Final
D-Backs, Royals seek to end skids in interleague clash
Jun 21, 2011 - 3:00 PMVideo
The Royals return home after a 4-5 road trip, losing four of the swing's final five games. They took the opener of their weekend series with St. Louis over the weekend, but then dropped consecutive 5-4 decisions on late homers.
The Cardinals got a long ball from Matt Holliday in the eighth inning of Saturday's win, then saw Skip Schumaker belt a walk-off solo homer in the ninth on Sunday.
Schumaker's blast came after Kansas City's Alcides Escobar hit his first homer of the season in the top of the ninth inning, a solo shot. Escobar finished with two hits and is batting .511 (22-for-43) over his last 12 games.
"Our kids have been playing so well," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "[Escobar] had a phenomenal at-bat to tie it up."
Royals starter Danny Duffy struck out a career-high nine batters over 3 2/3 innings, but exited early due to cramping in his left leg.
The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have lost four of their past six games and suffered an 8-2 defeat against the White Sox on Sunday. Justin Upton had three hits and drove in a run for Arizona, while starter Josh Collmenter gave up three runs over seven decent innings.
"I felt good," Collmenter said. "Everything felt good, I had good command and I was back to my normal stuff, and other than the seventh inning, everything went well."
Upton's three-hit game capped an excellent week in which he hit .552 (16- for-29) with seven RBI. He was named the National League's Player of the Week on Monday.
Arizona, which sits a half-game behind first-place San Francisco in the NL West, turns to Joe Saunders tonight. The left-hander has lost two straight starts since winning three in a row.
Pitching a day before his 30th birthday, Saunders faced the Giants on Wednesday and gave up three runs on eight hits over seven innings. He fell to 3-7 with a 4.50 earned run average in 14 starts this season and 6-14 in 27 outings since coming over from the Angels in a trade last season.
Saunders is 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA in five career starts versus the Royals.
Luke Hochevar counters for the Royals and has lost four of his past five decisions.
The right-hander beat the Blue Jays with seven innings of two-run ball on June 9, but a duplicated line wasn't enough to best Oakland on Wednesday. Hochevar no-hit the A's through five innings, but ended up again allowing two runs over seven frames and suffered a 2-1 setback.
"I still need to get better with runners in scoring position," said Hochevar after that loss. "It just comes down to pitch quality and making quality pitches when I need to make them. I still need to get better at that and it burnt me [Wednesday].
Hochevar, 27, is 4-7 with a 4.87 ERA in 15 starts this year and has split two career meetings with the Diamondbacks while pitching to a 6.55 ERA in that span.
The D-Backs won two of three at Kansas City in the last meeting between the teams in 2009, with Arizona recording back-to-back 12-5 wins to close out the set.
- ARIZONA: 7
KANSAS CITY: 2
Final
Jun 21 10:37 PM - Eric Hosmer flied out to right. None on with one out and Jeff Francoeur due up.
Diamondbacks 7, Royals 2 Bot 8, 1 OutJun 21 10:19 PM - Alex Gordon tripled to right scored Alcides Escobar. Runner on third with two outs and Melky Cabrera due up.
Diamondbacks 5, Royals 2 Bot 7, 2 OutsJun 21 10:01 PM - Ryan Roberts grounded out, pitcher to first, scored Gerardo Parra. None on with two outs and Kelly Johnson due up.
Diamondbacks 5, Royals 1 Top 7, 2 OutsJun 21 9:52 PM - Gerardo Parra tripled to right scored Miguel Montero and Juan Miranda. Runner on third with one out and Ryan Roberts due up.
Diamondbacks 4, Royals 1 Top 7, 1 OutJun 21 9:50 PM - Stephen Drew struck out swinging. Runner on second with two outs and Chris Young due up.
Diamondbacks 2, Royals 1 Top 6, 2 OutsJun 21 9:34 PM - Wily Mo Pena two-out, solo Home Run (1) to center. Juan Miranda due up.
Diamondbacks 1, Royals 1 Top 5, 2 OutsJun 21 9:10 PM - Alex Gordon lead-off Home Run (9) to right. Melky Cabrera due up.
Diamondbacks 0, Royals 1 Bot 1, 0 OutsJun 21 8:16 PM - ARIZONA: 0
KANSAS CITY: 0
Top 1, 0 Outs
Jun 21 8:10 PM
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