ST. LOUIS -- David DeJesus and Alex Gordon hit solo home runs in the eighth inning Wednesday night, rallying Brian Bannister and the Kansas City Royals past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2.
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Last in the AL Central, the Royals improved to 6-2 in interleague play and will try for a three-game sweep of their cross-state rivals Thursday. Kansas City had been 0-37 this season when trailing after seven innings.
Braden Looper held the Royals scoreless on two hits until John Buck had an RBI single in the seventh. Reliever Kyle McClellan (0-2) had allowed only two home runs in 35 2/3 innings when he took over in the eighth with a 2-1 lead.
DeJesus hit his eighth homer with one out. Gordon connected off the rookie right-hander with two outs for his eighth home run.
DeJesus is 8-for-18 with eight RBIs with three homers in the last four games, while Gordon has three homers in eight games after going without a long ball for 107 at-bats.
Ron Mahay struck out Rick Ankiel and got Troy Glaus to ground out with two men on to end the eighth. Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 opportunities. Full story
Twins 11, Nationals 2
MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Slowey won his second straight start since his worst outing of the year, Justin Morneau had three RBI, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Washington Nationals.
Carlos Gomez again got the Twins going from his leadoff spot, bunting for two of his three singles, scoring two runs and driving in a run for insurance in the seventh inning. He barely beat out a bunt in the first, took second on Aaron Boone's throwing error and eventually scored on Morneau's sacrifice fly.
Jason Bergmann (1-5) pitched better than his last two starts, but lost his third straight for Washington. Minnesota scored eight runs in its last two innings against Saul Rivera, Jesus Colome and Brian Sanches.
Slowey (4-6) allowed one earned run on seven hits over six-plus innings for his second straight quality start. He gave up two runs and five hits in eight innings Friday in Milwaukee, after allowing 12 earned runs and 17 hits in nine innings during his first two June starts.
Rockies 4, Indians 2
DENVER -- Jeff Baker homered and scored three runs and Jeff Francis pitched six innings of one-run ball as the Colorado Rockies beat the Cleveland Indians.
Omar Quintanilla went 2-for-3 and had two RBI for the Rockies, who have won four of their last five. Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 15 chances.
Francis (3-6) pitched into the seventh to earn his second win in his last four starts. Aaron Laffey (4-4) lost for the first time since May 22 and for just the second time since April 28.
Baker, who hit an inside-the-park home run in Tuesday's game, got the Rockies on the board first in the second inning. He hit a one-out double to left, Chris Iannetta was hit by a pitch and Quintanilla doubled down the right-field like to make it 1-0.
White Sox 8, Pirates 2
CHICAGO -- Toby Hall hit his first home run in two years and Carlos Quentin slugged his 17th this season to back Mark Buehrle's strong outing and power the Chicago White Sox to a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Buehrle lost a no-hit bid in the sixth when Jose Bautista homered on the first pitch.
Brian Anderson added his third homer and Nick Swisher hit a two-run double in the easy victory, a day after the White Sox's 16-5 win over the visiting Pirates, who can't seem to win on either side of the Windy City.
The White Sox won their second straight and improved to 6-2 in interleague play and 23-11 at home. The Pirates lost for the seventh time in eight games this season in Chicago, and have dropped four of their last five overall.
Marlins 8, Mariners 3
SEATTLE -- Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs hit long two-run homers for Florida and the top home run hitting team in the majors added to its league-leading total in the Marlins over the Seattle Mariners.
The Marlins took two of three in the interleague matchup, winning their first road series since a sweep of the Washington Nationals May 9-11.
Once again, Florida did most of its damage with the long ball. Jacobs ripped his 17th homer of the season in the third off Seattle starter R.A. Dickey. Uggla followed in the sixth with his 21st, thudding off the out-of-town scoreboard behind the Marlins bullpen for a 7-2 lead. The Marlins now have 106 homers, three ahead of NL East rival Philadelphia.
The two homers were plenty of offense for 21-year-old Florida starter Ryan Tucker, who held down the punchless Mariners in just his third start of the season. Tucker, who never pitched above Single-A before this season, went a career-high six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits, while striking out four.
