CLEVELAND - One bad inning started the Kansas City Royals on a downward spiral Monday.
A season-high three errors didn't help.
The result was an 8-5 loss to Cleveland as the Royals couldn't pull off a third straight win after taking the final two games in Baltimore.
"I felt like our offense was battling back all day long," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It was one of those games we couldn't keep them from scoring."
Starter Nate Adcock (0-3) allowed five runs in the third that began with Kansas City holding a 2-0 lead. He didn't get through the inning and was optioned to Triple-A Omaha following the game.
Errors by third baseman Mike Moustakas, second baseman Irving Falu and pitcher Jose Mijares further hurt the cause as did a blown call by second base umpire Dan Bellino that continued Cleveland's big inning.
Eric Hosmer and Brayan Pena homered, but that wasn't enough to prevent the Royals' eighth loss in 12 games.
Adcock breezed through the first two innings, giving up a walk and throwing 22 pitches, but the right-hander stumbled in the third.
Lonnie Chisenhall, batting for the first time since being called up from Triple-A Columbus before the game, homered to right on a 1-1 pitch. After Luke Carlin singled to center, Juan Diaz flied out to left, but that was the last hitter Adcock retired.
A single by Shin-Soo Choo and a walk to Michael Brantley loaded the bases. Jason Kipnis worked the count to 3-2 before fouling off three pitches. Kipins hit a hard grounder into center field on the ninth pitch of the at-bat to score two more runs and move Brantley to third.
Moustakas fielded Jose Lopez's high chopper that scored Brantley. Moustakas had no play at first, but ran directly at Kipnis, who rounded too far around the second base bag. While it looked like Moustakas clearly made the tag, Bellino ruled he didn't and Kipins took third. Moustakas was charged with an error.
Yost raced from the dugout to argue with Bellino. The four umpires met to discuss the situation, but didn't change the call and a dissatisfied Yost went back to the dugout.
Moustakas was certain he tagged Kipnis.
"(Bellino) might have been in a bad spot," Moustakas said. "He couldn't see anything. I didn't give him a chance to say anything to me. I was kind of fired up. That was something we needed right there. He ends up scoring. We can't have that."
Adcock's day ended when Casey Kotchman slapped a single past Moutsakas to score Kipnis with the fifth run of the inning.
The error made one of the runs unearned. Adcock allowed six hits, walked two and didn't strike out a batter in 21â„3 innings.
Adcock, making his second start, was trying to plug a hole in the Royals' injury-plagued rotation. Jonathan Sanchez, Danny Duffy and Everett Teaford are on the disabled list. Adcock held Arizona to one run in five innings April 20, but got the loss.
Vin Mazzaro will be recalled up from Omaha to pitch in long relief. The Royals are off Thursday and won't need a fifth starter until early June.
Hosmer put the Royals ahead 2-0 in the second by hitting his sixth homer off Josh Tomlin (2-2). Jeff Francoeur drew an 11-pitch walk with one out before Hosmer connected on the first pitch for his first homer since April 25, which also came at Progressive Field off Ubaldo Jimenez, a span of 104 at-bats.
"The game plan was to get aggressive and jump on him," Hosmer said. "Tomlin is going to throw a lot of strikes. I put a good swing on it."
Francoeur went 1-for-3 with a walk. He is 16-for-32 over his past eight games.
Pena's first homer, starting the fifth, closed Kansas City to 5-3. It was his first home run since May 29, 2011, at Texas, snapping a streak of 223 homerless at-bats.
Jarrod Dyson, returning to the lineup after missing Sunday's game with a bruised hamstring, followed with a triple into the right-field corner and scored when Kipnis' relay throw from second bounced into the stands for an error.
Lopez's RBI single off the left-field wall made it 6-4 in the bottom half. He was thrown out by left fielder Alex Gordon trying to stretch it to a double.
Dyson's speed helped the Royals again the seventh. He walked, stole second and scored on a single to right by Alcides Escobar to make it 6-5.
Michael Brantley and Lopez had RBI in the bottom half to make it 8-5.
Lopez had three RBI and Kipnis drove in two runs. Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his 17th save as the Indians rebounded from being swept in three games in Chicago.
"Nothing against the Royals, but we wanted this game," Kipnis said. "We knew we had to bounce back."
Notes: Hosmer has 25 career home runs, 20 coming on the road. ... LHP Will Smith (0-1) will make his second major league start today for the Royals. He allowed five runs in 31â„3 innings in his debut against the Yankees, including a pair of homers by Alex Rodriguez. RHP Justin Masterson starts for the Indians. ... Teaford, out with a lower abdominal strain, threw a pregame bullpen session.