CLEVELAND -- Brad Hand could only remain perfect for so long.

The Indians' closer entered Tuesday night 22-for-22 in save opportunities on the season before blowing a three-run lead in the ninth inning in the Tribe’s 8-6 loss to the Royals at Progressive Field.

“I think he just proved he’s human,” manager Terry Francona said. “He had been pretty much flawless. It hurts to lose a game, but to expect somebody to never give up runs is not realistic.”

Through his first 35 appearances this season, Hand had allowed just four runs and one homer. But in his 36th game, he gave up a run on an infield single to second before Hunter Dozier took the left-hander deep to left-center field for his first career grand slam. Hand walked off the mound without recording an out, having given up five runs on five hits, as his season ERA jumped from 1.05 to 2.36.

“I mean, I got ahead and was just trying to bury a few sliders, and left them up,” Hand said. “Sometimes when you throw too many strikes, it comes back to hurt you. But just got ahead of a few of those batters and made some mistakes.”

Hand had given up one or fewer hits in 25 consecutive appearances from April 15 through June 20. The Indians entered Tuesday’s loss owning the best bullpen ERA in the Majors (3.21) and Hand has played an enormous role in the group’s success. But he has pitched in five of the Tribe’s last six games and he hasn’t looked as sharp as he had been previously, although prior to Tuesday, Hand was still able to walk away from each outing unscathed. Was Hand overused? Both he and Francona didn’t think so.

“No, I mean I felt physically good,” Hand said. “I’d let them know if something felt tired or whatever. But felt good. Just didn’t make some pitches.”

“He was throwing 94 [mph],” Francona said. “He’ll definitely have tomorrow off, and then we got the day off [Thursday]. We check pretty closely with those guys.”

Possible turning point?

The Tribe has felt comfortable turning to Hand in the ninth inning with any lead all season. Although ahead by three runs, Indians starter Shane Bieber, who allowed three runs (two earned) in 5 1/3 innings, took responsibility for a possible turning point earlier in the game.

In the top of the fifth, American League All-Star finalist Carlos Santana made a diving stop on a ground ball by Royals shortstop Humberto Arteaga. The first baseman flipped the ball to Bieber as he was running toward the bag, but the toss was above Bieber’s head. The pitcher reached up to grab it as he was looking to step on first base, but the ball fell out of his glove, causing Santana to be charged with an error. The next batter, Martin Maldonado, then singled through the left side as shortstop Francisco Lindor broke to cover second base on the hit-and-run. That set up Whit Merrifield to knock in two on a double to center.

“[Santana] made a great play and I couldn’t hold onto it for whatever reason,” Bieber said. “But that changes potentially the rest of the game because the next thing was a rollover to the shortstop, but it was a hit-and-run and then two runs that inning. And [that] potentially could’ve changed the rest of the game.”

The Indians responded to the fifth-inning miscue with back-to-back jacks from Roberto Perez and Mike Freeman in the bottom half of the frame, a solo blast by Tyler Naquin in the sixth and a solo shot by Santana -- who leads the team with 18 homers and extended his on-base streak to 20 games -- in the seventh. Between Naquin, Perez and Freeman, the Indians’ seven, eight and nine hitters combined to go 5-for-12 with four RBIs and three runs scored.

“Yeah, we did some good things offensively, and it felt we spread it out evenly and got an extra run,” Francona said. “It’s just one of those nights where they came back and snatched one from us. We’ve done that before. It hurts.”