Indians rally to 8-5 win over Royals

Franklin Gutierrez put the Indians ahead with a home run and kept them there with a fine catch. It was the kind of game everybody has been waiting to see from the outfielder, who helped the Indians to an 8-5 comeback win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. Gutierrez has the tools to be a star. In his eagerness to help the club, he somewhere misplaced his skills and his confidence.

"This is a good game for me," Gutierrez said after hitting a three-run homer in the eighth inning and making a diving catch to end the game in the ninth.

"I've been making adjustments and playing with more confidence. It is the power of positive thinking."

Gutierrez predicted his catch to himself.

"I was thinking after I hit the home run, 'What if I finish the game with a great catch?' And I did."

Gutierrez ran towards the right-field foul line to rob Alex Gordon of a possible extra-base hit. It gave Jensen Lewis his fourth save.

"Franklin got a huge hit and catch, too," Lewis said.

Lewis believes he is pitching better now in the closer's role because of lessons he learned in failure a few times in middle relief earlier this year.

"It definitely ate at me," he said of giving up runs earlier in the year. "I've learned from it.

"I don't know if you ever get into a comfort zone, but I have learned that you must have a short memory. I think I'm doing better."

The Indians' first four hits were all homers.

Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run shot off Royals starter Gil Meche to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the first inning. Kelly Shoppach made it 3-1 in the second.

Meche retired the next 17 batters he faced after Shoppach's homer. He was replaced and Cleveland sent 10 men to bat and scored five times in the eighth against Ramon Ramirez and closer Joakim Soria.

Shoppach got it started by homering on Ramirez's second pitch. It was his 14th homer of the year. Gutierrez's three-run shot, his seventh, made it 7-5. Ryan Garko added an RBI single.

Zach Jackson allowed five runs (four earned) over seven innings in his second start for the Indians. He hit Mitch Maier in the face with a pitch in the fifth -- then yielded a three-run double to Mike Aviles on the next pitch.

"I think Zach threw better this time out," manager Eric Wedge said. "This was a good team win.

"Franklin's had some big hits lately and not many are bigger than that. He really stepped up."