Royals 10, Rays 4
Melky Cabrera had three hits and three RBIs as the Kansas City Royals defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 10-4 on Friday night for their third straight victory.
Cabrera, Eric Hosmer (two RBIs) and Jeff Francoeur (three hits) each had two-out, RBI singles in the sixth as Kansas City pushed its lead to 8-4 after the Rays had closed within a run.
Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer and Matt Joyce followed with a solo blast off Royals starter Luke Hochevar (6-8) to pull Tampa Bay within 5-4 in the sixth, but reliever Louis Coleman came on to get the final two outs with two men on.
Billy Butler belted his first home run since June 10 and had two RBIs for the Royals. Mike Moustakas had an RBI single in the first to cap a three-run inning for Kansas City and snap a 0-for-22 slump.
Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double and the Rays loaded the bases with none out in the first, but could not add to the lead. Francoeur threw out Zobrist, who was trying to score on a fly out, from right field to end the threat.
It was 100 degrees at gametime.