SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) - Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez each homered off Johnny Cueto and drove in three runs, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 Tuesday.
Hosmer hit a three-run homer as the Royals batted around in a five-run third that included consecutive triples by Billy Butler and Alex Gordon.
“You’ve got to love Arizona,” Hosmer said. “That’s about 30 percent my power and 70 percent Arizona. I got a good piece of it, but Arizona might have helped it out a little bit. You want to work good at-bats and as a team I think we did that today, so it was productive.”
Perez went 3 for 3, with a home run in the second, RBI double in the third and a run-scoring single in the fifth.
Ryan Ludwick and Todd Frazier hit back-to-back homers as the Reds batted in a four-run first off left-hander Danny Duffy. The Royals committed two errors in the inning, and Duffy had a wild pitch and hit a batter.
STARTING TIME
Reds: Cueto, who won 19 games in 2012 but was restricted to 11 starts last year after three stints on the disabled list with a strained right latissimus dorsi muscle, threw eight pitches in a flawless first. He struck out four of his first nine batters, then allowing four consecutive extra-base hits with two out in the third inning. He allowed six runs and threw 58 pitches in 2 2-3 innings.
“The first two innings were more like the Johnny we’re used to seeing,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He did a lot of things we like to see. We would have liked to have had a better result in the third.”
Royals: Duffy, trying to earn a rotation slot, threw 31 pitches in the first but only nine in a perfect second. He also took a Chris Heisey line drive off his right shin that caromed to Hosmer at first.
“I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself, trying to make this team,” Duffy said. “With the numbers I put up today, it’s never good. But 95 percent of the time, if I throw the way I did today I’m going to put up zeroes. The first inning I thought I threw just as well as I did my second inning.”
CHALLENGE COORDINATORS
Bill Duplissea and Cody Clark will be the Royals’ replay coordinators. Duplissea has been the Royals bullpen catcher the past eight years. Clark, 32, was a catcher in the Royals’ farm system from 2007-12. He made his major league debut last season with Houston, striking out 15 times in 38 at-bats with only four hits. The game Wednesday against the Diamondbacks will be the first of five Royals’ spring training games where the replay challenge will be tested.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Second baseman Omar Infante, who has missed five games with a sore right shoulder, will likely be a designated hitter Wednesday. Right-hander Louis Coleman, who has yet to pitch because of a bruised right finger, threw batting practice with no problems.
Reds: Right-hander Mat Latos, who underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery last month, is to throw his first bullpen session Wednesday.
ESCOBAR RETURNS
Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, who has been on a paternity leave and has yet to play this season, is back.
“We’ll give him a day or two to get his feet back on the ground and get going,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.
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