KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Alberto Castillo ended the Kansas City Royals ' disastrous homestand on a positive note.

Castillo hit his first home run of the season with two outs in the ninth inning as the Royals posted a thrilling 6-5 triumph over the Cleveland Indians .

Castillo's homer into the left field stands on a 3-2 pitch from Arthur Rhodes (1-1) concluded Kansas City's first homestand at 2-6 - its worst home start since a 1-7 mark in 1999.

"I was looking for a good fastball to hit," Castillo said. "He's got a great fastball, throwing 95-94 (mph). This is like a dream. A fan asked me if I can hit a home run before the at-bat. I said, 'I don't know, but I'll try, stick around.'"

Castillo got the pitch he wanted.

"It was a fastball in," Rhodes said. "It was a good game. We just couldn't score any runs. Today is not the day to carry our heads down on one game. Whoever came out of the bullpen today did a great job and kept runs from scoring."

Not only did Castillo hit the game-winning homer, but he had two singles and a walk, stole his first base since April 18, 2001 and scored three runs.

"Castillo played a heckuva game today," Royals owner David Glass said. "He's a very good catcher, plus he's got some pop."

Probably the most revealing statistic on Castillo is the Royals are 3-0 when he starts and 2-9 when John Buck is the starting catcher. That could lead to more playing time for Castillo.

"I don't make those decisions," Castillo said. "It's good to be in the big leagues. I've been in the big leagues for seven years, mostly as a back up."

The Royals, who pounded out 15 hits in this one, had scored just 14 runs and hit .202 in the first seven home contests this season.

Cleveland had nobody to blame but itself in this one. The Indians loaded the bases with none out in the fifth and eighth innings but came up empty in both frames. In the ninth, the Indians had two on and one out, but Kansas City interim closer Mike MacDougal (1-0) struck out Casey Blake and Jhonny Peralta .

"The story of the game is runners left on base," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "It's ridiculous the runners we left on base. We were never able to get a big hit. It wasn't even a big hit, just put the ball in play and scratch out a run here or there.

"No one can leave that many on base and expect to win the game. We weren't executing, getting the job done. We were swinging the bat well, but we've got to finish innings off and score runs. We didn't do that."

With the bases full in the eighth, Kyle Snyder , the third of five Kansas City pitchers, struck out Ronnie Belliard . He was replaced by Jamie Cerda, who struck out Victor Martinez after falling behind in the count 3-0 and retired Travis Hafner on a ground ball.

"That was a pressure situation," Cerda said. "When it's 3-0, I'm not thinking about strike three, but strike one. That was a huge out. Hopefully, we'll start picking each other up. I picked up Snyder today and MacDougal came in and picked me up."

The Royals' bullpen entered the game with a 5.91 ERA and allowed 15 of 26 inherited runners to score.

The Royals took a 5-3 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Ruben Gotay and an infield single by Mike Sweeney . But the Indians responded in the sixth with a run-scoring base hit by Coco Crisp and a sacrifice fly by Victor Martinez .

Kansas City starter Denny Bautista , who worked out of the bases-loaded jam in the fifth, allowed five runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"We lost a lot of games," Bautista said. "I don't know what happened. We've got a good team."

Castillo thought Bautista put the weight of the Royals' offensive woes on his shoulders to stop the skid.

"When you don't score runs, he was trying to be perfect," Castillo said. "He was trying to do too much, pounding my glove 95-96 (mph)."

Scott Elarton , making his third start of the season, surrendered five runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings for the Indians.

"Elarton never got it going," Wedge said. "He never got into a rhythm. His ball was up. He didn't throw the ball where he wanted to."