Billy Butler's single broke a tie game and keyed Kansas City's four-run seventh inning, leading the Royals to a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Indians and C.C. Sabathia on Saturday night.
Sabathia (1-5) took a shutout into the seventh before the Royals strung together six hits against the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner and three relievers.
Luke Hochevar (2-1) held the Indians to two runs and three hits in six innings. Joakim Soria, the Royals' fourth pitcher, pitched the ninth for the save. The right-hander has converted all seven of his save chances and hasn't allowed a run in 12 innings.
Sabathia had allowed one earned run in his last 20 innings through the sixth, but retired only one of the five hitters he faced in the seventh as the Royals sent nine men to the plate.
John Buck started the inning with a double and took third on Tony Pena Jr.'s bunt hit. David DeJesus' single scored Buck. After a sacrifice, Alex Gordon's single scored Pena and tied the game. Right fielder Franklin Gutierrez tried for a sliding catch, but the ball hit his glove and fell to the ground for a hit.
Masa Kobayashi replaced Sabathia and retired Jose Guillen on a fly ball to shallow right, but Butler's single up the middle on a 2-2 pitch scored the go-ahead run. Mark Teahan's single off Rafael Perez added another.
Through his first four starts, Sabathia, a free agent after the season, was 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA. He pitched six shutout innings against the Royals on April 22 innings and allowed one run in eight innings against the Yankees five days later.
The anemic Indians offense, which has scored three runs or less in 16 of its 30 games, continued to struggle. Hochevar didn't allow a hit until David Dellucci led off the fourth with a single. Victor Martinez's single to right put runners on first and third. Dellucci scored on a wild pitch, which was ball four to Travis Hafner.
Grady Sizemore hit a solo homer for the Indians in the fifth.
Martinez, the league's leading hitter, extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
The game was delayed at the start for 1 hour and 16 minutes because of rain. Friday night's game never started due to rain.
Notes:@ LHP Cliff Lee was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for April. He's 5-0 with a major league best 0.96 earned run average in five starts. ... Manager Eric Wedge said RHP Joe Borowski (strained triceps) will return to the closer's role when he comes off the disabled list. Borowski is scheduled to throw off the mound next week. ... LHP John Bale (shoulder tightness) is scheduled to throw live batting practice Monday. Bale, who has made three starts, will pitch in the bullpen when he returns. ... Friday night's rainout marked the second time this season a scheduled start for Hochevar was postponed. The right-hander had nine starts in the minors last season postponed by bad weather.
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