Beltran, Lyons help Cardinals beat Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Tyler Lyons couldn't seem to find any pitch that was working in the first inning Tuesday night.

The next six? Just about everything was working.

The St. Louis Cardinals' rookie only allowed two hits against the Kansas City Royals' scuffling offense, and the only run in the first inning.

The result was a 4-1 win that kept Lyons perfect in his week-old big league career, and the Cardinals rolling as they head for home.

"In the first inning, I was a little erratic with everything," he said. "Just trying to control that a little bit and get in the groove and figure out what was working and what wasn't.

"Eventually, everything started working."

By that point, Carlos Beltran had already belted a two-run homer to give Lyons the lead. Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday added solo shots in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals improved to a major league-best 20-9 on the road before heading home for two against KC at Busch Stadium.

The only two hits that Lyons (2-0) allowed were to Billy Butler -- an RBI double in the first inning and a bloop single in the seventh, which ended a streak of 17 straight betters set aside.

"He was very good, and pitched different today. He had a little trouble at first finding his fastball, but he had his breaking ball going today and that kept them off balance," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "He made a good adjustment and found his fastball later."

Trevor Rosenthal pitched the eighth inning in a driving rain for St. Louis, and Edward Mujica breezed through a perfect ninth for his 16th save of the season.

"Just the life, the energy -- they're enjoying showing up every day to play the game," Matheny said, "and you can tell they're really lifting each other up."

Things couldn't be more different in the opposing clubhouse.

Kansas City has lost seven straight and 18 of its past 22, erasing a 17-10 start that had a beleaguered fan base finally starting to believe in something. The Royals' 10 consecutive losses at Kauffman Stadium matches the franchise record set just last season.

"What are you asking me to do? Take my belt off and spank them? Yell at them, scream at them? What do you want?" Royals manager Ned Yost asked. "Do we need to make changes? This can't continue. Somewhere down the road, we're going to have to make some changes."

While the Cardinals had three homers Tuesday night, the Royals have that many in 14 games.

St. Louis got off to a carbon-copy start of the previous night, when Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer in the first inning from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. This time, it was Beltran who went deep off Santana to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead after just seven pitches.

The Royals got one run back right away when Alex Gordon drew a leadoff walk and Butler drove him in with a double to left.

But that was the hardest-hit ball of the night by Kansas City, which set a season low for hits in a game.