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Brown homers as Royals top Devil Rays

Jun 3, 2007 - 3:25 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Apparently all the Kansas City Royals needed to do to start winning again was leave home.

Emil Brown had a three-run home run and Odalis Perez won for the first time in seven starts as the Royals defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9-4 Saturday.

The Royals came to Tampa Bay on a seven-game losing streak, but handled the Devil Rays for the second consecutive game. It was the eighth win in 10 road games for the Royals, who also have the worst home record in the majors at 9-21.

"We get lively on the road," Brown said. "If we stay away from (Kauffman Stadium), we'll be all right. (This game) was fun to be a part of. Everyone was getting hits."

Perez (3-5) retired the first eight batters he faced before allowing four runs and eight hits while striking out five in five innings. The lefthander departed after the first three batters reached in the sixth, but still managed to pick up his first victory since April 25.

"He gave us a chance to win," Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said. "It was not one of his better outings."

Edwin Jackson (0-7) remained winless on the season. He allowed six runs, six hits and four walks while striking out four in 3 1/3 innings. Jackson did not make it past the fourth inning for the fourth time in 10 starts this season.

"I don't know if it's back to square one, but it's a couple of steps back," Jackson said. "It was just one of those games where I got behind. It doesn't matter (which) team, when you get behind, they can hit."

Jackson was pulled in the fourth after a walk to Mark Grudzielanek. Mark Teahen greeted reliever Tim Corcoran with an RBI double and Brown followed with his second home run of the season to give the Royals an 8-1 lead.

"It was nice to have a win like that - when we get eight runs in the first four or five innings, especially after how many tough games I've come out with a lead and get no win or no decision," Perez said.

Brown, who entered the Tampa Bay series on an 0-for-14 slide, is 5-for-8 in the last two games.

"The other day I was hitting line drives, but they couldn't find any holes," Brown said. "I knew if I kept getting line drives, I would be fine."

The Royals reached Jackson for four runs in the second inning.

After loading the bases on two walks and single by John Buck single, Tony Pena's RBI single made it 1-0. David DeJesus followed with a two-run double and Grudzielanek's groundout made it 4-0.

"Usually we score a lot of runs early and don't do much the rest of the game," Bell said.

Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura, batting leadoff for the first time this season, had an RBI single in the fourth. Brendan Harris added a three-run home run in the sixth for the Devil Rays, who lost for the eighth time in their last 11 home games.

Since a season-high four-game winning streak ended May 18, the Devil Rays are 4-9 in their past 13.

"It's a bit frustrating only because we know how good (Jackson) can be," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "This guy can strike out a guy an inning. We've seen some very good performances this year, but we've seen this also. Right now we're going through the growing pains with him."