Sandy's dandy: Sandy Alomar Jr. wins managerial debut for Indians, 8-5 over Royals

Kansas City Royals shortstop Tony Abreu (34) and second baseman Johnny Giavotella (9) plead for an out after Cleveland Indians' Ezequiel Carrera dived back into second on a line out Friday in Cleveland. Carrera was ruled safe.

CLEVELAND — Sandy Alomar Jr. won his first game as Indians manager as Jason Kipnis drove in three runs and Cleveland beat Kansas City 8-5 on Friday night, handing the Royals their sixth straight loss.

Alomar, one of the most popular players in franchise history, went from bench coach to interim manager when Manny Acta was fired Thursday.

David Huff (3-0) gave up three runs over six innings as Cleveland got its first three-game winning streak since July 3-5. Chris Perez closed Cleveland's fourth win in five games for his 39th save in 43 chances.

Cleveland had 16 hits, including a string of five straight with one out to score three runs off Will Smith (6-9) in the second inning.

Cleveland was 3½ games out of first place in the AL Central on July 26, but its playoff hopes quickly evaporated as the team lost 11 straight and 28 of 33. That led to Acta's demise.

Alomar said in his first pregame meeting with the media as manager that he doesn't intend any drastic moves over the final six games. The former All-Star catcher said the Indians have the talent to contend, but players must stay focused. He insisted the team did not quit on Acta and thanked the former manager for adding him to the staff three years ago and giving him the opportunity to grow.

General manager Chris Antonetti said Alomar and former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who spent 2001 as an Indians front office assistant, top the list of candidates for the full-time job.

Lonnie Chisenhall, Cord Phelps and Ezequiel Carrera all had three hits for Cleveland.

Alex Gordon had three hits for Kansas City, which took a 1-0 lead on Adam Moore's RBI double in the second.

Cleveland made it 3-1 in the bottom half. Carrera had an RBI single and Shin-Soo Choo followed with a run-scoring double high off the wall in left. Cord Phelps then singled home Carrera before Smith got Kipnis to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Chisenhall had an RBI double in the third and Choo doubled in a run in the fourth, later scoring on a groundout by Kipnis.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas made his fourth error in two games, misplaying an easy grounder by Russ Canzler in the fourth. On Thursday, he had three errors against Detroit including two on one play, ending his 47-game errorless streak.

Cleveland loaded the bases on three straight singles in the fifth, the final one coming when reliever Everett Teaford fell down after fielding a bunt by Carrera. Kipnis' two-out single scored two runs for an 8-1 lead.

Billy Butler hit a two-run homer, his 29th, in the sixth. Salvador Perez's two-run single off reliever Scott Maine got the Royals within 8-5 in the eighth.

Huff didn't issue a walk and struck out five in his strongest outing since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Sept. 4.

Smith gave up five runs and nine hits over three-plus innings. The rookie left-hander gave up two runs over seven innings in a 5-3 win over the Indians on Saturday and earned his first career win against them on May 29 in Cleveland.

NOTES: Alomar is the 41st manager in Cleveland history. ... Kansas City leads the season series 9-7. The Royals had won nine of the previous 11 after going 0-4 in April during a 12-game losing streak overall. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer and SS Alcides Escobar sat out with shoulder injuries sustained Thursday against Detroit. Hosmer underwent an MRI on Friday. Manager Ned Yost said results weren't available before the game, but the team didn't think there was anything seriously wrong. ... Butler, usually the DH, played first base. ... Former Indians INF Alvaro Espinoza threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ...