CLEVELAND -- Superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor has been a catalyst for success throughout his three years with the Cleveland Indians, and he put that on display again in Monday’s 9-3 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Lindor went two for four with three runs scored, two home runs, including a grand slam, and a personal-best seven runs batted in during the win over the Royals, which gave the Indians (46-37) a 9.5-game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central Division standings
“The one at-bat, he got into a hitter’s count. The other, he fouled off some good fastballs to get to the breaking ball, and just drove both of them,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “They weren’t lofted. They were line drives that were hit over the fence. That was a gorgeous piece of hitting.”
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Lindor started the home run rally with the grand slam in the top of the fourth inning.
After catcher Yan Gomes hit a one-out single to right field, outfielders Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis were hit by pitches, Naquin by a 1-2 offering and Davis on the first throw he saw from Royals pitcher Jakob Junis. Those free passes loaded the bases for Lindor.
Lindor fouled off the first pitch, but after three straight throws out of the zone, he sat on a change-up and belted it over the wall in right field for his second career grand slam.
Lindor added a three-run home run in the top of the sixth inning.
“My approach is ‘Hit the ball wherever it goes, and if it goes out, it goes out,’” Lindor said. “It was a good pitch to hit. I was just trying to get one guy in. I’m not a power hitter. If it goes out, it goes out. Get a good pitch to hit and drive it.”
Lindor has homered in three straight games for the second time in the last 10 days, marking the first time since Travis Hafner in 2006 that an Indians player had multiple three-game home run streaks in a single season.
Lindor is tied with Baltimore’s Manny Machado for the most multi-home run games in Major League Baseball this season (four). The seven RBI were the most by an Indians player since 2015 and matched the record Chico Carrasquel (April 26, 1956) for runs batted in by an Indians shortstop.
The fourth player in Indians history with a grand slam and three-run home run in the same game, Lindor joined Pat Seerey (July 13, 1945 at New York), Vic Wertz (September 14, 1957 at Boston) and Manny Ramirez (September 24, 1999 in Toronto) as the only other players to accomplish the feat.
“It looks like he did that again,” Davis said. “It’s amazing the way the ball jumps off his bat. When you’re hitting at that exit velocity, with his swing, he’s an impact player, both sides, all around.”
While the home runs got the headlines, Lindor’s impact on the game began in the top of the third inning.
After Davis doubled to left field, Lindor dropped down a bunt and reached on an error charged to Royals pitcher Jakob Junis. By reaching on the error, Lindor allowed Michael Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion to drive in runs with sacrifice flies, the second of which would not have been possible had the speedy shortstop not reached base.
“That’s huge,” Lindor said of the bunt. “It made me feel like I did my job to help my team that day. That’s huge. That gave me the confidence to go up to the plate saying, ‘I did something today. I don’t have to do something extremely…I don’t have to do something extra or major to feel like I’m a part of the team.’”
