Royals snap seven-game losing streak with 8-4 victory over Blue Jays
Associated Press | Apr 25, 08 10:14 PM CDT in
Sports
John Buck doubled twice and drove in a pair of runs, helping the Kansas City Royals rally for an 8-4 victory Friday night over the Toronto Blue Jays that snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Buck's double in a six-run eighth inning scored pinch-runner Esteban German with the go-ahead run. Buck also doubled home Ross Gload in the fourth, snapping the Royals' 15-inning scoreless drought. The eight runs were a season high for Kansas City.
David DeJesus, who extended his hitting streak to eight games, drove in three runs, including two in the eighth. Billy Butler singled home Jose Guillen with the first run of the inning, in which the Royals sent 11 men to the plate.
Blue Jays shortstop David Eckstein committed two errors, one of them in the eighth that led to two unearned runs.
Toronto starter A.J. Burnett took a 4-2 lead into the inning, but was pulled with one out after giving up a run on two singles and a walk. Burnett (2-2) was charged with five runs, three earned, on eight hits and three walks, while striking out six.
Scott Downs, who replaced Burnett, faced five batters and retired none, allowing three runs, three hits and a walk.
Scott Rolen, who was acquired in a January trade with the St. Louis Cardinals for Troy Glaus, was activated from the disabled list where he'd been working back from a fractured right middle finger. Rolen's two-out, two-run double in the eighth on the heels of Vernon Wells' RBI groundout put the Blue Jays up 4-2.
The three runs off reliever Leo Nunez were the first he had allowed this season, but he picked up the win with the Royals' eighth-inning rally. In his first eight appearances, covering nine innings, Nunez (2-0) had yielded just three hits and struck out 10.
Zack Greinke, who has a 1.25 ERA in five starts, received a no-decision, although he left with a 2-1 lead after seven innings. Greinke held the Blue Jays to five hits while striking out four and walking one.
The Royals broke out on top in the fifth when Gload and Buck led off the inning with back-to-back doubles off Burnett. Buck's double landed on the right-field chalk and ended the Royals' big scoreless drought. Tony Pena Jr. put down a sacrifice bunt to move Buck to third, but the Royals failed to get him in.
Greinke had limited the Blue Jays to four hits the first six innings, but gave up a home run to Lyle Overbay on a 3-1 pitch with one out in the seventh that tied the score. Overbay's first home run since Aug. 30 just cleared the right-field wall.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.