KANSAS CITY -- When you have trouble scoring runs, as the Royals have lately, you find ways to manufacture offense.
And the Royals did just that Wednesday night against the Indians at Kauffman Stadium in a 3-2 loss.
Trailing 3-0 with two outs in the second inning, the Royals had Alex Gordon on third and Hunter Dozier on first.
With right-hander Trevor Bauer on the mound and Andrew Butera at the plate, Dozier took off for second, but stopped halfway between first and second as catcher Roberto Perez fired to second baseman Jason Kipnis. The delayed steal was on.
Gordon didn't break for home when the ball left Perez's hand, and then cautiously took steps toward home before finally getting a big enough lead to force a throw from Kipnis to third baseman Jose Ramirez. Gordon, for an instant, started back to third, but as he saw Ramirez tumble to the ground while snaring Kipnis' errant throw, Gordon raced for home.
From his backside, Ramirez threw home, but the throw was too late, as Gordon slid in safely. It was the Royals' first steal of home since 2015, when Alex Rios stole home against Pittsburgh.
Royals manager Ned Yost said the Royals didn't exactly execute the steal properly, but it worked out anyway.
"We got lucky [on the bad throw]," Yost said. "The key to it is that as soon as [Dozier] takes off, you know that it's the double steal. Dozier's gotta go and stop. But as soon as the catcher comes up, and as soon as he gets his hands right up to the release point, Gordon has to break home. Gordy had a hard time getting [a lead] because Ramirez was closer to the bag. With Drew up, he couldn't get a huge lead and that hesitation just kind of got him in between. But it still worked out for us."