Reyes hits three-run homer, Tribe defeats Royals

Franmil Reyes had his biggest hit with the Indians.

Yet Reyes and his teammates weren’t in the mood to celebrate the victory over Kansas City on Aug. 24 because it might have come with a significant loss.

Reyes hit a three-run homer that helped Cleveland to a 4-2 victory over the Royals in a game in which Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez left early with a right wrist injury.

Ramirez, a two-time AllStar, exited in the first inning after fouling off a pitch and underwent an MRI to determine the severity of his condition. The Indians initially termed it “discomfort” and will update his status Aug. 25.

“We’re really sad because Jose is a happy guy and you guys know that we definitely need him,” said Reyes, who hit 27 of his 30 homers with San Diego before being acquired in a July 31 trade.

“We need his defense, we need his offense, and he’s a great guy. It seemed like he was in a lot of pain. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I hope everything is good.”

Cleveland manager Terry Francona said Ramirez has been dealing with a sore wrist, but the injury occurred in a different area of the joint. The 26-year-old was not wearing a protective brace in the clubhouse and did not speak with the media.

“We took him over to get imaged and we want everybody to see (the results), just to make sure that we get the proper read on it,” Francona said. “We don’t know a ton yet.”

Ramirez is batting .254 with 20 homers and 75 RBI in 126 games. Utilityman Mike Freeman replaced him and had two hits and an RBI, while infielder Yu Chang was pulled from the lineup at Triple-A Columbus in preparation for a call-up.

“To be honest, I was a little panicked when it happened,” Freeman said. “You certainly never want to see a guy like Jose get hurt under any circumstances.”

With the win, the Indians moved ahead of Tampa Bay into one of the two AL wildcard spots.

Mike Clevinger (9-2) struck out eight and allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings, improving to 4-0 at home this year. The righthander is 9-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 14 career outings against the Royals. Brad Hand worked a scoreless ninth for his 31st save. It was his second save in as many nights after three straight blown saves. Royals right-hander Glenn Sparkman (3-9) gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings, extending his winless streak to seven starts. Kansas City is a seasonhigh 40 games under .500.