KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Cleveland pitching coach Mickey Callaway went to the mound to strategize on how to pitch to Eric Hosmer in the fifth inning.

The strategy backfired miserably.

Hosmer hit a two-out, two-run homer to give Kansas City the lead in a 3-1 victory over the Indians on Friday night.

Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas led off the inning with singles, but Lorenzo Cain grounded into a double play.

With Hosmer, who had two hits in his first two at-bats and finished 3-for-4, coming to the plate, Callaway visited Salazar to discuss pitching to Hosmer. On deck was Salvador Perez, who had struck out in his first two at-bats.

They elected to pitch to Hosmer, who drove Salazar's first offering an estimated 458 feet to right-center field that splashed in the fountains.

"I was trying to throw a fastball up and I missed it in a bad situation," Salazar said. "We talked about pitching around the zone. You could see Roberto Perez hold his mitt up. I was supposed to throw something up or bury an off-speed pitch down.

"I wasn't going to throw him a strike because Salvador Perez was on deck and I got him twice."

Hosmer was glad the Indians pitched to him.

"I said stay aggressive in my zone," Hosmer said. "Don't try to go outside of it. I've seen the ball pretty well off Salazar. That's the benefit of having Salvy on deck. He can also get you with one swing as well.

"For me, it's a good position to be in. He might want to pitch around me, but he's got a guy like Salvy on deck. It keeps you aggressive at the same time.

"His fastball was really effective tonight, in the upper 90s. It was getting in there pretty firm. With a guy like him, you tend to want to sit on a breaking ball, but it's just too much velocity to get off a fastball."

Indians manager Terry Francona said they had "a lot of thoughts" about intentionally walking Hosmer.

"We wanted to see if we could get him to chase," Francona said. "We talked through it."

Hosmer is 12-for-37 with three homers and eight RBIs against Salazar.

Right-hander Jason Hammel (1-3) picked up his first Royals victory, allowing one run, three hits and two walks in six innings while striking out six.

"It only took me a month to figure it out," said Hammel, who worked from the stretch the entire game. "I guess that's a win. I basically threw all my pitches in the zone and trust the movement. I was able to command the fastball at the bottom of the zone. But overall, the heater was much better."

The Royals got an insurance run in the sixth when Jorge Bonifacio singled and scored on Alcides Escobar's two-out single off reliever Nick Goody.

Sanchez (2-3) was charged with the loss.

Relievers Scott Alexander, Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera preserved the lead when Hammel left after 95 pitches, with Herrera posting his fourth save. Soria struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth.

Edwin Encarnacion homered with one out in the top of the fourth for the Indians' run.

Encarnacion drove an 0-1 Hammel pitch out to right for his fourth home run in 20 at-bats against Hammel.

"Out of my hand I wanted it back," Hammel said. "He's kind of like my unicorn. He and I've had many battles and he's won more of them than I have. Not that I was thinking about that. He basically kills mistakes."

The Royals threatened in the first and third but came away empty. Perez struck out to end both innings, stranding four runners, including three in scoring position.

NOTES: The Royals put RHP Ian Kennedy on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. They recalled RHP Miguel Almonte from Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he had a 1.85 ERA. ... The Indians plan on recalling RHP Mike Clevinger from Triple-A Charlotte and starting him Sunday, replacing RHP Corey Kluber, who is on the disabled list. ... Royals manager Ned Yost said he would probably start RHP Chris Young on Tuesday in Kennedy's spot. ... Indians RHP Josh Tomlin and Royals LHP Jason Vargas are the Saturday probables.