Indians’ Kipnis has hope for swing

many, maybe Kipnis has found something. In Sunday's 12-5 win over the Royals, he went 4 for 5 with an inside-the-park home run and four RBI.

Those are certainly good numbers, but his day did not start well. In the second inning, he sent a liner to center field that Brett Phillips tried to catch with a dive. He didn't catch it, but the umpires were late making the call and Melky Cabrera, who was on first, was forced at second, leaving Kipnis with a fielder's choice.

Kipnis, in a yearlong funk, went back to the dugout at the end of the inning and told him teammates, "Even my hits aren't hits."

But then things quickly changed. He gave the Indians a 2- 1 lead in the fourth with a single. He singled again in the sixth, doubled home a run in the seventh and circled the bases in the ninth on a tworun, inside- the- park homer that eluded Alex Gordon, bounced off the top of the right field fence and landed in right center field for the 100th homer of his career.

"I kind of watched a lot of 2016 and just where my hands were and tried to get that feeling back," Kipnis said. "I was in my bedroom with a magazine rolled up as a bat like ( Roger) Maris in ' 61 or something like that. But, I was excited coming in today because I thought I found something.

"So, I came in with better spirits and saying this was a new day and let's see how it goes from here on out. To have it start off like this, it's reassuring, it's fun, it gives me a little bit of a breath of fresh air. I'm excited for where it goes from here."