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Youngsters spark Royals' comeback over Rays

Jul 24, 2011 - 4:44 AM Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Eric Hosmer knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning with an RBI double to vault the Kansas City Royals past the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-4, in the middle game of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

Rookie Mike Moustakas finished with a double and three RBI while Alex Gordon picked up three hits for the Royals, who extended their winning streak to four games.

Joakim Soria (5-3) tossed a scoreless 10th to earn the win, while Brandon Gomes (0-1) gave up the winning hit to absorb the loss. The Rays' Kyle Farnsworth suffered his fourth blown save of the season.

"Like I said the other day when we won in extras, the bullpen really does it for you and that's what happened tonight," said Gordon. "Soria did a great job of shutting them down and it was good to see."

Johnny Damon and Desmond Jennings smacked RBI doubles for the Rays, who have lost eight of their past 11 games.

With two down in the ninth and a runner on first, Gordon launched a ball deep in the right-center field gap to score Alcides Escobar from first to knot the game at four.

The Royals wasted little time ending the game in the 10th, needing only two batters. Billy Butler slapped a single to lead off the inning, and Hosmer followed by roping a ball into the gap to score pinch-runner Mike Aviles.

"The one to Butler was up a little bit but the one to Hosmer was down and away where I wanted it and he put a good swing on it," said Gomes.

Earlier, the Rays plated a run in their first at-bat. Jennings led off the game with a triple to left and scored on a single by Ben Zobrist.

Tampa Bay added a second run in the second inning as Elliot Johnson ripped a one-out triple and scored on a double to left by Jennings.

Tampa threatened in the fourth as Casey Kotchman and Kelly Shoppach laced back-to-back singles to put two men on with no outs. The Rays were unable to capitalize though, as Johnson grounded into a double-play and Damon grounded to shortstop to end the inning.

The Royals fought back to tie the game at two in the fourth. Butler reached on an error by Evan Longoria and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Rays starter Jeff Niemann. Hosmer singled to right to give Kansas City runners on first and third with no outs. After Jeff Francoeur fouled out, Moustakas came through with a two-run double off the wall in right-center.

Zobrist led off the Rays' fifth with a double and came around to score on a double by Longoria to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.

Greg Holland entered the game in the sixth for the Royals and fanned Shoppach and Johnson on six pitches. He walked Jennings on four pitches then gave up a double down the right field line to Damon to give the Rays a 4-2 lead. Holland recovered and fanned Zobrist to limit the damage.

The Royals pulled to within a run on an sacrifice fly by Moustakas in the bottom of the sixth. They were unable to capitalize any further however, as Brayan Pena flew out and Chris Getz struck out to end the inning.

Game Notes

After a 16-11 month of June for the Rays, they are 7-11 in July...Tampa Bay is 15-14 against the AL Central, while Kansas City is 8-7 against AL East opposition...This was Moustakas' first career multiple-RBI game...Holland worked a season-high three innings in relief, finishing with six strikeouts...This was the Royals' major league leading 11th walk-off win of the season...Niemann was charged with three runs -- two earned -- on seven hits over six innings. His counterpart, Jeff Francis, was touched for three runs on nine hits in five frames.