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Guillen powers Royals past Marlins

May 18, 2008 - 9:16 PM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Jose Guillen drove in four runs Sunday, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 9-3 victory over the Florida Marlins in the rubber game of the three-game series.

Guillen gave the Royals a quick 2-0 lead with a two-run double in the first inning. He later added his fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh.

It was the fourth straight game with two or more RBI for Guillen, who started the season by hitting .183 in his first 27 games. Over his last eight games, Guillen has knocked in 15 runs.

"The weather has a lot to do with my success," Guillen said. "There was a lot of panic going on early in the season, (people saying), 'What's going on with this guy getting paid all this money', but everything is coming together."

Mark Teahen also had a two-run homer, his second of the season, as the Royals opened a 6-0 lead in the third inning.

Zack Greinke (5-1) pitched six innings, surrendering three runs and nine hits. He struck out five and walked one.

"My offspeed (pitch) wasn't really doing too much, didn't have great control, and was getting behind in the count," Greinke said. "It ended up working up fine so you can't complain too much, but it definitely wasn't one of the better performances."

The Marlins closed within 6-3 with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings.

Luis Gonzalez scored Florida 's first run on a groundout by Jeremy Hermida, and Mike Jacobs hit his 11th homer of the season in the fourth.

Dan Uggla added an RBI double in the sixth to score Hanley Ramirez.

Kansas City responded with three runs in the seventh, two on Guillen's blast, and a run-scoring double by Miguel Olivo.

Rookie Burke Badenhop (1-3) lasted just three innings for Florida. He was tagged for six runs - five earned - and seven hits. He struck out a pair and walked one.

It was the fifth loss in the last six games for the Marlins (24-19), who are the surprising early leader in the National League East.

"It's nice to know we're still in first place even through this skid," Uggla said. "I guess everyone else is scuffling a little bit too, but we're ready to pull out of this thing."

Jimmy Gobble and Yasuhiko Yabuta combined to pitch three scoreless innings to finish off the win for Kansas City, which won for the sixth time in seven contests.