The Royals scored six times with two outs against Adam Wainwright in the first two innings to win 6-2 over the Cardinals on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.
This is the first of four straight games between our Missouri teams.
Wainwright labored through the first two innings, while Danny Duffy settled in after a shaky first to give the bullpen much rest by going eight innings.
Matt Holliday put the Cardinals on top 2-0 in the first inning with his 14th homer of the season, but that was all Duffy allowed as he struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.
“I think no walks is more of a win for me than anything, outside of the team winning,” said Duffy. “I don’t know. Nothing fazes me anymore.”
Kendrys Morales tied the game in the bottom of the first when he lined a single over Matt Carpenter’s head against the shift to score the tying runs.  Then the Royals blew the game open in the next inning.
Kansas City pulled ahead for good in the second, stringing together five singles and a double. Lorenzo Cain’s single up the middle scored a run.  Eric Hosmer bounced a double down the right-field line over the head of Jedd Gyorko at first, and Salvador Perez added an RBI single to make it 6-2.
“It’s tough. You have to tip your hat, really. They did a real nice job with two strikes and two outs,” said Wainwright.
It was vintage Wainwright. Â I’ve said for years, it sometimes takes Wainwright a time through the order to settle down and teams have their best chance to strike early. Â If the opposition doesn’t get to Wainwright within the first three innings, scoring runs becomes difficult against him.
Wainwright retired 10 of his final 11 batters and he was pulled after five innings and 102 pitches.  He had thrown 69 after two.  By then, the Royals did their damage with the two out rallies.
“We have a little bit of a reputation for that, and it showed up,” said manager Ned Yost.
