Royals’ Brian Bannister back from minors, outduels Indians’ Cy Young winner Cliff Lee

Royals’ Bannister outduels Indians’ Lee

CLEVELAND — Brian Bannister and two relievers outpitched reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 2-0 Wednesday night.

Lee (1-3) allowed two runs and nine hits over eight innings, but matched his loss total of last season. A year ago, the left-hander went 5-0 against the Royals on the way to a 22-3 record and 2.54 ERA. He didn’t get his third loss until Sept. 23 at Boston.

Bannister (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday, improved to 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA in six career starts against Cleveland. The right-hander allowed four hits and walked only one against an Indians offense that came in leading the majors with 76 bases on balls in 14 games.

Cleveland had scored 53 runs in winning four its previous six games.

Jamey Wright worked two scoreless innings and Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his fifth save. Soria hadn’t worked in a game since April 13 when he saved a 4-2 win over the Indians, and was a bit rusty.

The right-hander walked Jhonny Peralta with one out and yielded a ground single to center by Shin-Soo Choo. Kelly Shoppach then lined the first pitch to the warning track in left, where David DeJesus made a stumbling catch, hanging on to the ball despite his spikes catching in the wet ground.

Both runners moved up on a passed ball by Miguel Olivo before Soria threw a called third strike on the inside corner past Trevor Crowe to end it.

Coco Crisp opened the game with a double, moved up on a flyball and scored on a sacrifice fly by DeJesus.

The Royals made it 2-0 in the seventh. Mike Jacobs singled to center with one out and went to second on Alberto Callaspo’s single to right. After Miguel Olivo popped out, Willie Bloomquist blooped a single to center to score Jacobs. Bloomquist came to the plate 3-for-22 (.136) with seven strikeouts in his career against Lee.

The Royals had a runner thrown out at the plate in the seventh. Billy Butler singled with two outs and Mark Teahen slashed a double to the gap in left-center. Shortstop Peralta took the throw from left fielder Crowe and threw a one-hopper that skidded in the wet grass, but catcher Shoppach scooped it up in plenty of time to tag Butler.

Lee struck out nine and walked one in his best outing of the season. He gave up 11 runs in his first two outings, but bounced back Thursday by allowing only one run over six innings in a 10-2 win over the Yankees in New York.

Left-hander Tony Sipp, called up from Triple-A Columbus before the game, replaced Lee to start the ninth and struck out the first batter he faced, Jacobs.