KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ It took a little longer than usual but the rally arrived all the same Sunday as the Cardinals used two cloudbursts of runs to complete a sweep of the Royals and return home on a five-game winning streak.
Thrust into an unscheduled start, Tyson Ross provided six innings.
Brought up to the majors after an extended minor-league career, Patrick Wisdom tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh inning.
And, in the middle of it all per usual, Yadier Molina broke the tie with a two-run single and set the Cardinals toward a 8-2 thumping of Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. The Cardinals swept the Royals for the first time in KC since 2012, and more importantly they finished their three-city road trip a far different team than when they started. And not just in personnel. The Cardinals won seven of nine games on the trip, chipped their deficit in the wild-card race down to less than three games.
They even gained ground in the division race.
KC took a 1-0 lead and later a 2-1 lead, and in each case the Cardinals eventually rallied. Molina's two-run single was part of a three-run seventh inning. And in the top of the ninth Marcell Ozuna doubled with two outs and Paul DeJong homered to widen the score. For the second time in as many games, closer Bud Norris warmed up for the ninth _ but didn't pitch it because the offense took away the save situation.
All three runs scored in the ninth were with two outs.
The Cardinals have scored 21 runs with two outs in their previous four games.
Ross, as detailed below, replaced Luke Weaver as the starter with the latter had a cut on his index finger that didn't heal well enough for the Cardinals to feel comfortable pitching him five or more innings. Ross slid in for his Cardinals debut and provided a quality start. The first run off Ross came as a result of a fielding error by Wisdom, and the second run came with two outs only after a fly ball dropped just inside the right-field line.
Ross got his first win with the Cardinals after allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. He struck out four. Ross retired the final nine batters he faced.
The game took an odd turn in the ninth inning when lefty Tyler Webb was ejected from the game after hitting a Royals batter. The Cardinals had been hit four times during the game _ and that didn't seem to elicit any concern from home-plate umpire Adam Hamari. Webb had a two-strike count on Jorge Bonifacio and fired inside on the outfielder, causing him to turn in to the plate and take the pitch to the back.
Hamari ejected Webb as soon as he got around the batter.
Mike Shildt raced out to argue _ colorfully _ and Bud Norris had to come into the game anyway to close it out.
