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Royals fend off Brewers in Yost's return to Milwaukee

Jun 16, 2015 - 5:38 AM Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar each knocked in two runs, and the Kansas City Royals held on for an 8-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to give Ned Yost a sweet return to Miller Park.

The Royals spotted Edinson Volquez an early 5-0 lead and were up 8-2 entering the ninth, then withstood a late charge from the home team to prevail in Yost's first game in Milwaukee since being abruptly fired as the Brewers' manager during a pennant race in September of 2008.

Cain and Escobar, both former Brewers as well who were sent to Kansas City as part of the Zack Greinke trade in 2010, each got a little payback against their former club. The former went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, while Escobar was one of four other Royals to record a pair of hits.

Volquez (6-4) worked the first five innings, permitting two runs on six hits. Wade Davis came on to get the final three outs, stranding two in scoring position after Milwaukee put up three late runs against Greg Holland.

"I think Volquez threw the ball great," said Yost.

Jonathan Lucroy finished 2-for-4 with three RBI for Milwaukee, with Martin Maldonado delivering a two-run single during the Brewers' belated comeback attempt.

Brewers starter Kyle Lohse (3-8) endured another rough outing, surrendering five runs in five innings to extend his winless stretch to six starts. His latest problems began quickly, as four of the first five Kansas City hitters reached during a three-run opening inning.

"That's the way baseball is sometimes," said Lohse. "Sometimes you're rewarded for your hard work. I'm still busting it, doing the things I have to do in between starts. It's just not working out the way I want."

Escobar was hit by Lohse's fourth pitch of the night and scored the initial run by hustling all the way from first on Mike Moustakas' single up the middle. Home plate umpire Laz Diaz originally ruled the play an out, but the call was overturned on a challenge from Yost when replays showed Escobar touched the plate just ahead of Lucroy's tag.

Moustakas took second on the play and came home on an Eric Hosmer single. After Salvador Perez followed with a base hit, Alex Gordon plated Hosmer with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 advantage.

Lohse briefly settled in to keep the score that way until the fifth, when Moustakas drew a walk in front of Cain's blast over the wall in left center.

Volquez got out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the third to keep Milwaukee off the board until the bottom of the fifth. Lucroy broke a Brewers' stretch of 20 straight scoreless innings with a two-out double that knocked in Hector Gomez and Hernan Perez, who reached via a hit by pitch and pinch-hit single, respectively.

Neal Cotts then replaced Lohse in the sixth and was greeted by consecutive singles by Gordon, Rios and Omar Infante. A double-play grounder off the bat of Kendrys Morales pushed across another Kansas City run, and Escobar singled in another to increase the lead to 7-2.

Infante doubled in the eighth and was brought in on Escobar's second hit of the game to account for Kansas City's final run. The Brewers then made it very interesting against an ineffective Holland before Davis averted disaster.

Holland was tagged for three straight hits, the last Maldonado's single that trimmed the margin to 8-4. He followed with a walk to Gerardo Parra that preceded Lucroy's double to left that scored Maldonado and brought the tying run to the plate with none out.

Davis entered and got a big strikeout of Ryan Braun, and Escobar snared Adam Lind's hard line drive to short before Aramis Ramirez flied out harmlessly for the last out.

Game Notes

Yost went 457-502 in six seasons as the Brewers' skipper and ranks second in club history in wins. Current Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell was a player on the 2008 squad at the time of Yost's dismissal ... Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez was scratched from the lineup due to tightness in his right leg ... Volquez improved to 6-1 in 10 career starts at Miller Park ... Kansas City went 4-of-10 with runners in scoring position after an 0-of-11 performance in its two weekend losses at St. Louis ... Lohse is 0-4 over his last six starts and has permitted at least five runs in four of his five most recent assignments.