"Well, hey, it wasn't going to happen twice in a row, right?

Joakim Soria rebounded from his worst outing in two months Sunday afternoon by closing out a 5-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians that allowed the Royals to head home buoyed by a winning road trip.

"I wanted the ball big-time today," Soria admitted. "I was hoping to have the situation to get in the game. It worked today."

Sunday's success came after Soria surrendered four runs Saturday night in the ninth inning in a 5-2 loss - including a two-out, three-run walkoff homer by Matt LaPorta. This time, Soria got the job done for his 13th save in his last 14 opportunities.

"That just happened (Saturday) night," manager Ned Yost said. "He made good pitches, and he got hit. Today, he made good pitches, and he got us through it."

Danny Duffy started in place of Kyle Davies, who was scratched prior to the game because of a sore shoulder. Duffy, 3-4, got the victory after working five-plus innings before Louis Coleman, Tim Collins and Greg Holland provided the bridge to Soria.

Duffy said he got a heads-up Saturday to be ready to pitch.

"I'm pretty microwaveable," he said. "You give me 30 minutes, and I'll be ready. Today was a really good win. Our bullpen ate four great innings, and we ended up winning this road trip."

The victory enabled the Royals to win the three-game series and complete a 4-3 trip that began with a four-game split in Boston. It marked their first winning road trip since going 3-2 through Detroit and Minnesota during April 8-13.

"Two wins against Boston in Boston is really good," Yost said. "Coming here and winning two out of three and with a chance to take all three of them - I thought we played great baseball the whole road trip."

The Royals have won eight of their last 12 and made Soria's job easier by picking up a run with two outs in the top of the ninth when Alcides Escobar capped a 14-pitch at-bat against reliever Tony Sipp by lining an RBI single into center."