Written by Adam Burke

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The Indians had 18 at bats with a runner in scoring position and pounded out 16 hits against Royals pitching to make Sandy Alomar Jr. a winner in his managerial debut with an 8-5 victory. Seven of the nine starters had hits, six of those seven had more than one hit, and the Indians had a lot of fun in support of their new skipper.

Both David Huff and Will Smith struggled in the first inning. Huff gave up two singles, but was the benefactor of a caught stealing for the game's first out to keep the Royals off the board and get the Indians to the plate in a tie game. The Indians put together a two-out rally with a walk, a stolen base, and another walk, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Both teams would score in the second inning, with the Indians starting a string of four straight run-scoring innings.

In the top of the second, the Royals drew first blood. Salvador Perez singled to lead off the inning and went to second when Mike Moustakas singled with one out. The next batter, Adam Moore, doubled to deep left, driving in Perez and sending Moustakas to third. Huff stranded Moustakas at third by striking out Johnny Giavotella and inducing an inning-ending lineout from Jason Bourgeois.

The Indians answered immediately and then poured it on. Lonnie Chisenhall and Brent Lillibridge set the inning up with a couple of one-out singles. Ezequiel Carrera drove Chisenhall in with a RBI single. Shin-Soo Choo drove in Lillibridge with the fourth straight hit in the inning, a double off the left field wall. Cord Phelps rounded out the scoring with a RBI single to score Choo. Jason Kipnis hit into an inning-ending double play. With a 3-1 lead, the Indians added a run in the third on a Chisenhall RBI double. In the fourth and fifth, the Indians scored a couple of runs in each inning. Choo's second double drove in Carrera, making it a 5-1 game. Kipnis bounced into a fielder's choice that scored Choo to make it 6-1. Kipnis's two-run single in the fifth made it an 8-1 game.

Huff sailed along until the sixth when Billy Butler took him deep to cut the lead to 8-3. Butler is now at 29 home runs, adding to his career-high. Huff made it through the sixth, allowing three runs on eight hits, with zero walks and five strikeouts.

In the eighth, Scott Maine let the Royals get a couple of runs closer. He faced three batters, didn't record an out, and gave up two runs on a Salvador Perez single. Joe Smith entered and put out the fire.

Chris Perez entered and shut the door, picking up his 39th save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

With the win, the Indians are now 1-0 under Sandy Alomar Jr., improving to 66-91 on the season. The Royals fell to 70-87. David Huff is now 3-0 and Will Smith lost for the first time in his career against the Indians, falling to 6-9. Chris Perez picked up his 39th save.

Stat of the Night: Jason Kipnis now has 11 RBI in 15 games against the Royals this season.

Player of the Game: The 7-8-9 hitters, Lonnie Chisenhall, Brent Lillibridge, Ezequiel Carrera, went 8-for-12 with six runs scored.

Tomorrow's Game: The Indians will try to stay perfect under Alomar, with a 7:05 pitching matchup between Jeanmar Gomez and Jake Odorizzi.