The Kansas City Royals announced Tuesday they have claimed shortstop Pedro Ciriaco off outright waivers from the San Diego Padres.

Ciriaco, 27, is batting .228 with eight stolen bases, three doubles, two triples and two homers in 51 games this season split between San Diego and Boston.  He started this season with the Red Sox, but was traded to San Diego on June 10 for a player to be named later.

Ciricao has played all four infield positions this season, seeing a combined 26 games at shortstop and 10 at third base.  The fourth-year infielder hit .293 with Boston last season, setting career highs in nearly every offensive statistical category, including 15 doubles, 19 RBI and 33 runs scored in 76 games.  He is a career .279 hitter.

— Royals Media Relations —

A week ago, the Indians were reeling amid serious questions about whether they could contend.

Five wins have put them back on track.

And back on Detroit’s heels.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run double to cap Cleveland’s comeback in the sixth inning, and the Indians charged into the All-Star break with a 6-4 win over Kansas City on Sunday and three-game sweep of the Royals.

Cabrera’s double off Tim Collins (2-5) led the roller-coasting Indians to their fourth straight win. At 51-44, they stayed 1 1-2 games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central. Last week, Detroit took three of four from Cleveland to widen its lead in the division. It seemed the Tigers were poised to run away and hide.

But with their fans fearing a collapse like last year, the Indians pulled together.

”We got the city of Cleveland to step back off the ledge after the Detroit series,” said All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis. ”So that’s good. We wanted to push ourselves. To be able to sweep them and get a couple days off now, that’s a great way to end it.”

Cleveland has its most wins at the All-Star break since 2007 – the last time the Indians made the playoffs.

Reliever Rich Hill (1-1) got two outs in the sixth, and closer Chris Perez – Cleveland’s fifth reliever – worked the ninth for his 13th save as the Indians improved to 43-1 when leading after eight.

Billy Butler had three hits for the Royals (43-49), who dropped their fifth straight. Kansas City is third in the AL Central, eight games back.

”We’ve had a rough five games,” manager Ned Yost said. ”They can go take a break, regroup and hopefully come back and play more consistent baseball.”

The Indians have had their issues with inconsistency, as well, but they have been resilient all season. The series finale was no different as Cleveland trailed 4-3 in the sixth before rallying against Kansas City’s usually reliable bullpen.

Collins, who took the loss in Friday’s series opener, walked Lonnie Chisenhall leading off. Drew Stubbs singled, Michael Bourn sacrificed, and Cabrera, whose name has surfaced in trade rumors, drove a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-center to put Cleveland back in front.

Kipnis followed with an RBI single off Everett Teaford to give the Indians a 6-4 lead.

”I was real proud of our guys,” manager Terry Francona said. ”We kept battling, and because of it we go into the break with a nice win.”

Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith combined for two scoreless innings before Perez, who spent time on the disabled list and was charged with drug possession in the first half, gave up a one-out double in the ninth but struck out Butler and retired All-Star catcher Salvador Perez on a grounder for the final out.

The Indians have overcome their share of injuries, inconsistent pitching and a 4-16 stretch which put them 5 1-2 games back of the Tigers on June 17.

After dropping three of four to Detroit, Cleveland finished the first half by going 5-1.

”It’s been a great first half for us,” Indians first baseman Nick Swisher said. ”We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries and to be standing where we are right now, we’ve got to feel great about that.”

Royals starter James Shields ended up with his seventh no-decision in his last nine starts. The right-hander allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, leaving with a 4-3 lead. Shields has received sparse run support as the Royals have scored just nine total runs in his six losses.

Shields, though, was more focused on getting his team turned around than his record.

”You never want to lose five in a row, but I’m not too worried about it,” Shields said. ”We’ve done a good job of grinding this first half. It definitely could be a lot worse and it definitely could be a lot better. Right now we need to kick it in gear and string together some wins.”

Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez didn’t get through the fifth inning, his shortest start since June 7.

After the Indians took a 3-2 lead in the third, Jimenez let the Royals grab it back in the fourth on Johnny Giavotella’s RBI groundout and Alcides Escobar’s run-scoring single.

Jimenez walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth and was quickly pulled by Francona before things got worse. Reliever C.C. Lee made his major league debut and retired the Royals on three straight popups to keep the Indians within one.

Shields worked around a two-on, none-out jam in the second, but hurt himself with a one-out walk in the third when the Indians scored twice to take a 3-2 lead.

Kipnis walked with one down and moved up on a groundout. Michael Brantley, who came in batting .382 with runners in scoring position, hit an RBI single to tie it 2-all. Santana then doubled inside the bag at first, and third-base coach Brad Mills never hesitated in waving Brantley home.

”I don’t feel like I struggled,” Shields said. ”I threw some really good pitches. I think I threw three changeups that probably would have hit the dirt, and they got base hits on them. They probably had about 20 foul-offs. That’s a good team over there. They work really good at-bats.”

— Associated Press —

Major League Baseball announced Sunday that Kansas City Royals closer Greg Holland has been named a replacement on the American League All-Star team, taking the spot of Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma, who started today for the Mariners and will be unable to pitch on Tuesday night.  Holland will join teammates Alex Gordon and catcher Salvador Perez, who were named to the 84th Midsummer Classic at Citi Field in New York last week.  All three are making their first career trip to the All-Star Game.

This marks the first time since the 1988 All-Star Game in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium that the Royals have had three players selected, when George Brett made his 13th and final All-Star appearance, going as a first baseman, and was joined by infielder Kurt Stillwell and pitcher Mark Gubicza.  This is the 11th time the club has had at least three players named to the American League squad.

Holland, 27, has served as the Royals’ closer since the second half of last season after Jonathan Broxton was dealt to the Reds at the trade deadline.  Greg has made good on 38 of 42 save opportunities since taking over the roll full-time, including a current run of 15 in a row dating back to May 30.  Since that date, Holland has posted a 0.95 ERA, allowing just two earned runs in 19.0 innings, while recording 34 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .111 average (7-for-63).  He has recorded all three outs via the strikeout on six occasions and entered today leading the Majors in strikeouts per batter faced (.444) and strikeouts per 9-inning ratio at 15.43

— Royals Media Relations —