Beltran, Royals rout Padres, 14-6

? Carlos Beltran went 3-for-3 to raise his Cactus League-leading batting average to .500 in Kansas City’s 14-6 win over San Diego on Sunday.

Beltran, who is 24-for-48 in 16 games, had an RBI double in the first, and his single in the second scored Alberto Castillo.

“Carlos is swinging the bat unbelievable,” Royals manager Tony Pena said. “We hope it carries over into the season. That’s what we’re looking for.”

The Royals sent 13 men to plate and scored 10 runs, eight unearned, in the sixth inning after Padres reliever Edgar Huerta made a throwing error past first base with the bases loaded. All three runners scored.

Huerta retired none of the six batters he faced and gave up a three-run homer to Adrian Brown.

The Royals’ 17-hit attack included Angel Berroa, the 2003 American League Rookie of the Year, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the sixth.

Jaime Cerda, who is a candidate for a left-handed spot in the Royals’ bullpen, did not help his cause by allowing three runs on two hits and three walks in the fifth inning.

In other news, Shawn Camp came into spring as an unheralded, nonroster invitee with little chance to make the club.

Camp, however, has pitched so well that he may break camp with a spot in the Royals’ bullpen. In eight games, Camp is 2-0 with one save and a 2.38 earned run average, while walking only one and striking out nine in 111/3 innings.

“I’m just kind of coming out of the woods, and hopefully I’ll be noticed,” Camp said.

Camp, 28, has a 25-20 record with a 3.57 ERA in seven minor-league seasons after the San Diego Padres drafted him in the 16th round in 1997 out of George Mason University.

Camp was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in July, 2001, and has spent the past 21/2 seasons pitching for their Class AAA Nashville and Class AA Altoona clubs.

He was in the Pirates’ big-league camp last spring, but not for long.

“I was among the first cuts,” Camp said. “I only threw in two games.”

Camp became a minor-league free agent after the 2003 season and Jin Wong, the Royals director of baseball operations who was a teammate of Camp’s in a Virginia high school summer league in the mid-1990s, called him.

“It took only two days for me to make my decision,” Camp said. “I heard a lot of good things about the Royals. The bond here is something.

Camp is getting a long look in the Royals’ camp and is making a favorable impression. He has always thrown a good sinker and has shown a slider in spring training that he will need to throw consistently for strikes to keep major-league hitters off balance.

“This kid has pitched well the whole spring,” Pena said.

In a three-inning scoreless performance Friday against Milwaukee, he allowed just one hit and struck out three.

“He had good movement on his fastball and a good slider,” Pena said. “That’s the best slider I’ve seen him have the whole spring. It was very sharp. It came out of nowhere.”