Buck homers twice in Royals romp

John Buck hit two mammoth home runs, including an 8th inning grand-slam, as the Royals pounded the Indians 9-3 on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.

Buck hammered a solo shot in the fifth off of Indians starter Carl Pavano to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Buck put the game away in the 8th when he hammered a Vinny Chulk offering into the visiting bullpen to cap the five run inning.

Royals starter Kyle Davies went 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Davies ended the night with a 2.13 ERA. He exited after his 98th pitch of the game when Kelly Shoppach reached on a single to move Ben Francisco to third. Trey Hillman summoned Robinson Tejeda from the bullpen and he promptly bailed Davies out by striking out Trevor Crowe on three pitches.

Juan Cruz struck out three and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of relief. Doug Waechter finished things out with a scoreless ninth.

Kansas City broke out the bats to the tune of 11 hits. Seven of those hits went for extra bases. Mike Jacobs, Alberto Callaspo and Mike Aviles each doubled; Coco Crisp and David DeJesus each tripled; Buck added the two homers.

The Royals improved to 5-3 this season and to complete the sweep against their AL Central rivals in a 1:05 p.m. CT game on Wednesday. Sidney Ponson will square off against Aaron Laffey in that game.