Indians off to sizzling start

Cleveland ties mark with 16 April wins

Shin-Soo Choo connects for a home run in the first inning. Carlos Santana followed with his own blast.

CLEVELAND -- The surprising Cleveland Indians will get two chances to set the franchise record for wins in April.

The way they've been playing at home, it may take only one.

Fausto Carmona pitched seven solid innings Thursday night, and the Indians belted four solo homers in an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals -- the 10th straight home win for Cleveland.

The Indians (16-8) opened a 4 1/2-game lead over the Royals and Tigers in the AL Central, heading into Friday night's series opener against Detroit. The Indians' 16 wins in April ties the club record set in 1988, 1996, and 1999.

"I'm proud of these guys," manager Manny Acta said. "This was a very good series. We did just about everything. We swung the bat very well tonight, hit some balls loud, square."

Carmona (2-3) was coming off a 10-3 loss Saturday in Minnesota and rebounded by throwing 60 of 86 pitches for strikes, walking two, and allowing five hits and two runs.

It helped that his offense staked him to an 8-0 lead.

"This is a lot of fun," Carmona said. "It helps to have my teammates hitting."

Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana connected for consecutive homers with two outs in the first inning off Kyle Davies (1-3). Grady Sizemore opened the third with his fourth homer and Shelley Duncan, a late lineup addition when DH Travis Hafner was scratched with an inflamed right ankle, began the fourth with his first of the year to make it 4-0.

That made it 17 homers allowed by Kansas City during its six-game losing streak.

"We've seen a bunch of them," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It hasn't been a fun week -- [hopefully] we can get home and start something."

The Royals have dropped nine of 11 and open a nine-game homestand Friday night against Minnesota, after going 0-6 on a trip to Texas and Cleveland in which they were outscored 46-22.

"I got my butt kicked by a good team who's hot," Davies said. "There's no excuses. I have to get more swings and misses. I couldn't stop it."

Jeff Francoeur stretched his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games for Kansas City. He doubled in the seventh, and Wilson Betemit followed with a two-run double to make it 8-2.

Until then, Carmona was in trouble only once.

Matt Treanor blooped a one-out single to right for the Royals' first hit in the third inning. He went to third on a double down the third-base line by Alcides Escobar.

Carmona then got leadoff man Jarrod Dyson to ground to first baseman MattLaPorta, who threw home. Santana ran Treanor back toward third base and applied the tag as Escobar took third and Dyson second. Carmona then struck out Melky Cabrera.

"He threw 21 of 27 first-pitch strikes and could have finished the game," Acta said. "We didn't need to squeeze every inning out of him."

Jack Hannahan had a two-run double in the Indians' fourth and scored on a double by Sizemore. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with another RBI double for an 8-0 lead.

NOTES: Cleveland put RHP Carlos Carrasco on the 15-day DL with an inflamed right elbow and recalled RHP Frank Herrmann from Triple-A Columbus. RHP Alex White will be called up Saturday to make his major league debut. White was a first-round draft pick in 2009. ... Hafner will have an MRI exam on his ankle.