Kansas City Royals Beat St. Louis Cardinals 3-2
What a wild ending to the first interleague matchup of the year between the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Cards shortstop Tyler Greene was thrown out at the plate on a bang-bang play with two outs in the bottom of the 9th Friday night as the Royals held on to win 3-2.
Greene started a two out rally in the inning by sliding into first with an infield single. With pinch hitter Rafael Furcal at the plate, Greene stole second. Royals catcher Humberto Quintero threw the ball into centerfield and Greene took off for third. The throw sailed over by the third base dugout and Greene broke for home. Third baseman Mike Moustakas fired a good throw to the plate and Quintero tagged Greene as he slid home, ending the ball game. Replays were inconclusive, but the Cardinals didn't argue.
"Tyler did a great job pushing it right there, and gave us a chance," Cards Manager Mike Matheny told reporters after the game. "It didn't work out that time."
Matheny says he did see a replay. "I saw it. It's hard to tell when you slow it down. The guy blocks the plate, comes up with the ball. It looked like the ball beat him. I couldn't tell if his foot slipped in or not, but different angles, even slowing it down, it's not obvious. We've got to make something happen right there. We're up against the wall. That's why the play started in the first place, and he did a good job."
Kansas City jumped out to an early lead against Cards starter Kyle Lohse, taking a 1-0 lead in the 2nd on a double by Alex Escobar and an RBI single by Jarrod Dyson. Jeff Francoeur's base hit plated Alex Gordon in the 3rd to make it 2-0 Royals.
In the top of the 7th, Francoeur hit a sacrifice fly to center, with Chris Getz crossing the plate to push K.C.'s lead to 3-0.
But the Cardinals offense showed signs of life in the bottom of the 7th. First baseman Matt Adams drove in the Redbirds first run with a double off reliever Roman Colon to make it 3-1. Moments later, pinch hitter Shane Robinson singled to right, scoring Adams to pull St. Louis within 3-2 and set the stage for the dramatic 9th inning.
Royals starter Vin Mazzaro (3-1) picked up the win, going six innings and allowing no runs on five hits and striking out four. Lohse (6-2), took the loss, giving up three runs on ten hits in seven innings. Jonathan Broxton pitched the 9th for Kansas City to earn his 16th save.
The loss drops the Cardinals to 33-32 on the season and pushes them four games behind Cincinnati in the National League Central. The victory for the Royals was their fourth straight.
The weekend series continues Saturday afternoon with a 1:15 start. Rookie Joe Kelly (0-0, 1.80 ERA) will make his second major league start for St. Louis. He'll be opposed by Kansas City's Bruce Chen (5-6, 4.44 ERA).
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