Morales all offense Kansas City needs

Kansas City designated hitter Kendrys Morales celebrates as he crosses home plate after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of the Royals’ 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City.
Kansas City designated hitter Kendrys Morales celebrates as he crosses home plate after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of the Royals’ 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kendrys Morales hit 2 home runs and had all 5 RBI, Chris Young gave up 6 hits in 6 innings and the Kansas City Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Friday night.

The Royals improved to 27-14, the best record in the majors, while the Cardinals dropped to 27-15, best in the National League.

Morales, who leads the American League with 37 RBI, hit a three-run home run with two outs in the first. He hit his second home run in the third with Lorenzo Cain aboard for his 13th multi-home run game. The five RBI matched a Royals' season high.

Young (4-0) got 13 flyball outs and struck out two. In Young's four starts, he has allowed one earned run in 22 1/3 innings (0.40 ERA).

Royals starters Young, Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura and Jeremy Guthrie have combined to throw 26 shutout innings while allowing 18 hits in the past four games.

Young, who beat the Cardinals for the first time in his career, gave up all singles and walked two, while stranding seven runners. He threw a season-high 106 pitches.

Morales and Salvador Perez combined for six of the Royals' 11 hits.

Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn (3-4), who had won his previous two starts, was pulled after six innings, allowing five runs and 10 hits.

The Cardinals loaded the bases in the eighth on a hit batter, a walk and a single off reliever Ryan Madson, but came away empty. Madson got out of the inning by retiring Jason Heywood on a fielder's choice to second baseman Omar Infante.

St. Louis stranded 13 and went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals were shut out for the second straight day, losing 5-0 Thursday to the New York Mets.

INDIANS 7, REDS 3 Brandon Moss hit a home run and drove in three runs, leading host Cleveland to a victory over Cincinnati. Carlos Carrasco (5-4) allowed two runs in six innings, sending the Reds to their season-high sixth consecutive loss.

ORIOLES 8, MARLINS 5 Miami made a costly error, repeatedly squandered scoring chances and remained winless after five games under new Manager Dan Jennings, losing to visiting Baltimore. Jennings is off to the worst start by a first-time manager since Brad Mills opened 0-8 after taking over the Astros in 2010, according to STATS.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NATIONALS 2, PHILLIES 1 Bryce Harper hit another home run and Max Scherzer had another dominant outing to help the host Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies. Harper's 11th home run in 14 games tied the score 1-1 in the second inning and Ian Desmond's RBI double drove in Scherzer with the go-ahead run in the sixth.

PIRATES 4, METS 1 Gerrit Cole struck out 10 over 8 1/3 dominant innings to out-duel New York rookie Noah Syndergaard and lift host Pittsburgh to the victory. Cole (6-2) gave up just 6 hits -- all singles -- and walked 1 to lower his ERA to 2.05 as the Pirates won for just the second time in their last eight games. Mark Melancon got the final two outs for his 10th save.

BREWERS 11, BRAVES 0 Ryan Braun hit a home run and drove in four runs and four Milwaukee pitchers combined to hold host Atlanta to three hits. Braun hit his 11th home run, a two-run shot, to make it 2-0 in the first.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RANGERS 10, YANKEES 9 Prince Fielder launched two long home runs, drove in four runs and helped visiting Texas hold off New York for its third consecutive victory. Quickly down 7-0 and still trailing 10-5, New York rallied in the eighth inning on pinch-hitter Garrett Jones' three-run home run. Journeyman Ross Ohlendorf took over to begin the ninth, gave up a one-out home run to Mark Teixeira and walked Chase Headley with two outs. Stephen Drew followed with a comebacker that glanced off Ohlendorf, and second baseman Tommy Field swooped in to get the out at first.

ANGELS 12, RED SOX 5 Chris Iannetta and Erick Aybar hit a home run in a nine-run fifth inning, and Albert Pujols also hit a home run to lead visitng Los Angeles to a victory over Boston. Mike Trout had two hits -- both in the fifth inning, when the Angels sent 13 batters to the plate and took an 11-3 lead. Boston loaded the bases in the seventh with nobody out and two runs already in, but Jose Alvarez struck out David Oritz and then got an inning-ending double play.

MARINERS 4, BLUE JAYS 3 Nelson Cruz hit his big league-leading 17th home run, Felix Hernandez became the first seven-game winner in the majors and visiting Seattle beat Toronto. Hernandez (7-1) bounced back from his first loss of the season to pitch seven sharp innings, lowering his ERA to 2.19.

TIGERS 6, ASTROS 2 J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run and Alfredo Simon pitched seven strong innings as host Detroit beat Houston. Simon (5-2) got the victory, allowing 2 unearned runs on 4 hits and a walk in 7 innings. Simon, who struck out five, used his slow curve effectively, throwing it so softly once that it didn't register on the radar gun. Joba Chamberlain pitched a perfect eighth with a one-run lead, and Tom Gorzelanny finished after Detroit scored three times in the bottom of the inning.

RAYS 5, ATHELTICS 2 Evan Longoria hit a three-run home run off former teammate Scott Kazmir and host Tampa Bay powered past Oakland. Steven Souza Jr. and Tim Beckham added solo home runs for the Rays, who won for the fourth time in five games.

WHITE SOX 3, TWINS 2 Jeff Samardzija pitched three-hit ball over eight innings, and host Chicago beat Minnesota. Samardzija (4-2) settled down after a two-run first, retiring 17 consecutive at one point. J.B. Shuck delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth, and the White Sox opened the weekend series on a winning note after dropping three in a row

Sports on 05/23/2015

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