Every fifth day, Indians manager Terry Francona knows he’ll get innings, maximum effort and nothing but smiles from his No. 1 starter.

And he usually gets something more important from Justin Masterson – a win.

”There’s an expectation,” Francona said. ”He’s earned that.”

Masterson managed to hang around for 6 1-3 innings and win for the sixth time at home, leading Cleveland to a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Masterson (9-5) sidestepped trouble in the first few innings without giving up any runs and improved to 6-1 with a 2.29 ERA in nine starts at Progressive Field. The affable right-hander struck out eight while allowing two runs and nine hits.

Only Detroit’s Max Scherzer has more wins in the AL than Masterson, who has been one of the few constants on a streaky Indians squad.

”On the day he pitches, we feel pretty good,” said Francona, who managed Masterson in Boston. ”He’s earned that, for us to feel that way. His consistency with his stuff this year has been tremendous and we always know about his willingness to compete. It’s fun to watch.

”I’ve got to try not to get caught up in how fond I am of him when he’s pitching because when he comes off I’m always smiling at him. It’s hard not to.”

Michael Brantley hit a pair of solo homers and drove in three runs for the up-and-down Indians, who moved within 3 1/2 games of first-place Detroit in the AL Central. Mike Aviles drove in two runs and Michael Bourn scored twice for Cleveland, which has won six of eight after dropping eight in a row.

Unable to get a hit for four innings off Luis Mendoza (2-4), Brantley homered in the fifth and the Indians added three runs in the sixth. Brantley connected again in the eighth.

The Royals won the series opener, but dropped the final two and made some critical mistakes that cost them.

”We feel we gave one away last night,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. ”Tonight was a different story. They just beat us.”

Masterson, as close to an ace as the Indians have in their rotation, is 5-0 in his last six starts at home and has won nine of his past 13 decisions in Cleveland.

”It’s nice,” he said. ”It’s probably because I get to hang out with my wife and daughter before the game. It just seems to work out. I don’t know what the science is behind it. My bad games have all come on the road.”

It wasn’t a certainty he would survive the first few innings as the Royals put two runners on in the first and second but failed to score. Kansas City stranded eight runners in the first five innings and Masterson got a big defensive play by first baseman Mark Reynolds to get out of a pickle in the fourth.

Masterson was lifted in the seventh, and although he was far from dominant, Indians fans gave him a warm ovation as he headed to the dugout.

”Masterson is our ace, no question about it,” Brantley said. ”When our ace throws, we’ve got to win those games. He threw great tonight and kept us in the ballgame and that’s all you can ask.”

The Indians, who have struggled to score lately, didn’t get their first hit off Mendoza until the fifth and then chased the right-hander during their three-run sixth.

With two on and none out, Aviles hit a ball to deep left that probably should have been caught by Alex Gordon, but the two-time Gold Glove winner dropped it, allowing Drew Stubbs to score and tie it at 2.

”It’s a ball that needs to be caught, especially in that situation,” Gordon said. ”It was towards the wall but it was off my glove and I should have caught it. No question. It would have been a big out and could have changed the inning around.”

Jason Kipnis followed with a well-timed bunt single to load the bases and Mendoza threw four straight balls to Carlos Santana, forcing in Bourn with the go-ahead run.

Tim Collins then came in and allowed Brantley’s sacrifice fly that made it 4-2, but after giving up a single, he kept the Royals within two by striking out pinch hitter Ryan Raburn and getting Lonnie Chisenhall on a groundout.

However, the Indians tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Bourn doubled, stole third and scored on Aviles’ fly ball to right.

Cleveland also got solid relief work from Bryan Shaw, who pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings.

Mendoza, who had just one win in his previous six starts, coasted through the first four innings, allowing only a two-out walk in the first. He was handling the Indians with ease and appeared in complete control.

The right-hander didn’t make a mistake until Brantley turned on his fastball leading off the fifth, lining a shot into the right-field seats to trim Kansas City’s lead to 2-1.

”The first five innings were about as good as you can get,” Yost said. ”He just kind of fell apart in the sixth after Stubbs got the hit.”

— Associated Press —

Once Vinnie Pestano stopped at third base, he had plenty of company.

Standing within a few feet were two Royals baserunners, two umpires, a Kansas City coach and several teammates screaming at him.

He had no idea being a temporary closer would be this difficult.

Pestano wiggled out of a jam in the ninth inning when Kansas City’s David Lough ran past his third-base coach and failed to score the tying run, giving the Indians a 4-3 win over the Royals on Tuesday night.

”I had every intention of going out there and making it a 1-2-3 inning,” Pestano said. ”But it didn’t happen that way. But at the end of the day no runs were scored and we got the ‘W.”’

Barely.

Michael Brantley’s sacrifice fly capped Cleveland’s three-run eighth inning and the Indians held on through a wild ninth to stun the Royals.

Held to one run and three hits over seven innings by Ervin Santana, the Indians finally strung something together in the eighth off Kelvin Herrera (3-5) and Tim Collins. Michael Bourn and Jason Kipnis delivered RBI hits before Brantley drove in Mike Aviles with the go-ahead run.

Cody Allen (2-0), whose throwing error in the eighth helped the Royals take a 3-1 lead, got the win. Pestano, who is filling as Cleveland’s closer while Chris Perez is on the disabled list, gave up three singles and a walk in the ninth but held on for his second save.

”Never a doubt,” he joked.

The Royals lost for just the third time in 14 games and missed a chance to move over .500 for the first time since May 18.

They probably should have tied it in the ninth when Alcides Escobar singled to right with one out and runners at first and second. But Lough ran past third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez’s stop sign, and got caught in a rundown between home and third.

Lough got back to the bag safely, but Mike Moustakas was also there and was tagged out. It appeared Lough would have scored easily as right fielder Drew Stubbs’ throw was off target.

”I take full responsibility,” said Lough, who is from nearby Akron and had several family members and friend at the game. ”It’s 100 percent my fault.”

Lough nearly made another mistake as he briefly took his hand off the bag and almost got doubled off by Pestano, who got involved in the rundown and tagged Moustakas out. Pestano said the Indians don’t necessarily work on situations where two runners are on the same base.

”Luckily, I had about seven guys shouting at me about what to do so I just chose the thing that I heard twice,” he said with a laugh.

What was he hearing?

”Run it back, run it back,”’ he said. ”’Don’t throw it, don’t throw it. Tag him, tag him, it’s his base.’ I had to process a lot of information.”

Indians manager Terry Francona said he has one basis rule in those situations.

”Tag everybody in sight,” he said. ”Umpire, everybody and hope somebody gets off the bag. It’s confusing. That’s why you tag everybody. They (umpires) can figure it out.”

Pestano settled down after the crazy play and got Eric Hosmer on a groundout with the bases loaded as the Indians got their 10th come-from-behind win.

The Indians did next to nothing against Santana, but they pounced on Kansas City’s bullpen in the eighth.

Ryan Raburn drew a leadoff walk from Herrera, moved up on a groundout and scored when Bourn slapped a single inside the left-field line.

Aviles followed with a single and Kipnis, who stranded seven runners in a 2-1 loss on Monday night, delivered an RBI double off Collins to tie it. The Royals walked Carlos Santana intentionally to load the bases and Brantley hit a fly ball to right, easily scoring Aviles.

Before the comeback, the Indians were in danger of falling another game behind Kansas City in the AL Central.

”I won’t say we needed it, but we wanted it,” Bourn said. ”They took second place over us yesterday and we came back today. Not only that, we want to win those close games like that. Those close games matter.”

Santana deserved a better outcome. The right-hander made it look easy against an Indians lineup that was in a deep offensive funk.

Santana, who pitched the only no-hitter in Progressive Field history in 2011 for the Angels, didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth and had Cleveland’s hitters guessing most of the night.

”He was spectacular,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Ubaldo Jimenez’s wildness helped the Royals take a 2-0 lead in the third without benefit of a hit.

He walked No. 9 hitter Escobar and Alex Gordon to start the inning and then uncorked a wild pitch, advancing the runners to second and third. Hosmer followed with an RBI groundout, and with Salvador Perez batting, Jimenez bounced another pitch in the dirt that got away from Santana, scoring Gordon.

The Indians came in leading the AL with 38 wild pitches, 29 of them with Santana behind the plate.

Before the game, manager Terry Francona defended Santana’s ability to block pitches. On Monday night, the Royals scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on a wild pitch from Bryan Shaw that Santana let go through his legs.

Unable to get anything going for the first five innings against Santana, the Indians closed to 2-1 in the sixth on Aviles’ two-out RBI single.

But the Indians gave back an unearned run in the eighth.

Hosmer led off with a comebacker to Allen, who fielded the ball cleanly but fired it past first baseman Mark Reynolds. The ball rolled down the track along the first-base line, and Hosmer hustled into third with a headfirst dive. Perez followed with an RBI single to make it 3-1.

— Associated Press —

One win at a time, the Royals are scrapping their way toward the top in the AL Central.

Pinch-runner Elliot Johnson scored from third base on a wild pitch by reliever Matt Albers in the ninth inning as Kansas City rallied for a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.

Johnson, inserted after Billy Butler opened the ninth with a double, sprinted home and slid in safely after Albers’ pitch got under catcher Carlos Santana and went all the way to the backstop.

With their 11th win in 13 games, the Royals, who were last in the division on June 5, moved past Cleveland into second place.

”We’re grinding out wins now, so I’ll take it,” said starter James Shields, who went six innings but got another hard-luck no-decision. ”We’re real resilient as a team. Even when things got rough, we never gave up. We believe in ourselves.”

Before going on this surge, the Royals lost 15 of 18 and at 23-32 manager Ned Yost’s future was very much in doubt. But the Royals are rising quickly.

”A win is a win,” Butler said. ”We’ve been playing good baseball and we’re enjoying it. We’re more confident now than we were when we started 17-10.”

Royals reliever Aaron Crow (3-2) struck out two after putting the potential go-ahead run at third in the eighth, and Greg Holland stranded the tying run at third in the ninth for his 15th save in 17 tries.

Bryan Shaw (0-1) couldn’t protect a 1-0 lead for Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco, charged with just one run and four hits in 7 1-3 innings.

Santana homered in the sixth off Shields, who remained winless since April 30 and has pitched much better than his 2-6 record.

”He never gives in,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”He can throw any pitch in any count for a strike.”

The Indians were unable to get the big hit all night.

Twice they loaded the bases against Shields, who both times struck out Jason Kipnis to end the threats. In the ninth, Cleveland got the tying run to third when Michael Bourn doubled and advanced on a wild pitch. But Holland struck out Mike Aviles and retired Kipnis on an easy grounder to second.

The Royals scored one run in the eighth and ninth to eke out the win.

”It’s a ‘W’, man,” Yost said. ”It’s important to get to .500, but now, it’s more important to move past that.”

With the score tied 1-all, Butler opened Kansas City’s ninth with a double off Shaw, who walked Lorenzo Cain and was pulled by Francona for left-hander Rich Hill. David Lough dropped a bunt toward third that Hill fielded before losing his balance and falling in the infield grass.

Albers got ahead of pinch-hitter Miguel Tejada before uncorking a pitch that skipped to the padded backstop. It bounced back quickly to Santana, who flipped the ball to Albers covering the plate, but Johnson slid in just ahead of the tag.

”I tried to block it,” Santana said. ”I think I was a little late putting the glove down.”

Blanked for nearly eight innings by Carrasco, the Royals tied it in the eighth on Eric Hosmer’s bloop RBI double.

Chris Getz, twice robbed of hits earlier by left fielder Michael Brantley, singled and Alcides Escobar sacrificed. Francona came out and replaced Carrasco, who was making his first start since serving a seven-game suspension and remains in search of his first win since June 29, 2011.

Rather than bring in struggling lefties Hill or Nick Hagadone to face left-handed hitters, Francona went with Shaw, who retired Alex Gordon on a weak popup before Hosmer dropped his hit over shortstop Aviles’ head and in front of Bourn in center to tie it at 1.

It didn’t figure to be a pitchers’ duel with both starters coming in with blemished resumes.

Shields hasn’t won since April 30, and Carrasco has dropped his last seven decisions and was twice suspended since his last victory.

Santana broke up the scoreless matchup by leading off the sixth with his 10th homer, a shot into the stands in right. The homer came on Shields’ first pitch of the inning and 101st of the night.

Although he has given up more than three runs just once in 13 starts, Shields can’t catch a break. The Royals are averaging 2.2 runs in his outings.

Carrasco was pitching for the first time since serving a suspension for throwing at New York’s Kevin Youkilis on April 9. In his previous outing, the right-hander was rocked for six runs and 10 hits in four innings by the Detroit Tigers, who didn’t have to worry about Carrasco throwing inside because he rarely tried.

However, Carrasco challenged the Royals on the inner half of the plate and retired the first 13 in order before Cain singled sharply to right.

”That was what we’re hoping for,” Francona said.

— Associated Press —