KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jason Davis' shoulder feels fine. Thanks for asking.
The right-hander, coming back from stiffness that kept him off the mound since Aug. 16, relied on his fastball to gave Cleveland five shutout innings.
After that, the Indians parlayed Angel Berroa's error into a big sixth inning and a 7-1 win over the fading Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
Victor Martinez hit his second career home run, a three-run shot that capped Cleveland's five-run sixth, as the Indians broke a six-game losing streak and handed Kansas City its eighth loss in 11 games.
"It feels great to get back out there again," Davis said. "I feel needed, you know?"
The Royals fell to 4½ games back in the AL Central, after the first-place Chicago White Sox beat second-place Minnesota 8-6 on Tuesday night.
Davis (8-10) scattered five hits, all singles, over five innings on the way to his first win since June 29. Two of those hits were wiped out by double plays in the first and second, and Davis retired the last eight batters he faced before Jack Cressend took over to start the sixth.
Cressend retired the first five he faced before back-to-back doubles by Desi Relaford and Brent Mayne broke up the shutout with two outs in the seventh.
All five of Cleveland's sixth-inning runs were unearned, the result of a rare fielding error by Berroa that undid Jimmy Gobble's strong start.
Gobble (3-4) gave up just one hit through 5 2/3 innings and was on his way to a perfect sixth when Berroa -- who had just two errors in his previous 75 games -- misplayed Casey Blake's groundball to deep shortstop.
Berroa thought the play should have been scored a hit for Blake.
"It was a difficult play to make," he said. "I had to take two steps to my right and try to backhand the ball. The ball did something at the last minute, and it hit off the heel of my glove -- almost hit my hand."
Even with the miscue, Berroa almost got Blake at first.
"Casey Blake was the unsung hero of that inning, the way he got down the line," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.
Gobble then hit Jody Gerut with a pitch, and Alex Escobar and Ben Broussard followed with RBI singles before Martinez homered into the leftfield bullpen for a 6-0 lead.
"It all happened so quick," Royals manager Tony Pena said. "He throws five strong innings and gets two quick outs in the sixth -- and then he gives up a couple of hits and a home run, and that's it."
The Indians went up 1-0 in the first on Coco Crisp's leadoff triple and Blake's sacrifice fly. After Crisp's hit, Gobble retired the next 11 batters before walking Escobar with two out in the fourth.
Gobble gave up four hits in six innings, striking out two and walking five before D.J. Carrasco relieved him to start the sixth.
"It's tough on the stomach, yeah," said Gobble, 1-4 since starting his major league career with two straight wins. "I went out there and pitched all right, I thought ... but I really needed to bear down in certain situations, and I didn't do it."
Travis Hafner had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly off Carrasco in the eighth.
Aaron Guiel had three hits and Mike Sweeney had two for the Royals, who stranded 10 runners -- four in scoring position.
Notes
The Indians put OFs Matt Lawton and Ryan Ludwick on the disabled list Tuesday and bought the contract of OF Chris Magruder from Triple-A Buffalo. Lawton was placed on the 15-day disabled list with soreness in his right middle finger, and Ludwick was placed on the 60-day disabled list with a bruised tendon in his right kneecap. ... Guiel is hitting .538 (14-for-26) in his last six games.
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