Mark Teahen had 3 hits and 5 runs batted in and Tony Pena went 4 for 5 to lead the Kansas City Royials to a 17-8 crushing of the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. The win gives the Royals 2 out of the 3 games played with the Redbirds.
St. Louis got on the board first and, in fact, led 4-1 in the 2 nd inning, partly on the strength of Chris Duncan’s eleventh home run of the season with two men on base.
But the Royals, who had scored a run in the 1 st to tie it at that point, unloaded with eight runs in the bottom of the 2 nd to take a commanding 9-4 lead.
After the Cardinals scored two runs in the 3 rd inning, Kansas City responded with six in the bottom of the 4 th , including two on Alex Gordon’s two-run homer, his fifth roundtripper of the year.
Each team put two more runs on the board, including one off the bat of Albert Pujols who belted his sixteenth home run for the Cardinals.
Zack Greinke (4-4) got the win for the Royals, pitching four innings, giving up one earned run on four hits, striking out three. Cards’ starter Kip Wells (2-11) took the loss. He only lasted 1 1/3 innings, surrendering six earned runs on three hits.
The Royals (26-41) continue their homestand Friday night, opening a weekend series with the Florida Marlins. Gil Meche (3-6) pitches for Kansas City against Florida’s Sergio Mitre (2-2).
The Cardinals (28-35) stay on the road, traveling to Oakland to open a weekend series with the A’s. Braden Looper (6-5) pitches for St. Louis against Oakland’s Dan Haren (7-2).
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