Kansas City, Mo. ? Things have gotten so bad in Kansas City, Wednesday night’s 6-1 setback to Cleveland actually felt like an improvement to the Royals.

And coming off Tuesday night’s frightful collapse where they gave up 11 runs in the ninth inning, who could argue?

“It looked better, because I’ve never seen anything like last night,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said of his team’s 12th straight loss. “Yeah, it looked better, because it was more of a conventional loss.”

Grady Sizemore hit a 3-1 pitch for his first major-league grand slam and added an RBI single to power the Indians past the hapless Royals, who matched the club-record 12-game skid of 1997.

“I just wanted to get a pitch where I could drive some runs in,” said Sizemore, who set a personal best with five RBIs. “I happened to get a fastball and put a good swing on it.”

C.C. Sabathia (8-9) went six innings, giving up seven hits and one run, with six strikeouts and one walk. After losing, 4-3, to New York in their last home game, the Indians are 5-0 on a six-game trip to Detroit and Kansas City.

Sabathia has won two straight after breaking out of a five-game losing streak.

“Getting out of jams was something I wasn’t doing on the losing streak,” he said.

The Royals now have the longest losing streak in the majors this year. They have not won since July 27, when they rallied from five runs down to beat the White Sox, 6-5, in 13 innings. In their last four games, they’ve allowed 46 runs.

Cleveland's Grady Sizemore, left, celebrates his grand slam against Kansas City with teammate Aaron Boone. The Indians won, 6-1, Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo., handing the Royals their 12th straight loss.

Right-hander Zack Greinke (3-14) went 4 1/3 innings and remained the losingest pitcher in the majors. He gave up seven hits and four runs, with four walks and four strikeouts.

Sizemore, who was 3-for-3 with two singles and two walks, has reached base in seven straight plate appearances. He hit a 3-1 pitch in the second for his slam.

The Indians loaded the bases on singles by Jeff Liefer and Aaron Boone and a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Casey Blake. Sizemore’s homer carried 408 feet over the fence in right-center.

Blake, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, doubled off Shawn Camp with one out in the sixth and made it 5-1 on Sizemore’s RBI single.

The Royals got a run in the third on an RBI double by David DeJesus, who broke a 1-for-32 skid.

Sabathia’s biggest pitch came in the fifth when the Royals had the bases loaded with two out and Emil Brown lined out to shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Earlier in the inning, Coco Crisp made a great diving catch to save a run.

“If we had won 11 in a row, I guarantee you that ball would have been to the left or right and gotten through,” Royals catcher John Buck said.

Crisp had an RBI single in the eighth.

Bell was ejected in the ninth by home plate umpire Tim Tschida for arguing from the dugout.

“I think it was more of a misunderstanding than anything,” Bell said. “I can’t really get into it. There was no swearing or anything like that. Two long nights for both of us. Tschida’s a good umpire and he did a good job tonight. That’s all I can say.”

Note: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Indians on Tuesday night were the third road team in major-league history to score 11 runs in the ninth. The Chicago White Sox did it Aug. 19, 1970, against Boston and the Toronto Blue Jays did it July 20, 1984, against Seattle.