Royals 6, Marlins 2
Royals 6, Marlins 2: Billy Butler homered and Wade Davis tossed six solid innings as host Kansas City won the opener of the three-game series.
Davis (6-9) earned his first home victory since April 10 while yielding two runs on six hits for the Royals, who improved to 19-5 since the All-Star break and are four games behind Tampa Bay for the second wild-card spot in the American League. Kansas City moved into second place in the American League Central and is 6 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit.
Miami tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth on RBI doubles by Logan Morrison and Greg Dobbs before Kansas City answered with three runs in the bottom half. Alcides Escobar sparked the rally with a one-out RBI triple off Tom Koehler (3-8), who surrendered five runs over 5 1/3 innings.
The Royals took an early lead with two outs in the fourth when Mike Moustakas reached base with an infield single and scored on Justin Maxwell’s triple into the gap in right-center. Chris Getz followed with an RBI single to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.
Getz recorded his first three-hit game since April 13 for the Royals, who added an insurance run on Butler’s solo homer off Ryan Webb in the seventh. The Marlins lost for the eighth time in their last nine games and fell to 1-6 on their nine-game road trip.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Royals LF Alex Gordon missed the game to be present for the birth of his child, but he’s expected to return Tuesday. … Moustakas left the game in the fifth with tightness in his left calf after scoring from first base on Maxwell’s triple. … Dobbs had two hits for Miami, which dropped to 4-11 in interleague play.