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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The hallmark of a good team, at least in Royals manager Ned Yosts opinion, is the ability to wedge open the smallest of openings that an opponent provides. His club sure did that against Cleveland on Wednesday. The Royals scored all their runs by tying a franchise record with four sacrifice flies, and Yordano Ventura dominated the Indians over seven stingy innings in a 4-1 victory. "Its finding a way to win a ballgame thats important," said Yost, whose team has won four straight. "Good teams find ways to score those runs, and we did it four times today." In doing so, the Royals became only the second team to score four runs all on sacrifice flies since it became an official stat in 1954. The Expos managed to do it against the Cubs on May 28, 1980, according to STATS, although that happened in an 8-4, 14-inning loss. "See?" Yost said. "We made history." Ventura (4-5) allowed six hits while striking out three without a walk to win back-to-back starts for the first time. The only run he allowed came in the sixth, when he gave up consecutive singles to start the inning and Carlos Santana hit an RBI single. By then, Indians counterpart Trevor Bauer (1-3) had already allowed sacrifice flies to Jarrod Dyson, Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar. Billy Butler added another sacrifice fly off reliever John Axford in the seventh to complete the scoring. "Usually Im able to strike out guys in situations like that," Bauer said. "I made a couple of good pitches today, but they fouled them off and put them in play. So it is unusual." The Indians loaded the bases off Wade Davis with nobody out in the eighth, but two strikeouts and a groundout ended the threat. Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his 19th save. The Royals (33-32) moved over .500 for the first time since May 18. They also jumped over Cleveland into second place in the AL Central as they embark on a trip that begins with the White Sox and concludes with the division-leading Detroit. Lonnie Chisenhall had a pair of hits for Cleveland, extending his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. Hes had at least two hits in his last five. Prior to the game, Indians manager Terry Francona recalled with disdain the last time his club faced Ventura -- the young flamethrowers debut last September. Ventura allowed one run over 5 2-3 innings, and at one point threw a pitch to Yan Gomes clocked at 102 mph. "Hes got pretty special stuff," Francona said. "Kind of hope we dont see that today." Turns out he did. Ventura kept the ball down in the strike zone and forced the Indians to chop into a series of groundouts. He retired seven straight batters at one point, never allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield. "I went out there with the mentality to throw a lot of strike," Ventura said through a translator. "Something good was going to happen if I threw a lot of strikes." Nobody was more frustrated than Jason Giambi. With the Royals shifting their infield, the Indians DH grounded out to the exact same spot three straight times before popping out. "Hes got great stuff," Giambi said. "When he locates like he did today, hes tough. He really is. Hes got good mound presence and attacks the strike zone." The Royals scored their first run when Dyson followed a double by Mike Moustakas and a single by Escobar with a sacrifice fly in the third. Nori Aoki followed with a single, and Infante hit his sacrifice fly to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Escobars sacrifice fly came after a double by Salvador Perez and a single by Moustakas in the fourth, and Butler added his sacrifice fly after singles by Infante and Eric Hosmer. That was enough to beat Bauer, who has still never won in seven road outings. The Indians starter allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. "That type of energy and intensity we played with today, thats the way we need to play," Butler said. "Bauer was pitching really well. Every opportunity we had we capitalized on." NOTES: Escobar has hit in 10 straight games. ... Indians OF/1B Nick Swisher (left knee) planned to make a final rehab start Wednesday for Double-A Akron before joining the team Thursday in Boston. Asked if Swisher would be activated immediately, Francona said, "Well see." Cheap Nike Air Force 1 From China . Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. Wholesale Nike Air Force 1 Online . Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. http://www.airforce1wholesale.com/ . "Weve given ourselves now a tougher task," said Carlyle after the Friday practice, the Toronto head coach notably chipper and upbeat throughout. "But the bottom line is we just have to win our share of games [and] not worry about what anybody else is doing. Wholesale Nike Air Force 1 For Sale . -- Josh MacDonalds second goal of the game kept his team alive as the Peterborough Petes edged the host Kingston Frontencas 6-5 in overtime on Friday in Ontario Hockey League playoff action. Cheap Nike Air Force 1 . Venus Williams advanced to the ASB Classic final in Auckland on a walkover when fellow American Jamie Hampton withdrew from their semifinal Friday with a right hip injury.CHICAGO – Less than three hours before first pitch, holding court with the media in his cramped office at U.S. Cellular Field, manager John Gibbons reclined in his office chair, picked up his lineup card and smirked. "Looks much better, dont it? Looks much better." Edwin Encarnacion was back after a 33-game absence with a strained right quadriceps. His return came two games and three days after Adam Linds, who missed 28 games with a fractured right foot. Now is the time. Now is the time for the Blue Jays to emerge from a funk which has seen the club go 3-9, scoring only 30 runs in the clubs first 12 games of August. The bodies you see are the bodies they will have the rest of the way, barring injury. There will be additions, if not a waiver claim or an unforeseen trade, come September 1 when the rosters expand to as many as 40 players. Ryan Goins, optioned out when Lind returned and Anthony Gose, whos Buffalo bound to make room for Encarnacion, will certainly be back. There will be others, too, including possibly left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Norris, whos climbed each step of the ladder and is throwing lights-out baseball with the Bisons. The key is Encarnacion. That he missed one day short of six weeks and still sits tied for seventh in baseballs home run race, with 26 and having only just been passed by the Cubs Anthony Rizzo and the Angels Mike Trout, is an indication of the season hes having. So are his career highs in OPS (.959) and OPS+ (162). The slugger hit a first-pitch grand slam in his first at-bat for Buffalo on Wednesday night. "I was surprised the way I was seeing the pitches, Ive been seeing the pitches good in the four games in the Minor Leagues," said Encarnacion. "I was thinking it was going to be different with my timing and I saw the ball good right now and my timing is good. Well see now, here." Encarnacion started Friday nights game as the designated hitter. He said hes ready to play first base. Im almost 100 per cent. Im just going to take a couple of more days to be 100 per cent but Im ready to play," he said. "I dont feel any pain right now, I played four games down there and I feel great, no problem." "Hell have to play a litttle bit of first base, but when hes running hell be guarded a little bit," said Gibbons.dddddddddddd "Cant do anything stupid." The Jays entered Fridays play three games back of Seattle and Detroit for the American Leagues second wild card spot. Toronto must sweep the White Sox in order to avoid losing ground on any individual day this weekend because the Mariners are visiting the Tigers. "Weve got a chance," said Lind. "Were definitely good enough to be in the playoffs, but that doesnt mean anything, youve got to go out and win games." Lind, who along with Casey Janssen has been a Blue Jay since 2006, was asked why he thought this team could give him his first crack at playoff ball. "We were in first place for a couple of months," said Lind. "Some things fell apart but thats going to happen over the course of a season this long but were solid everywhere. Good staff, good bullpen, good lineup. We dont really have a great piece to anything but were solid across the board. Usually when that happens youre good enough to make the playoffs." The decision to send out Gose is three-fold: first, hes gone to Buffalo on option, which means he can be recalled in 10 days. Hes an outfielder and after Ryan Goins was sent out, the Jays had Gose and Reimold and only one backup infielder. Also, if one considered struggling Juan Francisco a candidate to be sent out, hed first have to clear irrevocable waivers. By keeping him on the 40-man roster, the Jays assure a full allotment of inventory come September 1. Gibbons acknowledged the threat of Franciscos power coming off the bench is worth it to keep him in the fold. "I will say the last couple weeks hes had his struggles," said Gibbons. "But hes also thrown some decent at-bats together. We need him to get going, too, theres no question about that. (With EE & Lind coming back) we can slide him down a little bit and hope he catches a few of em." If the Blue Jays are to be playing meaningful games in a month, they must salvage this road trip in its final two legs, Chicago and Milwaukee. As far as the lineup goes, what you see is what you get from here on out. Youre about to find out if its good enough. ' ' '