Meche fans 11, Callaspo hits grand slam as Kansas City Royals defeat Cleveland Indians 9-0

Meche fans 11 as Royals defeat Indians 9-0

CLEVELAND — Gil Meche tied a career high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings and the Kansas City Royals hit three home runs in a 9-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

Alberto Callaspo had a career-high four hits including his first career grand slam for Kansas City. The Royals also got two-run homers from Jose Guillen and Miguel Olivo to win for only the fourth time in their last 19 games.

Meche (3-5) allowed four hits and three walks in winning for the first time in seven starts. Since beating Minnesota on May 3, the right-hander had gone 0-3 with a 4.02 ERA with the Royals losing each time.

Meche improved to 19-6 in his career in the month of June. The 30-year-old has only a 62-67 record in all other months combined.

Guillen and Olivo each hit their seventh homers of the season in the Royals’ four-run fourth off Carl Pavano (6-5). Callaspo connected off the right-hander to make it 9-0 in the fifth.

Pavano, coming off a 6-0 win in Chicago over the White Sox on Friday, allowed nine runs and 11 hits over 4 2-3 innings. The right-hander had gone 6-1 in his previous eight starts since May 1.

Cleveland dropped back into last place, a half-game behind the Royals in the AL Central. Kansas City, which led the division by three games on May 7 has gone a major league-worst 7-22 since.

Sharp baserunning helped the Royals take a 1-0 lead in the second. Mark Teahen drew a leadoff walk and was off with the pitch when Callaspo hit a line drive to right. Teahen reached third on the single, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Brayan Pena.

Cleveland’s best chance against Meche came in the fifth. The Indians loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, but center fielder Willie Bloomquist made a nice running catch in right center of Jamey Carroll’s bid for extra bases to preserve the shutout.

Ron Mahay and Kyle Farnsworth each needed only seven pitches to retire in the Indians in order in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.