Royals continue mastery of Cardinals

Kansas City Royals pitcher Joel Peralta, left, is congratulated by catcher John Buck following K.C.'s 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

? So how can the same bunch of guys who lose 12 in a row in May turn around and win 11 of 12 in June?

Simple.

“We weren’t hitting, and we weren’t pitching at the same time,” said right-hander Gil Meche, who went seven strong innings Friday night in a 7-2 victory over St. Louis. “Both parts of our game went downhill. But guys stayed positive and luckily, we got out of it. Now good things are happening.”

Are they ever.

Alex Gordon hit his fifth home run in 16 games and drove in four runs as the Royals won their sixth in a row, their longest winning streak since opening the 2003 season 9-0. David DeJesus had a two-run double and raised his major-league-leading average to .472 with runners in scoring position. It was the fourth straight victory for the Royals over St. Louis.

“Guys are putting together good at-bats,” said John Buck, who ended up standing on a folding chair while catching a foul ball over the railing in the first inning. “We’re getting two-out hits with runners in scoring position, things we weren’t doing when we weren’t winning.

K.C.’s only loss since starting its hot streak on June 14 was a 9-4 setback to San Francisco on June 20, when rookie starter Luke Hochevar failed to hold a 4-0 lead. At the end of their 12-game skid on May 30, they were 13 games under .500. Now they have the best interleague record in baseball at 13-3 and are within six games of .500 at 37-43.

“We went through a stretch where it was like, ‘OK, what’s going to happen next?’ It kept going downhill,” said Gordon. “Now it’s going the other way.”

Gordon’s solo shot off Joel Pineiro (2-4) put the Royals on top 5-0 in the fifth and DeJesus added a two-run double off reliever Ron Villone.

The near-capacity crowd had Kauffman Stadium rocking as always when the state rivals from St. Louis are in town, with a big chunk of the 36,000 people wearing Cardinal red.

Every time either team did something, half the stadium roared.