The Kansas City Royals exploded for 16 hits as they doubled the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Philadelphia jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a two run homer by Ryan Howard and a solo home run by Greg Dobbs. But the Royals came storming back with six runs in the bottom of the 2 nd inning. Mark Grudzielanek and Mike Sweeney each went deep in the second as they both hit two run homers.

The Phillies drew close in the 5 th on a Rod Barajas homer, but that was as close as Philadelphia would get. The Royals added two runs in the 7 th to put the game out of reach.

Scott Elarton (2-2) pitched 5 innings, giving up four earned runs, to pick up the win. Octavio Dotel pitched 2/3 of an inning to earn his 3 rd save. Philadelphia starter Freddy Garcia (1-5) took the loss.

Kansas City (23-39) and Philadelphia (31-30) go at it again Saturday night at the K. Gil Meche (3-5) pitches for the Royals against the Phillies’ Jon Lieber (2-4).