KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals figured out Arizona starter Elmer Dessens just in time.
Carlos Beltran had three hits and three RBIs, and the Royals scored three runs in the sixth inning and four in the seventh to defeat the Diamondbacks 7-3 Tuesday night.
Beltran hit a tying, two-run single in the sixth, then singled home another run in the seventh to give Kansas City a four-run cushion.
"The first few innings (Dessens) was really hitting his spots," Beltran said. "He was pitching pretty good. But the feeling was we had a good chance to win this ballgame. Later in the game he was missing the spots. When the catcher is sitting on the inside corner and you leave the ball in the middle of the plate, that's a mistake. We took advantage of his mistakes."
Desi Relaford singled off Eddie Oropesa (0-1) with one out in the seventh to drive in the go-ahead run, extending his hitting streak to a team-high 12 games.
"At that point, I didn't want to do too much," Relaford said. "I hadn't had too many right-handed at-bats lately and I wasn't feeling all that comfortable. Luckily, I found a spot. I didn't hit it hard, but I put it in a good spot."
Relaford had been 0-for-3 before blooping a hit to center, scoring Brent Mayne with the go-ahead run. Mayne led off the seventh with a double down the right-field line.
The Royals struggled for five innings against Dessens, but managed four straight hits with one out in the sixth, tying the game and chasing the right-hander.
"That's as good a stuff as we've seen him throw all year, for the first five innings," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "His pitch count was good. Velocity was great. Everything was really good.
"Then he started getting some pitches up over the heart of the plate where they could extend their arms. It came unraveled pretty quickly. It ended up a lot worse than it should have been."
For Kansas City manager Tony Pena, the hits came just in time.
"He was very tough. He was keeping the ball down," Pena said of Dessens. "He was working in and out real well. Sometimes that kind of guy is going to give us trouble until we can figure him out. Our ballclub made real good adjustments. They were able to connect at the right time."
Jason Grimsley (2-3) pitched a perfect seventh to earn the win. Sean Lowe finished with two scoreless innings.
Mayne also had three hits for the Royals, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit in a game delayed 1 hour, 45 minutes by rain at the start.
Luis Gonzalez homered, doubled and scored twice for Arizona.
Oscar Villarreal relieved Oropesa after Relaford's hit. Joe Randa hit a grounder, but third baseman Alex Cintron's throw to second went into right field for an error, sending Relaford to third. A single by Mike Sweeney drove in Relaford.
After Sweeney was erased when he was hit by Raul Ibanez's line drive on the basepaths, Beltran singled to right, scoring Randa. When right fielder Robby Hammock bobbled the ball for an error, Ibanez scored to make it 7-3.
Arizona took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Carlos Baerga and Danny Bautista. Gonzalez added his 13th homer in the third.
The Royals tied it in the sixth on Ibanez's RBI double and Beltran's two-run single.
Gonzalez improved his career average against the Royals to .391 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs. He's even better in Kansas City, with a .435 average, seven homers and 18 RBIs in 12 games.
Kansas City starter Kyle Snyder gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings before being removed with a lower back spasm. He was replaced by Grimsley, who made his AL-leading 34th appearance.
"I had a little stiffness and some spasms in the second half of the game," Snyder said. "Along about the sixth, it started to get pretty stiff on me. Tony saw no need to keep me going there. Overall, I feel good."
Notes: All of Arizona's runs were scored with two outs, and 27 of its 47 runs in June (57 percent) have been scored with two outs. ... Randa extended his hitting streak to nine games. ... Kansas City's Michael Tucker was thrown out trying to steal third in the sixth inning, the seventh time this season he has been caught - tied for most in the American League.
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