Jason Kipnis hit an inside-the-park home run and drove in four runs as the Cleveland Indians defeated the host Kansas City Royals 12-5 Sunday afternoon.

Kipnis lined a shot off the top of the wall in the right field corner in the top of the ninth inning as outfielder Alex Gordon crashed into the fence and then tumbled to the warning track. The ball bounced toward center field, allowing Kipnis to score standing up.

Edwin Encarnacion added a two-run homer for the American League Central-leading Indians, who snapped a four-game losing streak and avoided a three-game sweep against the last-place team in the division.

Cleveland rookie right-hander Shane Bieber (8-2) pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven.

The Indians' Nos. 6-7 batters did most of the damage. Melky Cabrera went 2-for-2 and scored four times. Kipnis was 4-for-5 with three runs, a double and the two-run homer, his 12th of the season.

Trailing 1-0, the Indians scored five times in the top of the fourth. With one out, Encarnacion walked and Yonder Alonso doubled to right field. Cabrera grounded a run-scoring single into right. Kipnis then grounded a run-scoring single to center to give Cleveland the lead. After a walk to Roberto Perez loaded the bases, No. 9 hitter Greg Allen lined a double to left for a 4-1 advantage. The final run in the inning came on a wild pitch.

Four of the Royals' five runs came via homers.

Whit Merrifield led off the bottom of the first by going deep to center field, his 10th. Salvador Perez led off the fourth with a shot to left-center field, his 23rd, and Lucas Duda hit a two-run shot to right-center in the sixth, his 13th, pulling the Royals within 7-4 and ending Bieber's afternoon.

A run-scoring double by Kipnis in the seventh made it 8-4, and Encarnacion hit a two-run shot, his 28th, to left-center in the eighth.

The Royals scored their final run in the eighth as Merrifield led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Duda, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Royals rookie right-hander Jorge Lopez allowed five runs on five hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out four.

--Field Level Media