St. Petersburg, Fla. ? Neifi Perez and Raul Ibanez hit solo homers and the Kansas City Royals scored three times in the ninth inning Wednesday to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-5.

Perez and Ibanez connected off Wilson Alvarez in the first two innings. Donnie Sadler, Dave McCarty and Mike Sweeney drove in runs off Doug Creek to turn a 5-4 deficit into a two-run victory in the ninth.

Steve Cox hit a three-run homer and Randy Winn followed with a solo shot off starter Paul Byrd to finish a five-run first inning for the Devil Rays.

Tampa Bay scored all its runs off Byrd after the right-hander retired his first two batters. Toby Hall helped keep the inning alive with a RBI single, setting the stage for Cox and Winn.

Byrd allowed six hits and walked one in two innings. Former Devil Rays right-hander Bryan Rekar followed with three solid innings against his ex-teammates.

Roberto Hernandez, another former Devil Ray, pitched one perfect inning to get the victory.

Ben Grieve went 3-for-3 for Tampa Bay, which only advanced three runners past second base after the first inning.

Alvarez, trying to come back from shoulder problems that sidelined the past two seasons, allowed two runs and three hits in two innings in his second spring outing.