KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The hallmark of a good team, at least in Royals manager Ned Yost’s opinion, is the ability to wedge open the smallest of openings that an opponent provides.

His club sure did that against Cleveland on Wednesday.

The Royals scored all their runs by tying a franchise record with four sacrifice flies, and Yordano Ventura dominated the Indians over seven stingy innings in a 4-1 victory.

“It’s finding a way to win a ballgame that’s important,” said Yost, whose team has won four straight. “Good teams find ways to score those runs, and we did it four times today.”

In doing so, the Royals became only the second team to score four runs all on sacrifice flies since it became an official stat in 1954. The Expos managed to do it against the Cubs on May 28, 1980, according to STATS, although that happened in an 8-4, 14-inning loss.

“See?” Yost said. “We made history.”

Ventura (4-5) allowed six hits while striking out three without a walk to win back-to-back starts for the first time. The only run he allowed came in the sixth, when he gave up consecutive singles to start the inning and Carlos Santana hit an RBI single.

By then, Indians counterpart Trevor Bauer (1-3) had already allowed sacrifice flies to Jarrod Dyson, Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar. Billy Butler added another sacrifice fly off reliever John Axford in the seventh to complete the scoring.

“Usually I’m able to strike out guys in situations like that,” Bauer said. “I made a couple of good pitches today, but they fouled them off and put them in play. So it is unusual.”

The Indians loaded the bases off Wade Davis with nobody out in the eighth, but two strikeouts and a groundout ended the threat. Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his 19th save.

The Royals (33-32) moved over .500 for the first time since May 18. They also jumped over Cleveland into second place in the AL Central as they embark on a trip that begins with the White Sox and concludes with the division-leading Detroit.

Lonnie Chisenhall had a pair of hits for Cleveland, extending his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. He’s had at least two hits in his last five.

Prior to the game, Indians manager Terry Francona recalled with disdain the last time his club faced Ventura — the young flamethrower’s debut last September. Ventura allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings, and at one point threw a pitch to Yan Gomes clocked at 102 mph.

“He’s got pretty special stuff,” Francona said. “Kind of hope we don’t see that today.”

Turns out he did. Ventura kept the ball down in the strike zone and forced the Indians to chop into a series of groundouts. He retired seven straight batters at one point, never allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield.

“I went out there with the mentality to throw a lot of strike,” Ventura said through a translator. “Something good was going to happen if I threw a lot of strikes.”

Nobody was more frustrated than Jason Giambi. With the Royals shifting their infield, the Indians DH grounded out to the exact same spot three straight times before popping out.

“He’s got great stuff,” Giambi said. “When he locates like he did today, he’s tough. He really is. He’s got good mound presence and attacks the strike zone.”

The Royals scored their first run when Dyson followed a double by Mike Moustakas and a single by Escobar with a sacrifice fly in the third. Nori Aoki followed with a single, and Infante hit his sacrifice fly to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Escobar’s sacrifice fly came after a double by Salvador Perez and a single by Moustakas in the fourth, and Butler added his sacrifice fly after singles by Infante and Eric Hosmer.

That was enough to beat Bauer, who has still never won in seven road outings. The Indians starter allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

“That type of energy and intensity we played with today, that’s the way we need to play,” Butler said. “Bauer was pitching really well. Every opportunity we had we capitalized on.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jason Vargas was completely unaware that Cleveland had piled up 17 runs the previous night.

He was happy about it, too.

Unaware of how hot the free-swinging Indians had been, the Royals left-hander calmly carried a shutout into the eighth inning Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Kansas City offense hit a season-best three home runs in a 9-5 victory to open their two-game series.

“I guess I’m glad I didn’t know they scored 17 runs last night,” said Vargas, who gave up six hits and hit three batters with pitches, but didn’t allow a run until Jason Kipnis drove in a pair with a two-out double in the eighth.

“You just have to get ahead and execute,” he said, “and let the defense do what they do.”

Eric Hosmer hit a two-run shot and also drove in a run during a four-run fourth inning. Alex Gordon went deep in the eighth and Mike Moustakas added a two-run shot later that inning as the Royals (32-32) moved back to .500 by matching their second-best run total of the season.

“It’s a good feeling,” Moustakas said, “but it’s not where we want to be.”

Corey Kluber (6-4), who dominated the Royals earlier this season, allowed six runs — three earned — and six hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked two.

He was nearly bailed out when Tim Collins gave up another run in the eighth inning and Aaron Crow yielded two more in the ninth. But Crow wound up finishing for his first save of the season.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana and David Murphy drove in the other runs for Cleveland.

Both starters dominated for the first couple of innings, Vargas using guile to keep Cleveland off balance and Kluber needing just 17 pitches to retire the first six Royals batters.

Everything changed in the bottom of the third.

Moustakas walked to start things off, and Alcides Escobar followed with a single. Jarrod Dyson then hit a grounder that Kipnis fielded and tossed to Cabrera covering second. But in making the grab and transitioning to his throwing hand, Cabrera dropped the ball. He was still granted an out initially, but replay overturned the umpire’s call and he was given an error.

“When you give teams extra chances, extra opportunities, especially against the middle of the order, sometimes you pay a price for it,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.

“Obviously, nobody is perfect,” Kluber added. “Errors are part of the game.”

That one loaded the bases for Omar Infante, in the throes of a 1-for-21 slump, and he dropped a single into center field for a 1-0 lead. Hosmer followed with his RBI groundout, and Billy Butler added a two-run single moments later to make it 4-0.

“If we don’t win that challenge,” Royals manager Ned Yost said, “we lose out on three runs.”

Hosmer homered in the fifth, his third of the season, and Kluber was yanked after the inning. It was a marked contrast to his last outing against Kansas City, when the right-hander tossed his first career complete game in a 5-1 victory on April 24.

Meanwhile, Vargas was mowing down an Indians order that included the scorching Lonnie Chisenhall, who went 5 for 5 with three homers and nine RBIs the previous night in Texas. Vargas even helped himself, snaring a liner in the sixth to start an inning-ending double play.

It wasn’t until Vargas left the game that the Indians started to rally, and the hole they had dug themselves proved to be far too deep.

— Associated Press —