Jakob Junis scattered two hits over six innings and Hunter Dozier belted a solo homer as the visiting Kansas City Royals recorded a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.
Kansas City center fielder Billy Hamilton made a leaping catch to deny Francisco Lindor of a potential home run to lead off the sixth inning. Junis showed his appreciation by tipping his hat in the direction of Hamilton.
Cam Gallagher ripped a pair of doubles to account for two of the six hits for the Royals, who have won five of their last six games.
Adam Plutko (3-2) permitted just one run on two hits in seven innings to take the loss for the Indians, who saw their season high-tying six-game winning streak come to a halt.
One of the two hits, however, came in the first inning as Dozier deposited a 2-1 fastball from Plutko over the wall in right field. The homer was Dozier's 15th of the season and second in five games.
The modest offense proved to be just enough for Junis (6-8), who struck out seven batters on the heels of fanning a career-high 10 in Kansas City's 5-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.
The 26-year-old had struggled this season versus Cleveland, against which he permitted 11 runs on 15 hits to drop back-to-back decisions on June 26 and July 2, respectively.
Scott Barlow struck out two batters in the seventh inning and Jake Diekman did the same in the eighth to bridge the gap to Ian Kennedy, who fanned two in the ninth for his 17th save.
Prior to the game, the Royals designated reliever Wily Peralta for assignment. The move came one day after Peralta appeared to shout at rookie catcher Meibrys Viloria before heading back to the mound, although manager Ned Yost dismissed the notion that was the reason for the transaction.
"That was zero percent to do with this," Yost told reporters prior to the game. "There was no (expletive) going on. That kind of stuff goes on all the time. It was nothing. This was performance-based."
--Field Level Media
