Royals 7 - 4 Rockies
Final
  for this game

Infante, Royals top Rockies

Aug 20, 2014 - 5:44 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Omar Infante went 4-for-5 with three doubles, four RBI and a run scored as the Kansas City Royals grabbed a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies to open a two-game set.

Christian Colon, Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain all drove in a run for Kansas City, which has won six of its last seven games.

James Shields (12-6) won his third straight decision after pitching six innings and allowing two runs on nine hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

The Royals maintained their two-game lead over the Tigers for first place in the AL Central, as Detroit downed Tampa Bay in extra innings on Tuesday.

Drew Stubbs hit a two-run home run and Nolan Arenado added a solo homer for the Rockies, who had won three of four coming in. Tyler Matzek (2-9) lost his fifth straight start after getting touched for three runs on six hits over 6 2/3 innings.

"He did a really nice job for us tonight," said Colorado manager Walt Weiss. "Most of the game he kept the off-balance so he's really making some strides."

The Rockies pushed a run across in the first inning when Justin Morneau hit into a double play to score Charlie Blackmon, but the Royals tied the game in the fourth on Cain's RBI double.

Arenado put the Rockies back on top in the fifth with his 13th home run of the season, but Kansas City went on top in the seventh.

With two outs, Josh Willingham singled and Nori Aoki walked. Adam Ottavino then took over on the mound and Infante greeted him with a double to score two. Perez followed with an RBI double for a 4-2 game.

In the eighth, Colon forced in a run on a bases-loaded walk, and Infante brought in two more with a double for a 7-2 lead.

"We've been putting up some two-out rallies a lot lately," said Kansas City manager Ned Yost. "Their guy threw the ball well and it took us a while to get to him, but Omar had that big hit there to give us some room."

Stubbs' two-run blast in the ninth off of Matt McBride made it a three-run game, and McBride was relieved after giving up a two-out single to Nolan Arenado.

Greg Holland then came out and induced a fly out from Corey Dickerson to end the game and pick up his MLB-leading 39th save of the season.

Game Notes

The Royals took two from the Rockies in Kansas City in mid-May ... Colorado went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 ... Shields improved to 2-1 in three starts against the Rockies.






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