Royals finish road trip with 6-2 win over the Mets

The Kansas City Royals picked up another win and a series victory on Sunday, defeating the New York Mets 6-2 at Citi Field.

Mike Moustakas put the Royals on the scoreboard first with a solo shot in the fourth. Moose jumped over a 2-0 fastball from Zack Wheeler, crushing the pitch to right-center for his 10^th homer of the season.

Kansas City increased their lead with a three-run fifth. David Lough led off the inning with a "double" (Marlon Byrd lost the flyball in the sun), then advanced to third on a Miguel Tejada bunt. Jarrod Dyson pinch-ran for Lough, and ended up scoring on a wild pitch. Lough left the game with right quad tightness, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.

Hosmer ended up drawing a walk, then Alex Gordon reached base on an error; Byrd lost a second flyball in the second, flat-out dropping this one. Lorenzo Cain followed with a single to right, easily driving in Hosmer; Gordon was also able to score on the play thanks to Byrd bobbling the ball.

The Mets picked up their first run in the bottom half of the fifth. Omar Quintanilla hit a one-out single to second, then advanced to second on a groundball. Eric Young plated Quintanilla with a two-out single, his second hit of the game.

David Murphy followed Young with a single, then Josh Satin earned a walk against Santana (although ball four was definitely a strike) to load the bases. Byrd capped off his horrendous inning by striking out, leaving the bases juiced.

Kansas City added to their lead in the sixth. Dyson smacked a leadoff double, then Tejada drew a walk to put a pair of runners on. Hosmer and Gordon followed with back-to-back singles, driving in Dyson and Tejada to give the Royals a 6-1 lead.

Hosmer and Moustakas each had two hits, while every Royals starter reached base safely. George Kottaras drew three walks, giving him a triple slash of .169/.379./446 for the year.

Santana ended up tossing six solid innings, scattering five hits and three walks while striking out five. Tim Collins threw a scoreless seventh, while Louis Coleman surrendered a John Buck RBI-single in the eighth, but stranded a pair of runners. Greg Holland tossed a 1-2-3 ninth in a non-save situation.

The Royals have now won five straight series, and went 8-1 on the nine-game road trip. The team returns to Kansas City Monday to kick-off a 10-game homestand with a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins.

Unfortunately, the Cleveland Indians beat the Miami Marlins while the Detroit Tigers won in extra innings against the Chicago White Sox, so Kansas City did not pick up a game in the AL Central.