Greinke stifles Cardinals in Royals' sweep

[June 20, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Zack Greinke and two relievers combined on a two-hitter, and the Kansas City Royals completed their first three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals since 2001 with a 4-1 victory on Thursday.

Mark Teahen missed the cycle by a double and had three RBIs for the Royals, who are 7-2 in interleague play -- with road series wins at Florida and Arizona -- despite being in last place in the AL Central at 31-42.

The Royals handed the Cardinals their first series sweep of three or more games of the season, with two one-run victories and a tight finale before Teahen hit a two-run homer off Chris Perez in the ninth.

The Cardinals had won eight straight series with one split since dropping two of three to the Pirates at home May 13-15. They absorbed their first sweep since Sept. 12-14 at Cincinnati, and their first at home since the Mets routed them 20-2 over three games to open the 2007 season.

Rick Ankiel homered for the Cardinals, who totaled only four runs in the series against a team that entered the finale 10th in the American League with a 4.46 ERA. St. Louis has scored three or fewer runs in six of eight games since Albert Pujols went on the 15-day disabled list with a left calf strain.

The Cardinals sold out the last five games of a 2-4 homestand with paid attendance of 44,277 for the finale.

Greinke (6-4) didn't allow a hit until Ankiel's 11th homer with two outs in the fourth. He struck out seven, walked one and worked seven or more innings for the ninth time in 15 starts. The Cardinals had only three baserunners during Greinke's stint and neither of the other two made it past first.

Greinke had been 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA in five previous road appearances since his last victory May 18 at Florida. Ramon Ramirez worked a perfect eighth with a strikeout and Joakim Soria worked his third straight 1-2-3 ninth against the top of the order for his 18th save in 19 chances. 

The Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen, working his way back to the closer role after blowing six of 17 save chances, allowed two hits in 2 1-3 innings, two outs shy of his career high and his longest outing since his last three-inning stint on Sept. 9, 2001, against Tampa Bay when he was with the Athletics. Isringhausen has worked 3 1-3 scoreless innings since being activated from the DL on Saturday.

Brad Thompson, whose rehab stint was cut short after Anthony Reyes went on the 15-day disabled list with a right elbow strain, worked five solid innings in his first appearance since April 22. Thompson (1-2) allowed two runs on five hits, with all the trouble coming in the fourth.

Thompson was optioned to Triple-A Memphis after the game. The Cardinals are planning on calling up a reliever for a nine-game trip starting Friday at Boston.

Left fielder Skip Schumaker caught Alex Gordon's drive at the wall to start the inning, and Jose Guillen singled, Mark Grudzielanek hit an RBI double and Teahen had an RBI single in succession for a 2-0 lead.

Ankiel's 11th homer to straightaway center in the fourth was only his second RBI during the six-game homestand.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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