ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals ended their offensive slump, but the Kansas City Royals found a way to keep the National League champs down. Eric Hosmer hit a tiebreaking single off closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth inning and the Royals won 8-7 Tuesday night for their second straight road victory in the four-game, two-city series. "It was a great game back and forth, a lot of clutch hits by both teams," said Alex Gordon, who homered in both games. "It was good to see and hopefully we can build on this." Rookie Kolten Wongs first career home run was a grand slam in the second that ended the Cardinals 20-inning scoreless drought and gave them an early four-run cushion. Wong said it was the first grand slam hes hit at any level. "Its awesome," Wong said. "It was good to get us up early, try and give us a chance." The Cardinals finished a dismal 2-7 home stand when their pitchers faltered and fell to 30-29 overall. Before the game, manager Mike Matheny fielded an endless series of questions about the lack of hitting. Gordons three-run homer capped a six-run fifth for the Royals against Jaime Garcia that put them up by two. "We cant complain about what the offence did," Matheny said. "It just wasnt enough." Kansas City starter James Shields also scuffled, surrendering five earned runs in 5 1-3 innings, and has given up seven homers his last three starts. Shields helped himself with two hits, including an RBI double. "I was just kind of all over the place, really wasnt commanding my slider at all," Shields said. "I made three crucial bad pitches and thats what caused six runs." Peter Bourjos 422-foot homer put the Cardinals ahead 7-6 in the sixth. Alcides Escobars bloop RBI single off Pat Neshek tied it in the eighth, a rally fueled by pinch hitter Billy Butlers infield hit. Omar Infante doubled off Rosenthal (0-3) with one out in the ninth ahead of Hosmers hit. Wade Davis (5-1) allowed a hit in the eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances for the Royals, the home team for the last two games of intrastate interleague series that resumes Wednesday. "That was one of those grinder games, where youre grinding right from the get-go -- everybody," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It was a great game." Jhonny Peralta added two doubles and an RBI for St. Louis, outscored 14-0 the previous two games by the Royals and Giants. Wong was chosen as the NL rookie of the month earlier Tuesday and his slam in the second was the Cardinals fifth hit in 10 at-bats against Shields. St. Louis loaded the bases in the first, too, but Yadier Molina grounded into an inning-ending double play on good glovework by Escobar at shortstop and capped by Infantes barehanded grab on the move at second and relay. The Royals had one runner in scoring position the first four innings, then batted around and hit for the cycle in the sixth to take the lead. Gordon homered for the second straight day, Escobar had an RBI triple and Shields had an RBI double with his second straight hit. No St. Louis relievers warmed up during the rally and Matheny said after the game a couple of pitchers had been unavailable. "Im on the mound, Im trying to execute pitches until the manager takes the ball out of my hand," Garcia said. "Im not looking anywhere else." NOTES: Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (8-3, 2.32) opposes Jason Vargas (5-2, 3.39) on Wednesday night. Wainwright is 4-1 against the Royals and 9-5 overall in interleague play. Vargas has at least six strikeouts his last five starts, the longest such stretch of his career. ... Shields is the first Royals pitcher to get an RBI since Luis Mendoza May 29, 2013, at St. Louis. ... The Royals six-run inning tied their season best and tied the best against the Cardinals. ... Matt Holliday walked twice and has reached safely the first 30 home games. ... The Royals have played six games with new batting coach Dale Sveum, and have scored six or more runs in four of them. ... Escobars hit ended Nesheks career-best streak of 20 2-3 scoreless innings. ... Wong, the Cardinals 2B, said he jammed his shoulder a bit diving for Butlers infield hit in the eighth and might miss a game. . - The Oakland Athletics have finalized an agreement on a 10-year extension to play at the Coliseum through the 2024 season. . In the late match, Shinji Okazaki scored two goals to pace Mainz to a 3-2 victory at Werder Bremen. Goals from Milan Badelj, Maximilian Beister and Hakan Calhanoglu ended Hamburgs two-match losing run and kept Hannover winless in seven games.
http://www.cheaporiolesjerseysauthentic ... mbo-jersey. Murray, the defending champion and No. 3 seed, claimed his first match win at Queens in 2005 and went on to win the Wimbledon warmup three times. But he failed to take advantage of eight set points after leading the first-set tiebreaker 6-2, and Stepanek survived to convert with his second set point. . -- Chris Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left to put Memphis ahead to stay, and the 21st-ranked Tigers beat seventh-ranked Louisville 72-66 Saturday, sweeping the season series from the Cardinals. . The Raptors general manager has his list of possible draft selections whittled down to a handful ahead of Thursday nights NBA draft in Brooklyn, New York. The Raptors, who have auditioned dozens of players over the past couple of weeks, have the 20th overall pick in the first round, as well as the 37th and 58th picks in the second.With their postseason hopes fading, the Toronto Blue Jays pay a visit to Miller Park on Tuesday night to begin a brief two-game interleague series with the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee, on the other hand, has won four straight to pad its lead in the National League Central Division. On Sunday, the Brewers put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep over the Dodgers in Los Angeles with a 7-2 victory. Jonathan Lucroy gave starter Wily Peralta all the run support he would need with a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run double in the second. Peralta pitched six shutout innings to earn his major league-leading 15th win of the season. Toronto currently sits 7 1/2 games back of Baltimore in the American League East and four games off the pace for the wild card. The Blue Jays have struggled of late, with 11 losses in 15 games this month. Toronto was idle on Monday -- as was Milwaukee -- after suffering a 7-5 road loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison had a rough first inning as he surrendered six runs on a grand slam and a two-run blast. Torontos offense put some pressure on with four runs in the middle innings and later had the bases loaded in the ninth, but Sox closer Jake Petricka was able to gett out of the jam.dddddddddddd Mondays idle date was one of three off-days in a one-week span for the Blue Jays. J.A. Happ gets the start for Toronto in Tuesdays series opener. The left- hander boasts a 2.51 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break but ran into some trouble in Seattle in his last outing, allowing five runs (four earned) in six innings. "The results werent there, so thats obviously frustrating, every game is big, but you cant get too down on this," Happ said. "I felt good, I felt like I was making pitches." Milwaukee is skipping Kyle Lohse (sprained ankle) in the rotation. In his place steps Mike Fiers, who has allowed just one earned run in two August starts (14 innings) since moving from the bullpen into the starting rotation. He tossed six scoreless frames and notched 14 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Thursday. "I feel like Ive been pitching like this all year," Fiers said. "I kind of got my confidence back from last year, probably in winter ball. Coming into Spring Training, I felt good. I just took off from there. Yeah, I got sent to Triple-A, but it didnt kill my confidence sending me down. I just had to wait for my opportunity and do it now." ' ' '
