KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Luis Mendoza felt terrible for much of the week, then quickly got into trouble when he returned to the mound Friday night. Once he wiggled out of that first-inning jam, it was mostly smooth sailing from there. Mendoza pitched into the seventh in his first start since a bout with strep throat, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 victory over the struggling Cleveland Indians. Mike Moustakas and Brayan Pena each drove in two runs for the Royals, who have won three straight and four of six. Mendoza (8-9) allowed two runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. The Indians have lost 40 of 52 games since July 26 when they were 50-49 and trailed AL Central-leading White Sox by 3 1/2 games. They have lost six straight against Kansas City and eight of nine overall in the season series. Mendoza (8-9), who was scratched from a Wednesday start with the illness, got off to shaky start. Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Kipnis singled with no outs in the first and moved up on Asdrubal Cabreras sacrifice. Mendoza then struck out Carlos Santana and issued an intentional walk to Michael Brantley before Travis Hafner grounded out to end the inning. "He did a great job of getting out of it," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Striking out Santana was a huge out and he ended up getting out of it." Mendoza was sick for much of the week. "On Monday, I felt terrible, all my body hurt," he said. "I just came to the field and tried to get something to feel better. Tuesday I came in early, I started feeling better. Tonight, I felt good, felt 100 per cent." Kansas City pushed across two runs in the second on RBI singles by Pena and Irving Falu. Moustakas tacked on a sacrifice fly in the third and a run-scoring groundout in the fifth. Mendoza departed after Ezequiel Carrera led off the seventh with a bunt single. Tim Collins hit Choo with a pitch and yielded a two-out, two-run single to Santana. Kansas City responded with two runs in the eighth to make it 6-3. Eric Hosmer, who had the winning RBI single in Thursdays victory over Chicago, hit a sacrifice fly and Pena doubled in Jeff Francoeur. Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 15th save in 18 opportunities. "The eighth inning was big after it got back to a one-run lead, to get two more runs and get Holland some breathing room," Yost said. "He came in for the third night in a row and was fantastic." Mendoza earned his first victory since Aug. 11. He was 0-1 with four no-decisions since his previous win. "Offensively, we continue to struggle, especially with situational hitting," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "The first inning we had a situation where we could just take the lead, and who knows what would happen after that. But, we failed to drive in a run with a runner on third and the infield back." Justin Masterson (11-15) lost his third straight start. He was charged with four runs and seven hits in six innings. Brantley singled home Cabrera in the third inning for Clevelands first run. NOTES: Royals C Salvador Perez and LF Alex Gordon were held out of the lineup with bruised hands. Manager Ned Yost said Perez has been battling sore hands for a week and likely would not play in the weekend series against the Indians. Gordon bruised his hand while sliding into home in the sixth inning Thursday. Gordon did come in as a defensive replacement in the eighth. Yost said Gordon probably would start Saturday. .. Indians RHP Ubaldo Jimenez, who has lost five straight decisions, will start Saturday. The Royals will counter with rookie LHP Will Smith. ... George Toma, who was the Royals groundskeeper from their inaugural season until 1995, was inducted into the clubs Hall of Fame before the game. Toma becomes the 25th member of the Royals hall. Cheap Jerseys China . Quesne finished with four straight birdies to lead at 9 under. Danny Willett of England shot a second straight 67 to trail the leader. Fog delayed the start at the Crans-sur-Sierre club, and poor visibility ended play with two groups still to finish their rounds. nfl jerseys china . The way the Los Angeles Lakers are playing lately, Bryant has reason to hope hell spend less time cramming boxscores and more time riding the pine. Howard had 21 points and 14 rebounds, Bryant scored 27 points and the Lakers never trailed in their sixth win in seven games, 104-87 over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. http://www.cheapjerseyschina.cc/ . Villaneuva, who is 1-5 over his last eight starts, matched up against Buchholz on Sept. 9 at Fenway Park and pitched six innings in a no-decision. Hes 2-1 in eight games (3 starts) against Boston. cheap nfl jerseys . The Atlanta Braves called it frustrating. Stults combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, Chase Headley homered and drove in two runs and the Padres beat Atlanta 4-1 on Monday night. wholesale jerseys . The CFLs Scouting Bureau published its initial Top 15 list of the season on Wednesday. Charles heads a group of eight CIS players to make the cut, including four of the top five prospects. ATLANTA -- Adam Jones had a one-word description of the Orioles second straight shutout win: "Chen-sational." Wei-Yin Chen combined with four relievers on a seven-hitter and Baltimore continued its success in interleague play by beating the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Sunday. The Braves, who have lost six of seven, were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since June 5-6, 2009. Jason Hammel threw a one-hitter in a 5-0 victory for the Orioles on Saturday night. Jones said Hammel and Chen dominated by staying ahead in the count. "Its been pretty fun to watch from centre field," Jones said. "The important part of it is they always started with strike one. Theyve been able to do what they want because theyve been ahead in counts." The Orioles, who remained 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East, have won seven of eight. They are 9-3 in interleague play with series wins over Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Chen (7-2) gave up six hits and one walk in seven innings to outpitch Randall Delgado (4-7), who allowed only two runs and three hits in eight innings. Orioles manager Buck Showalter applauded Chens ability to successfully bunt and field bunts -- no small feat for an American League pitcher from Taiwan. Chens sacrifice helped the Orioles score a run in the sixth. "Its something you work on in spring training and it could be a difference-maker in the game, and I think it was today," Showalter said. Chen fielded a poor bunt by Delgado in the third to start a double play that helped spoil a scoring opportunity for Atlanta. "Im sure they were rolling their eyes in spring training as we were going over and over bunt defence, being an American League East team," Showalter said. "It was nice that it helped us and made a difference." Still, Chen is no fan of interleague play. "Not really, because I hate hitting," he said through a translator. Jim Johnson pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save. Darren ODay, Troy Patton and Pedro Strop combined for a scoreless eighth. Delgados eight innings matched his longest start. He walked one batter and struck out six. Jones led off the second with a ground-rule double to right field. After moving to third on Wilson Betemits fly ball, Jones scored on Mark Reynolds sacrifice fly. "They did a good job of executing small ball," Braves catcher David Ross said. "They played the game the way its supposed to be played." A misplay by Matt Diaz helped Baltimore stretch the lead in the sixth. Diaz ran in before stopping too late and watching a line drive by Steve Pearce sail over his head for a double to the left-field wall. Pearce advanceed on the sacrifice by Chen and scored when Delgado balked with Robert Andino at the plate.dddddddddddd Delgado balked as he tried to move from the stretch to a full windup. "You just have to do that step-off, but I didnt," he said. The Braves lost two of three to the Orioles after being swept in three games by the Yankees. One day after being shut out by Hammel, the Braves sputtered again as they hit into double plays in each of the first three innings. "We played well, same as we did in the Yankees series, but weve got nothing to show for it," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We outhit them (7-4) again today and got nothing to show for it." Showalter said the Orioles "got some breaks here" by facing the Braves when first baseman Freddie Freeman missed the series with a sore finger. "The only thing we need to avoid is pressing," said Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who was 0 for 3 with a walk. "Youd still like to think you can go out there and score three runs no matter whos in the ballgame." Ross and Andrelton Simmons led off the third with singles before Delgado bounced a bunt too hard toward Chen, who threw to third to start a double play. Simmons advanced to third on a throwing error by Andino at second base, but Michael Bourn ended the inning on a groundout. The third was the only inning in which the Braves managed more than one hit. Showalter said he was impressed by the play of Simmons, the rookie shortstop who in the third inning made a tough grab of a sharply hit grounder by Jones and bounced up to make a strong throw to first to end the inning. Atlantas Eric OFlaherty, who had been out with a sore left elbow, got one out in the ninth in his first appearance since June 8. NOTES: The Braves placed RHP Brandon Beachy on the 15-day disabled list and recalled RHP Todd Redmond from Triple-A Gwinnett. Beachy will have an MRI on Monday. ... Freeman said the swollen knuckle on his left index finger has improved "a lot" after he received two cortisone shots Saturday. He missed his fourth straight start. ... Andino started in place of 2B Brian Roberts, who was given a day off. Showalter said it was "prudent" to be careful with Roberts, who returned Tuesday from the 60-day DL (concussion). ... The Brewers shut out the Braves in two straight games in Atlanta from June 5-6, 2009. ... Delgado also lasted eight innings on May 3, giving up two runs in a loss to Philadelphia. ... The Orioles open a three-game series at the Mets on Monday night, with RHP Jake Arrieta facing R.A. Dickey. The Braves also head to New York to face the Yankees, who swept three games in Atlanta last week. Mike Minor will face CC Sabathia. cheap jerseys from china ' ' '