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Greinke sparkles as Royals complete sweep of Cardinals

Jun 19, 2008 - 10:11 PM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Zack Greinke wishes he could pitch in interleague games all the time.

Greinke pitched seven outstanding innings Thursday, lifting the Kansas City Royals to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mark Teahen drove in three runs and came up a double shy of hitting for the cycle and Mark Grudzielanek added an RBI double for Kansas City, which swept intrastate rival St. Louis for the first time since June 2001.

"This sweep was nice, very nice," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "I said it before, we caught these guys at a very good time with (All-Star Albert) Pujols and (catcher Yadier) Molina out. With what the Cardinals had to do with their rotation, we took advantage of it and that's good to see."

The Royals, who also won their season high-tying fifth in a row, watched as Greinke (6-4) earned his first win since May 18.

The righthander yielded a run, two hits and a walk while striking out seven to run his record to 4-0 in interleague games over the past three seasons.

"There was good pitching and really good defense," Greinke said. "There were a lot of decently hit balls and every play was made. It's a lot easier doing it that way."

The five-year veteran made one mistake, serving up a two-out solo homer to Rick Ankiel in the fourth.

"We just got outplayed and outmanaged," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "The guy pitching for the Royals today had a lot of weapons. I think we should have done more. These were three games to win."

By the time Ankiel hit his 11th homer in the fourth, the Royals already were leading, 2-0, courtesy of their efforts a half-inning before.

With one on and one out in the top of the fourth, Grudzielanek drilled a double off St. Louis starter Brad Thompson (1-2) into the left-center field gap, plating Jose Guillen from first to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead. One batter later, Teahen grounded a single to right, scoring Grudzielanek to make it 2-0.

After serving up the blast to Ankiel, Greinke cruised, giving up just a two-out hit to Aaron Miles in the sixth. The 24-year-old Greinke pitched a 1-2-3 seventh before being replaced by reliever Ramon Ramirez, who hurled a scoreless eighth frame.

Royals closer Joakim Soria retired the side in order in the ninth to record his 18th save and third straight of the sweep.

Teahen, who went 3-for-4 with a run scored, belted a two-run homer off Cardinals rookie reliever Chris Perez in the ninth to cap the scoring.

"I knew Perez mainly throws fastball, sliders and he got behind," Teahen said. "So I assumed he was coming with the fastball and I just got the barrel to it.

"It's nice to get a little insurance in these tight games. We've been in a lot of close games and now they're starting to go our way."

Thompson allowed two runs and five hits in five innings for the Cardinals, who have dropped five of seven.

"You just have to tip your hat to Greinke, he threw a great game today." said Thompson, who came out of the bullpen for his first start since April 8. "I felt good. It's nice to get out there and get innings. I felt like I could have kept going today. You just have to build on it."