KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the Royals went to back-to-back World Series in 2014-15, their bullpen ranked second to none.

That is no longer the absolute.

Kansas City relievers Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera gave up three runs in the final two innings as the Cleveland Indians rallied to defeat the Royals 3-1 on Saturday.

Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor homered in the ninth inning with two outs.

Herrera (1-1) entered in the ninth with the score tied 1-1 and retired the first two batters before giving up the consecutive home runs.

"Santana was 0-for-14 going into that at-bat off of Herrera," Indians manager Terry Francona said. We needed something like that. Then Frankie backing it up."

Soria, who is 0-for-2 in save situations, gave up the tying run in the eighth on three hits.

"Once we got a tie, OK at least we can keep playing," Francona said.

Andrew Miller (2-0) worked around a Jason Kipnis throwing error in the eighth to pick up the victory.

Cody Allen picked up his eighth save, but not before walking Mike Moustakas and allowing a single to Lorenzo Cain.

Indians starter Josh Tomlin limited Kansas City to one run on three hits over seven innings.

"I was able to locate for the most part today," Tomlin said. "When a team is that aggressive that early on, it's pretty pivotal that I had to locate and get quick outs and last."

Tomlin threw only 76 pitches and walked none. His ERA dropped from 8.87 to 7.12.

"He's always pretty tough," said Lorenzo Cain, who doubled and scored the only Royals' run. "He throws a little baby cutter away, on the black, off the plate just enough to make you swing at it. He comes in with his two-seamer and a pretty good curveball. That's what he does, keep you off balance and will make you swing at his pitches."

Royals left-hander Jason Vargas pitched into the seventh inning, allowing four hits and no runs. Vargas left with a 1-0 lead.

"I don't know if the command was as sharp (as previous starts)," Vargas said. "Those were pretty sharp command wise, but as far as results it's hard to say no. To come out of there with seven zeroes after (Matt) Strahm was able to get us out of that inning and (Alex) Gordon made that great catch. But definitely I got good results today."

After having just one baserunner -- a Salvador Perez second-inning single -- the Royals broke through with a run in the fourth.

Cain doubled down the left-field line with one out and scored on Eric Hosmer's single to left. Hosmer extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

Vargas weaved his way into and out of danger in the second and third innings.

In the second, Edwin Encarnacion walked to lead off the inning and Brandon Guyer was hit by a pitch with two outs. Vargas retired Yan Gomes on a fly ball to center fielder Cain.

In the third, Santana laced a single to left with one out and stopped at second on Michael Brantley's ground ball single to right with two outs. Encarnacion's groundout to second baseman Whit Merrifield stranded the runners.

Jose Ramirez led off the Indians' fourth with a single, but Vargas picked him off first base as he broke to steal second.

NOTES: The Royals activated RF Jorge Soler from the disabled list and immediately started him. He missed the first 28 games with a left oblique strain. RHP Miguel Almonte was returned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas one day after being recalled. ... Indians 2B Jason Kipnis' double Friday was his first extra-base hit of the season. ... Royals SS Alcides Escobar started in his 200th consecutive game, the longest active streak in the majors. ... RHP Mike Clevinger was promoted from Triple-A Charlotte for a Sunday start. LHP Danny Duffy is the Royals' probable. ... Royals C Salvador Perez suffered a bruise left forearm after being struck by a foul ball in the eighth. Drew Butera came in for Perez in the ninth. X-rays were negative.