Garko's walk-off single lifts Indians past Royals in ninth

Indians 5, Royals 4

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Ryan Garko hardly had time to enjoy his game-winning hit Friday night before getting leveled by his happy roommate.

Garko singled home the winning run with one out in the ninth inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals. The next thing he knew, Garko was flat on his back, courtesy of an over-exuberant chest bump by Josh Barfield.

"I saw him running and I got scared," Garko said, good-naturedly vowing to exact some revenge. "The next time he gets a hit like that, he better have his head on a swivel."

Victor Martinez drove in two runs for Cleveland, which improved baseball's best home record to 32-12. Cleveland has won nine of its last 10 at Jacobs Field, where it plays 15 of its next 19 games.

Travis Hafner doubled with one out off Zach Greinke (4-5) in the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner Mike Rouse. Greinke then intentionally walked Jhonny Peralta, and Garko lined the first pitch to center, where David DeJesus was unable to field the ball cleanly and had no play at the plate.

Indians closer Joe Borowski (2-3) got the win despite blowing a save for the first time in 14 chances, dating to May 13. The right-hander allowed singles to Billy Butler and Esteban German in the ninth, then Tony Pena's sacrifice fly scored pinch-runner Jason Smith to tie it at 4.

But the Indians came up with their 27th comeback win, and 14th in their last at-bat.

"Once Hafner got the double, we thought, 'Here we go," Garko said.

"It comes from our manager. Eric [Wedge] has a never-say-die attitude. He will never let us quit. The first thing he said when we got back to the dugout was, 'Here we go. We're going to win this game."

The Royals, winners of nine of 13 before the All-Star break, began a nine-game trip to Cleveland, Boston and Detroit -- three clubs that began play Friday a combined 53 games over .500.

Royals manager Buddy Bell was unhappy his team didn't capitalize on early threats against Indians starter Jake Westbrook, twice hitting into inning-ending double plays.

"We refuse to be aggressive offensively," Bell said. "It's driving me crazy. We had Jake in trouble, but we let him off the hook."

The Royals took a 3-1 lead in the third on an RBI groundout by Ross Gload and Alex Gordon's run-scoring single, but Butler bounced into a double play.

Leading 4-3 in the sixth, first baseman Garko scooped out a low throw from second baseman Barfield to complete an around-the-horn double play on Jason LaRue.

Westbrook allowed three runs and five hits over six innings, but remained winless in five starts since April 27. The right-hander was on the disabled list from May 2 until June 24 with an abdominal strain and is 0-2 in four starts since being activated.

Joey Gathright grounded into a force play to put the Royals ahead 1-0 in the second, but Jason Michaels' bloop RBI single tied it in the bottom half.

Grady Sizemore doubled to lead off the Indians' third, moved up on a groundout and scored on a groundout by Martinez to pull Cleveland within 3-2.

Barfield tied it in the fourth with a bases-loaded fielder's choice, scoring Peralta, who had reached on an error by Pena at short to start the inning.

Martinez, whose two-run, pinch-hit homer Tuesday night helped the AL to a 5-4 win in the All-Star Game, put Cleveland ahead in the fifth. He fouled off five pitches in a row before lining a 3-2 offering to left-center for a single. That scored Casey Blake, who had doubled.

Royals starter Odalis Perez gave up three runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. The left-hander is 1-3 in seven starts since beating Tampa Bay on June 2.

Game notes
Hafner, signed to a four-year, $57 million contract extension Thursday, got a standing ovation his first time up. Fans in the upper deck displayed a banner reading: "Pronk 4 President, 4 More Years'. He went 1-for-4 with a walk, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. ... Peralta was 0-for-14 with five strikeouts against Perez until singling in the second inning. ... Gordon went 1-for-3 and is hitting .333 (37-for-111) in his last 29 games to raise his average from .172 to .233. ... Borowski is 25 for 28 overall in save opportunities.