KANSAS CITY, Mo. Loui Eriksson Canucks Jersey Authentic . -- Tyler Lyons couldnt 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 offence, 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 wasnt. "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 -- theyre enjoying showing up every day to play the game," Matheny said, "and you can tell theyre really lifting each other up." Things couldnt 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 cant continue. Somewhere down the road, were going to have to make some changes." Their offence has been the biggest culprit: Its produced eight runs total in the Royals past five games, and hasnt scored more than four in a game since May 21 at Houston. While the Cardinals had three homers Tuesday night, the Royals have that many in 14 games. "If pressure turns into panic, you have a problem," general manager Dayton Moore said prior to the game. "Right now, weve just got to deal with the pressure in a way that is professional and with the right mindset and just get through it." 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. It was the first time the Cardinals got two-run shots from the No. 2 spot in the first inning in back-to-back games since 1998, when Ray Lankford hit both of them, according to STATS LLC. The Royals havent accomplished the same feat since Amos Otis went deep in consecutive games in 1976. The Royals got one run back right away when Alex Gordon drew a leadoff walk -- the Royals began the night with the third-fewest walks in the majors -- 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. Lyons retired 17 in a row before Butler blooped his single down the right-field line with one out in the seventh inning, and then he left the Royals DH stranded on first base. "I mean, I knew there had to be a few," Lyons said of his streak of retired batters. "I wasnt sure how many there were, but I like not having to pitch out of the stretch, so that was good." Other than the home runs, Santana was nearly as effectively on the mound. The Royals right-hander went 14 consecutive batters without allowing anybody on base at one point, and he was aided by double plays in the first and seventh innings to limit the damage. Not even the best defence could keep the ball in the park, though. Santana allowed four homers to the Angels his last time out, and has allowed seven in his past two starts. "That happens. Im not trying to be perfect, just trying to make my pitch. If I miss, thats how it is," Santana said. "I have to change the page and get them next time." Notes: Molina got a rare night off. Hed played in 58 of the Cardinals first 60 games. ... Gordon was back in the leadoff spot for Kansas City. CF Lorenzo Cain batted third in the order for the first time. ... RHP Jeremy Guthrie will be on the mound for Kansas City on Wednesday. RHP Lance Lynn will pitch for the Cardinals. ... The game took 2 hours, 7 minutes to complete. Daniel Sedin Canucks Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Brandon Sutter Canucks Jersey Authentic . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far.http:///...-canucks-jersey-c-8/ . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that the league is looking at limiting the use of relief pitchers in games.Manfred was a guest on ESPNs Mike & Mike, where he was presented nine suggestions from fans for improving baseball. One suggestion was a restriction on relief pitching in an inning or game.I am in favor of something like that, Manfred said. Weve spent a ton of time on this issue in the last few months.You know the problem with relief pitchers is that theyre so good. Ive got nothing against relief pitchers, but they do two things to the game: The pitching changes themselves slow the game down, and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. Were talking about that a lot internally.This year, the average time of a game is 3 hours, 4 minutes. By comparison, in 2005 games averaged 2 hours, 49 minutes.In mid-May, Manfred said he was unhappy with the pace of games, which at the time was 3 hours and 26 seconds. HHe said then that MLB would look at creative ways to improve both time and pace of games. Jannik Hansen Canucks Jersey. Red Sox manager John Farrell said Thursday he isnt keen on any bullpen limitations.?Fundamentally, when you begin to restrict things, rather than being able to use your roster at your disposal, that begins to artificially control the game, Farrell said. I understand the need to keep the pace of the game going. Without knowing what options would exist and what are the alternatives being considered, thats my first gut reaction.In the moment [as a manager], Im not worried about the pace of the game. As a person who works in the game, sure, were always looking for ways to make it more attractive to fans, to grow our fan base, to attract young fans. We are all aware of that challenge. Were all open to ways to grow that. But in the seventh inning in a bases-loaded situation, Im not thinking about pace of games.?Information from ESPNs Scott Lauber was used in this report. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaNFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
