KANSAS CITY -- Eric Hosmer belted a three-run homer and Jason Vargas tossed his best outing of the season as the Royals held on for a 5-3 win over the Indians on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals ended a two-game skid and have not lost more than two straight since they dropped four in a row at the end of last August.

“We’ve got good players, that’s what it tells me,” manager Ned Yost said. “You take a game like tonight -- we got clutch hitting, solid defense, really, really good pitching and a dynamic bullpen. When you have all that, you limit the losing streaks.”

Vargas gave up a two-run homer to Michael Brantley in the first inning. But the lefty only gave up one more hit -- a double by Jason Kipnis in the sixth. Vargas walked two and struck out five over six solid frames.

“He was pretty good,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said of Vargas. “He really attacked the strike zone. He kept his breaking ball down.”

Added Vargas, “I thought it went well. ... We made some great plays behind me.”

“[Vargas] adds and subtracts and gets you out on your front foot,” Indians manager Terry Francona said, “and kind of takes the sting out of the bat. You’ve really got to be disciplined. He did a very good job of keeping us from [getting much going].”

Cleveland right-hander Danny Salazar was almost as good -- he went seven innings, gave up five hits and four runs while walking none and striking out nine.

Hosmer added an RBI triple in the eighth inning to finish with four RBIs.