Brian Bannister outdueled Joel Pineiro as the Kansas City Royals topped the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in the finale of a three-game series at Busch Stadium Sunday. The Royals win kept the Cardinals from sweeping the I-70 series and snapped a four game KC losing skid and St. Louis’ five game winning streak.
Mike Jacobs singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Jose Guillen and Brian Bannister also drove in runs in the Royals victory. Bannister gave up just two runs on seven hits over six innings to improve to 4-and-1. Juan Cruz closed it out to notch his second save.
Yadier Molina and Pineiro each drove in a run for the Cardinals in the bottom of the sixth. Pineiro allowed eight hits and three runs over seven innings to fall to 5-4 with the loss.
The Cardinals fell to 26-18 and start a three game series in Milwaukee this afternoon. St. Louis and the Brewers are tied for first place in the NL Central.
The win moved the Royals back to .500 at 22-22. KC is back at the K this afternoon to host the AL Central first-place Detroit Tigers.
