thome was overcome by the moment.

“Very emotional,” he said. “Overwhelming in a good way.”

Perhaps overanxious, Thome topped Paulino’s first pitch, sending a weak grounder toward the mound. His teammates shared a laugh later in the dugout.

“We were having a little fun there,” said Thome, who admitted he was more nervous in his return than as he was approaching 600 career homers. “I haven’t had a swinging bunt in a quite a while. It’s nice to get a win and see the crowed like that, the energy and electricity was good all night.”

It was like it used to be all the time in Cleveland. The Indians played to packed houses every night in the ’90s, winning five straight division titles and making it to the World Series twice. The rocking crowd hung on every pitch, and during one quiet moment, Thome said a teammate asked him for a comparison.

“Matt LaPorta asked me, ‘Is this what it was like back then?'” Thome said. “You see this crowd tonight and you hope it keeps going.”

Jimenez (2-1) struck out 10 and allowed one run in seven innings, the kind of performance Cleveland had been needing from him since he came in a trade from the Colorado Rockies.

The Indians scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk in the seventh by reliever Tim Collins and beat Felipe Paulino (2-6), who shut them out for the first six innings.

“My job was to go in there and throw strikes and I didn’t do that,” Collins said. “That’s just unacceptable going in there with the bases loaded and walking the first guy. That’s not what you want to do.”

Chris Perez stranded the tying run at third in the ninth for his 28th save.

After the final out, Thome bounced out of the dugout to congratulate his new teammates. This is why he came back, to help them catch the first-place Tigers, and he celebrated with high-fives and a hug for former roommate Sandy Alomar Jr., now his first-base coach, before he was collared by Slider, the Indians’ fuzzy mascot.

Thome’s return sparked a booming business at the Indians box office on Friday. The club was expecting a crowd of around 30,000 and drew 41,337 — the fourth sellout of 2011. Nearly 9,000 tickets were sold after the Indians announced their career home run leader was coming back.

“It was a special night, the crowd was unbelievable,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “I’m so glad people came out to support Jim. It meant a lot to him. He was very emotional. We’re happy to win on the first day he’s back for us. He can make a huge impact on our young hitters because he’s so open and humble.”

Thome struck out looking his second time up in the fifth, fooled by a chest-high fastball for strike three that he thought was out of the strike zone. He struck out again in the seventh, this time on a vicious cut, and grounded to second in the eighth. He didn’t have the impact he wanted, but the Indians won, and for Thome that’s all that will matter.

Jimenez was nasty. He blew fastballs past the Royals and was as good as he’s been since the Indians traded two top prospects for him on July 30. The right-hander has allowed just one earned run in 15 innings in two home starts — both wins.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “I guess it is just home sweet home.”

Thome has already made an impression on the Indians.

“Right when Jim Thome walked in everyone’s spirits went up,” Hannahan said.

Blanked for six innings by Paulino, the Indians scored twice in the seventh on Hannahan’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by Ezequiel Carrera to take a 2-1 lead.

Now an elder statesman, Thome, who was hitting home runs for Cleveland when new teammate Lonnie Chisenhall was still in diapers, sees himself in a mentor’s role — like Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield were for the Indians when he was a youngster. Thome has seen a lot of baseball in 21 seasons, enough to know the Indians aren’t out of it.

“Baseball’s a weird thing,” he said. “You can run off seven, eight, nine wins a row and look up and say we’re right there. Hopefully, we can keep going.”

— Assocaited Press —