St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Yuniesky Betancourt's two-run homer in the
15th inning lifted the Kansas City Royals over the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3,
in the rubber match of a three-game interleague set at Busch Stadium.
Betancourt, who replaced an injured Chris Getz in the first, doubled to
score Alex Gordon in the 14th to give Kansas City a 3-2 lead. But Yadier
Molina tied the game at three in the home half when he singled with two
outs to score Allen Craig.
Billy Butler clobbered a pinch-hit homer with two out in the ninth to tie the
game at two. Butler fell behind 0-2 but turned on a fastball to help force
extra innings.
Humberto Quintero drove in a run and Mike Moustakas had three hits and scored
a run for the Royals, winners in five of their last six. Gordon was 0-for-3
but walked five times.
After blowing a save in the 14th Jonathan Broxton (1-1) tossed a perfect 15th
to secure the win for the Royals.
Eduardo Sanchez (0-1) was pegged with the loss after giving up the winning
run. Adam Wainwright started the game for St. Louis and gave up one run
on five hits and struck out eight over seven frames.
Matt Holliday and Craig each hit solo homers for the Cardinals, losers in
four of seven.
Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the second. Moustakas singled, moved to second
on Alcides Escobar's bunt single and scored when Quintero followed with a
single to left.
St. Louis took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Holliday and Craig cracked
back-to-back solo homers.
The Royals wasted two opportunities to take the lead in the 11th. With Jeff
Francoeur on third, Escobar attempted a squeeze bunt but Francoeur was out at
the plate. Later in the frame, Kansas City had the bases loaded but Victor
Marte was able to get Brayan Pena to ground out to end the threat.
Game Notes
The game took exactly five hours to complete...Luis Mendoza, who was the
Royals starting pitcher, gave up six hits -- two solo homers -- and struck
out five over six frames...Gordon had a six-game hitting streak
snapped...Kansas City is 8-5 in series-deciding games this season...10 of the
Royals past 11 games have been decided by two runs or less...Cardinals are
five games out of first place in the National League Central, their largest
deficit of the season...The Cardinals were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring
position and left nine runners on base.
The Sports Network