• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Aviles, Royals rout Diamondbacks

Jun 15, 2008 - 3:47 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Rookie Mike Aviles delivered a career-high four hits with a home run and two RBI to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 12-3 drubbing of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday in the middle contest of a three-game interleague series.

John Buck and David DeJesus also homered and Luke Hochevar (4-5) pitched seven effective innings for the Royals, who collected a season-best 12 runs and 17 hits.

"That was nice for us to see," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "Obviously, we haven't seen that very often. The guys were squaring balls up, they left some pitches out over the plate for us, but we were patient in getting good pitches to hit. And when we swung early in the count, we had a better success ratio, squaring balls up then we have to this point. That was good to see."

Diamondbacks starter Randy Johnson (4-4) was handed his third consecutive loss, yielding eight runs - seven earned - and 10 hits with no walks and three strikeouts over 4 1/3 frames.

"Overall it wasn't his best, didn't have a lot of zip on the ball," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said of Johnson. "(He) got some balls in the middle of the plate, gave up some hits which you don't normally see."

Aviles doubled twice, scored four runs and followed DeJesus' leadoff blast in the sixth inning with his second career home run. It was the first time Kansas City connected on back-to-back homers since July 3, 2007.

The 27-year-old Aviles, who entered this contest with just nine career hits in 31 at-bats, doubled in the first and opened the scoring on Jose Guillen's RBI single. The second baseman then snapped a 1-1 tie and sparked three-run rally in the third with an RBI double.

"The biggest part of it actually was how our offense came alive," Aviles said. "We scored a lot of runs, things like that are a big boost for us. Some days you don't get the offense, today was one of those days we got the offense. I think that was the best part of the day."

Aviles also singled to lead off the Royals' four-run fifth, which extended their advantage to 8-2 and chased Johnson from the mound. The rally was capped by Buck's three-run shot, his third home run of the season.

It was more than enough offense for Hochevar, who allowed three runs - two earned - and 10 hits with six strikeouts.

"We've been playing hard," Hochevar said. "It was bound to come. We've been swinging the bats well, guys have been playing hard and getting good at bats. It was just a matter of time."

Orlando Hudson had three hits for Arizona, which failed to win its third straight game.