Kansas City’s fast start has faded just as quickly. The Royals are right back where they started the season — at .500.

Their fifth straight loss, 7-2 to the Cleveland Indians left them at 12-12, a disappointing drop for a young team that opened 10-4 and hopes to post its first winning season since 2003 and only its second since moving to the AL Central 18 years ago.

“You don’t want to get to 12-12 the way we did,” manager Ned Yost said after the club’s eighth loss in 10 games. “We’re going through a tough stretch and we just have to grind our way through it.”

Orlando Cabrera’s three-run double in a five-run first inning off Jeff Francis (0-3) helped the division-leading Indians to their ninth straight home win. It was all the support Josh Tomlin (4-0) needed.

“Cleveland is pitching very well,” said Alex Gordon, who went 0-for-3 to snap his 19-game hitting streak for Kansas City.

The Royals have allowed nearly eight runs a game during their slide and have been outscored 38-20 during the streak. It all started with an 11-6 loss at Texas.

“We need to settle the pitching down,” Yost said. “It just wasn’t Jeff’s night. He was battling it right from the start and a lot of their hits were just finding the right holes.”

Francis made no excuses after yielding six singles and Cabrera’s double in a 39-pitch first inning.

“I left some balls up and they hit them,” the left-hander said. “The odd time I made a pitch, they hit those, too. It was not just bad luck. I feel I can execute better.”

Every player in Cleveland’s starting lineup had at least one hit as the Indians continued their early-season trend of getting ahead quickly.