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DeJesus, Gordon power Royals to victory

Jun 19, 2008 - 4:25 AM By Jim Walsh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals used some late firepower to erase a great outing by Braden Looper and defeat their intrastate rivals.

David DeJesus hit a game-tying home run in the eighth and and Alex Gordon belted a go-ahead shot later in the frame as the Royals rallied for a 3-2 interleague victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Despite seven superb innings from Looper, the Cardinals could not pull it out because DeJesus lined a first-pitch fastball from Kyle McClellan (0-2) over the wall in right field for a one-out blast in the eighth that tied the score at 2-2.

"I was able to get a good timing in the on-deck circle," DeJesus said. "I didn't want to wait, when I saw one right down the middle I said, Let me just hit it, and it went out."

Two batters later, Gordon sent a shot deep into the seats in right to give Kansas City the lead.

It was a breakthrough win for the Royals, who had been 0-37 this season when trailing after seven innings. But that did not matter to DeJesus, who has three home runs in the last four games.

"We feel right now that we're in the game," DeJesus said. "We're not giving up after the seventh inning. Looper was pretty tough today but once we got him out we were able to take advantage of the next guy."

"Just a frustrating, frustrating inning," McClellan said. "I missed my spot. It was a sinker that didn't sink and a cutter that didn't cut. That's the thing that really gets to me, Looper pitched so well and I feel like I just wasted that."

It was the fourth victory in a row for the Royals, who improved to 6-2 in interleague play.

In his first start after tossing his first shutout, Looper was in control from the beginning, retiring 18 of the 21 batters he faced. The converted reliever surrendered one run with five hits with no walks or strikeouts.

"Looper did his part, no doubt," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He gave us an outstanding chance to win."

"I just kept trying to keep the ball down and get ground balls," said Looper, who had a 15 2/3-inning scoreless streak snapped when he allowed an RBI single to John Buck in the seventh. "I did a pretty good job of keeping the ball on the ground for the most part. It's just unfortunate we couldn't pull it out in the end."

Kansas City starter Brian Bannister (6-6) turned in a solid performance, allowing only the two runs in seven innings while scattering nine hits. It was the righthander's first win in a night game since August 28, 2007; he was 0-7 in his last 10 night starts.

"I really just tried to pound the zone," said Bannister, who improved to 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts against St. Louis. "I pitched a little more to contact than I've been pitching. I really just threw a ton of pitches in the zone tonight."

The Cardinals threatened in the eighth when the first two batters reached against reliever Ramon Ramirez. However, Ramirez retired Ryan Ludwick before Ron Mahay struck out Rick Ankiel and got a groundout from Troy Glaus to end the threat.

"I was just trying to get out of the jam," Mahay said. "I was fortunate to get Rick to swing and miss and have Troy ground out."

Joakim Soria threw a perfect ninth to record his 17th save in 18 opportunities.

The Cardinals scratched out single runs in the first and fourth innings to manufacture a 2-0 lead against Bannister. Ludwick's sacrifice fly plated Skip Schumaker to put St. Louis on the board, while Jason LaRue's infield single plated Ankiel three innings later to double the advantage.

Chris Duncan broke an 0-for-11 string with two hits for the Cardinals, who fell to 2-3 on their current six- game homestand.