Drew Butera hit his third home run.
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The defending champion Royals stayed four games behind Baltimore, which holds the second wild card. Molina’s team-mate Matt Adams later slugged a solo homer to right that went out of PNC Park and into the water of the Allegheny River in the two-run win.
“We had a chance to pick up ground”, manager Ned Yost said. “We still feel that we’re not out of this thing by any stretch of the imagination”.
After a string of six straight quality starts, Santana struggled some in his last two appearances by allowing eight runs, 16 hits and seven walks in 11 2/3 innings.
ASTROS 6, INDIANS 2 Rookie Alex Bregman continued his hot hitting with a two-run homer in the third inning and the Houston Astros ended the Cleveland Indians’ six-game winning streak with a victory.
The Royal are 4-5 in their last nine games and have lost those five games by a total of five runs.
If there’s anything negative to say about this run that Dozier is on, it’s that he doesn’t have very good timing.
Kintzler (0-2) was charged with the loss after surrendering four runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Kansas City Royals’ Paulo Orlando hits a single off Minnesota Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson in the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, in Minneapolis. Twins RHP Jose Berrios was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in time to make the start on Monday.
CARDINALS 12, PIRATES 6: Adam Wainwright drove in three runs and survived five occasionally bumpy innings to pick up his first victory since mid-July as the St. Louis Cardinals drummed the staggering Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Considered the Twins’ top pitching prospect, Berrios allowed 21 earned runs in 22 innings over five August starts before being sent down. Dozier hit it an estimated 395 feet into the second deck in left field, giving him 25 home runs since the All-Star break. He’s connected 36 times as a second baseman and twice as a designated hitter. Broke Hall of Famer Joe Gordon’s 76-year-old record for most post-All-Star break homers for a second baseman8. Dozier’s 10 home runs against Kansas City this year are the most ever by a Royals opponent. Dozier is keeping his hands much closer to his body as he begins his swing, which may be allowing him to get the bat through the zone much more quickly than before. This is partly due to the fact that Dozier is notoriously streaky and can disappear for months at a time, and partly due to the fact that he’s stuck playing in baseball wilderness with the Minnesota Twins. Cain remains day-to-day and could start as soon as Tuesday.
