Kansas City, Mo. ? Before Omar Vizquel could score the game-winning run, he had to prevent one.

Cleveland’s shortstop threw out Kansas City’s Joe Randa at the plate to end the ninth inning Friday night, then tripled and scored on Matt Lawton’s sacrifice fly in the 11th to give the Indians a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Vizquel slipped out before reporters arrived in the Indians’ clubhouse, but he didn’t leave anyone else at a loss for words.

Half an hour after the game, Royals reliever Scott Sullivan still was shaking his head over Vizquel’s blooper that fell just fair to lead off the 11th.

“I was willing it foul, and in my mind I thought it looked foul,” said Sullivan (3-4). “But it wasn’t. It was just a well-placed hit.”

Right fielder Matt Stairs, slowed by a sore hamstring and playing deep to try to take away a double, also thought the ball had fallen foul.

“That’s just our luck right now,” said Stairs, who homered and drove in four runs.

Vizquel, hitless in his first five at-bats, extended his hitting streak to 12 games with the triple. He slid home on Lawton’s sacrifice fly but easily beat the throw.

Randa wasn’t so fortunate in the ninth, when the Royals tied it at 6 on Mike Sweeney’s two-out double down the line in left.

Sweeney’s hit off Bob Wickman scored David DeJesus, who doubled with one out and went to third on a passed ball. It was Wickman’s first blown save in two chances.

Randa, who walked with two out, tried to score from first on the double but was thrown out at the plate by Vizquel’s relay from left fielder Coco Crisp.