Denver ? Emil Brown hit a three-run homer to left in the eighth inning to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.

Brown, who’d gone 107 at-bats since his last homer, hit a 1-1 pitch from Manny Corpas to break a 2-2 tie. Brown finished 3-for-4.

The Royals sent 10 batters to the plate in the eighth and scored five runs on six hits. Mark Teahen and Shane Costa had RBI singles.

Brandon Duckworth (1-3) pitched 12â3 innings for his first win since last June. Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Corpas (0-2) gave up four runs and five hits and got only one out. He had not allowed a run in his past five appearances. He relieved Jeff Francis, who was cruising until the eighth inning. Francis allowed seven hits and one run in 71â3 innings. He threw 74 pitches before being pulled.

Jeff Baker had an RBI triple in the seventh and Matt Holliday added an RBI single in the first.

Willy Taveras robbed John Buck of a two-out home run in the second inning when he raced back on Buck’s deep drive to center, timed his leap perfectly and reached over the wall to bring it back.