While Pavano offered a glimmer of hope for a reeling starting rotation, the offense and the bullpen were brutal again in losing to the Royals, 9-3, at Kauffman Stadium. The Indians , who have scored five runs in two games against Kansas City, fell to 1-7.

Pavano (0-2) allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings. He lowered his ERA from 81.00 to 16.71 while striking out eight. It was his highest strikeout total since June 27, 2004 when he struck out eight for Florida.

Still, he found no reason to celebrate.

"I didn't do my job tonight," Pavano said. "We tied it up. As a starting pitcher, that's when you have to bear down. I ended up giving them another two runs."

Pavano was referring to the fifth inning when he gave up a leadoff homer to John Buck and an RBI single to David DeJesus to give Kansas City a 4-2 lead. The Indians had tied the game at 2 in the top of the fifth on singles by Asdrubal Cabrera and Mark DeRosa.

At least the Indians were competitive when Pavano was on the mound. The same could not be said for relievers Rafael Perez and Vinnie Chulk, who combined to allow five runs in the eighth. Buck, who drove in five runs, hit a grand slam off Chulk, but Perez made the slam possible.

Perez, regarded as one of the up-and-coming lefty relievers in Baseball over the past two years, allowed four runs on two hits in 1 1/3 innings. He's 0-1 with an 18.00 ERA in five appearances.

Last year, when Perez made a career-high 73 appearances, he allowed 15 earned runs in 42 2/3 innings at the All-Star break. He's already allowed 10 runs in five innings this year and it's April 15.

Asked if Perez was hurt, Wedge said he was just going through some early-season struggles.

"Perez's command hasn't been there," Wedge said. "But he's one of the best at what he does. He'll get back on track."

After the game, the Indians optioned infielder / outfielder Josh Barfield to Class AAA Columbus to clear a space for Aaron Laffey, today's starter. Wedge is operating with a 13-man pitching staff.

"It's what we think we need right now," he said.

Thirteen pitchers are not going to cure what's wrong with the Indians . A big hit just might.

The Indians are hitting .206 (14-for-68) with runners in scoring position. They were 3-for-9 Tuesday, while the Royals were 4-for-6.

Kyle Davies (1-0, 2.13) went 5 2/3 innings for the win. Davies, 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA against the Indians before Tuesday, allowed three runs on seven hits.

The Indians made it 4-3 in the sixth when Victor Martinez doubled and Jhonny Peralta blooped a single into right field off Davies. Martinez created another scoring chance with a leadoff single in the eighth. After Juan Cruz struck out Shin-Soo Choo, Barfield pinch ran for Martinez with Peralta at the plate.

The inning ended with Peralta striking out and Barfield getting thrown out attempting to steal second on the back end of a double play.

"Our guys kept battling," Pavano said. "We kept getting guys on base. We kept making the pitcher work. That's the sign of a good team. Things are going to fall into place."

In his first start of the season, Pavano allowed nine runs on six hits in one-plus inning of a 12-8 loss to Texas. He quickly improved on that showing Tuesday with a perfect first. In the second, he gave up a two-out double that Choo lost in the twilight, but struck out Alex Gordon.

In the span of those two innings, Pavano lowered his ERA from 81.00 to 27.00.

"Carl was a lot better," Wedge said. "I was glad to see him go out and run through that first inning and gain some momentum. He had more on the Baseball. He dropped his slider in there, he was using his fastball and change-up."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158