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Royals rally past Cardinals

overage of today's Cards and Royals game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 6:35pm.

St.  Louis, MO  (SportsNetwork.com) - Eric Hosmer drove in the go-ahead run in
the ninth inning to complete the Kansas City Royals' 8-7 comeback victory over
the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

The Royals faced a 4-0 deficit early on and trailed 7-6 before Alcides Escobar
tied things with a RBI single in the eighth.

Hosmer  followed  Omar Infante's one-out double  in the ninth with a single to
left  field off  Trevor Rosenthal (0-3), and Infante beat Matt Holliday's off-
target throw to the plate.

Wade Davis (5-1) recorded his 13th straight scoreless appearance in the eighth
to  pick up the  victory, Kansas City's fourth in its last six games, and Greg
Holland posted his 16th save with a flawless ninth.

Alex  Gordon  belted a  three-run homer  to highlight a  13-hit attack for the
Royals, who finished an efficient 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

"We  grinded our way  to a win," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It was a tough
one."

St. Louis went 2-7 on a disappointing homestand despite receiving a grand slam
by Kolten Wong and a solo homer from Peter Bourjos.

Kansas City's bullpen limited the hosts to one hit after James Shields labored
through  his shortest  outing of the season, having allowed seven runs -- five
earned -- over 5 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals wasted  a bases-loaded  opportunity  in the  first inning  when
Yadier  Molina bounced  into a double play,  but they loaded the bags again in
the  second for Wong,  who turned on a middle-in offering and sent it over the
wall in right field for his first career home run.

"It  came at a  great time," Cards manager Mike Matheny said. "We needed that.
It was a great spark."

The  slam snapped  a string of 20 consecutive scoreless innings for St. Louis,
but the Royals jumped ahead with a six-spot off Jamie Garcia in the fifth.

Escobar  tripled in Mike Moustakas and scored when Shields one-hopped the wall
in  left for a double. Shields raced home as Norichika Aoki slapped a base hit
down  the third-base line, and after Garcia plunked Hosmer on a 2-2 pitch with
two away, Gordon found the right-field seats for a go-ahead three-run blast.

St.  Louis  answered with  two runs  in the bottom  half, thanks  in part to a
Moustakas  error that  put runners on first  and second with no outs. An Oscar
Taveras  sacrifice fly made it 6-5, and Jhonny Peralta tied things with a two-
out, run-scoring single.

Bourjos,  who was  part of a double-switch  in the top half, took Shields over
the left-field wall to lead off the sixth, but again Kansas City responded.

With  two outs and runners on first and second in the eighth, Escobar flared a
bloop base hit into short center off Pat Neshek to knock in Salvador Perez.

                                   Game Notes

Wong  only had seven  extra-base hits in 182 career at-bats prior to his grand
slam  ... Shields  has allowed  seven homers  in his  last three  starts after
serving  up five total in his first 10. His ERA has risen over a full run over
his  last three outings from 2.67 to 3.68 ... Garcia was charged with six runs
on eight hits over five innings ... Royals reliever Wilking Rodriguez tossed a
1-2-3  seventh in his big league debut ... Kansas City will host the final two
games of this home-and-home I-70 series beginning on Wednesday.

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