Red-hot Morales powers Royals to victory
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals will be happy to see Kendrys Morales leave town.
The Kansas City Royals' right fielder became the fourth major league player this year with multiple hits in six straight games, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer Thursday night in his team's 4-2 interleague victory.
Morales, who went 12-for-16 in the four-game series and is 16-of-24 in the last six games, lined an RBI double to right off Mike Leake (5-6) in the sixth for a 3-1 lead. He capped his huge series with a 456-foot homer into the third deck in left field off reliever Tyler Lyons with two outs in the eighth inning.
Reliever Dillon Gee (3-2) picked up the win despite allowing a two-out solo homer to Jhonny Peralta in the sixth. Gee pitched two innings after starter Chris Young was hooked for a pinch-hitter in the fifth.
Wade Davis, who blew a save chance in Kansas City's 3-2, 12-inning victory Wednesday night, worked around Peralta's leadoff hit in the ninth for his 19th save as the Royals improved to 42-36.
Leake pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned) with a walk and four strikeouts. It wasn't enough to prevent St. Louis (40-38) from falling to 15-23 at Busch Stadium and losing its seventh straight home game -- its longest streak of that kind since Aug. 2-15, 1983.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was booted in the sixth inning for arguing the reversal of a double play, his team's first ejection of the year.
Kansas City tallied single runs in each of the first two innings with the help of shaky St. Louis defense. Whit Merrifield reached on a two-base error by third baseman Peralta in the first, stole third and scored on a throwing error by catcher Brayan Pena.
Jarrod Dyson made it 2-0 in the second on a two-out RBI pop-fly double that glanced off Peralta's glove just inside the left field line, plating Alcides Escobar, who singled and easily stole second.
The Cardinals got a run back in the fourth when Brandon Moss cracked his fifth homer in 20 career at-bats off Young, a 477-foot clout to the last row of the lower bowl in right field that was the longest homer in the 11-year history of Busch Stadium III.
It was the only hit off Young, who left after four innings and 91 pitches with a pitching line matched only once in MLB history -- by Frank Wills with Toronto in 1990. Young gave up six walks, fanning five.
NOTES: St. Louis RF Stephen Piscotty (ankle) did not start Thursday night after being injured while diving for Alcides Escobar's tiebreaking double in the 12th inning Wednesday evening. ... Kansas City RHP Kris Medlen (right rotator cuff inflammation) is scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Omaha on Thursday night against Memphis. Medlen has been sidelined since May 12. ... Cardinals SS Aledmys Diaz (eye) did not start for the third straight game but was available for late-game duty. Diaz hit himself with a foul ball in the ninth inning on Monday night.