The Tampa Bay Rays surged to first place without the offensive production they're accustomed to getting from Carlos Pena. Now that he's back in the middle of the lineup, the AL East leaders are counting on him to help them stay on top. Pena homered for the first time in a month and drove in five runs Friday night, supporting a strong pitching performance by Edwin Jackson and pacing an 11-2 victory...

Down by four runs and within 12 outs of another loss at Camden Yards, the Kansas City Royals put together the kind of inning that happens maybe once a year. Mark Grudzielanek went 4-for-5 and played a key role in a seven-run sixth that carried the Royals past the Baltimore Orioles 10-7 on Thursday night.

Winless with a 7.06 ERA in June, Daniel Cabrera happily flipped the calendar with another dominant performance against the Kansas City Royals. Cabrera pitched a seven-hitter to earn his first victory since May 20, Aubrey Huff homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat Gil Meche and the Royals 5-2 Wednesday night.

George Sherrill would have been happy with a night off. The Baltimore Orioles closer had blown two straight save opportunities by yielding late-inning home runs, yet circumstances called for the left-hander to hold on to a ninth-inning lead against the Kansas City Royals. Fortunately, Sherrill had plenty of margin for error.

The scouting report said Miguel Olivo has difficulty hitting breaking balls, so George Sherrill tried to seal a victory for the Baltimore Orioles by throwing a slider with two outs in the ninth inning. The strategy was sound. The pitch was not. Again. Olivo homered on an 0-2 pitch to force extra innings, and Jose Guillen singled in the tiebreaking run in the 11th to give Kansas City a 6-5 comeback...

The sun, the wind, and Jason LaRue's stocky body proved too much for Kansas City to overcome. The backup catcher started his day by holding onto the ball in the first inning when David DeJesus came crashing into him trying to score. DeJesus, leading the majors with a .463 average with runners in scoring position, had to leave the game.

The deeper he gets into his first big league season, the better Mitchell Boggs seems to pitch. Working his way out of some tough spots early, the rookie right-hander went six innings Saturday night, allowing four hits and one run and leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-1 victory over a Kansas City team that had won 11 of 12.

So how can the same bunch of guys who lose 12 in a row in May turn around and win 11 of 12 in June? Simple. "We weren't hitting and we weren't pitching at the same time," said right-hander Gil Meche, who went seven strong innings Friday night in a 7-2 victory over St. Louis. "Both parts of our game went downhill.

As a kid in Colorado, Luke Hochevar rooted for the Rockies. On Wednesday night, he took a different approach against them. The 24-year-old rookie pitched a career-high eight innings, Ross Gload drove in two runs and the Kansas City Royals beat the Rockies 4-2 night for their fifth straight victory. "There's still some guys still playing that I grew up watching," Hochevar said.

Zack Greinke is developing into a strikeout pitcher at age 24. The right-hander matched a career high with 10 strikeouts and Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer as the surging Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 Tuesday night. "When there are runners on base, that's the only time I really try to strike anybody out, at least from the first pitch," Greinke said.

Brian Bannister cuts to the chase with his disdain for issuing free passes: "I like walks about as much as I like high gas prices." He matched a career high with six of them Monday night, but didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning. Mark Teahen hit a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4 for their eighth win in nine games.

Down seven runs with San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum on the mound, things sure looked bleak for the Royals. Once they got him out of the game, though, all bets were off. Mike Aviles had three RBIs and Joey Gathright drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, capping one of the best comebacks in Royals history in an 11-10 victory over the Giants on Sunday.

Gil Meche's worst throw was to second base, but it didn't prevent him from picking up a victory. Meche won consecutive starts for the first time this season, Jose Guillen hit a two-run homer and the Kansas City Royals defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-3 on Saturday night. Meche lost his shutout in the sixth when Fred Lewis and Ray Durham led off with singles.