ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals ended their offensive slump, but the Kansas City Royals found a way to keep the National League champs down. Eric Hosmer hit a tiebreaking single off closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth inning and the Royals won 8-7 Tuesday night for their second straight road victory in the four-game, two-city series. "It was a great game back and forth, a lot of clutch hits by both teams," said Alex Gordon, who homered in both games. "It was good to see and hopefully we can build on this." Rookie Kolten Wongs first career home run was a grand slam in the second that ended the Cardinals 20-inning scoreless drought and gave them an early four-run cushion. Wong said it was the first grand slam hes hit at any level. "Its awesome," Wong said. "It was good to get us up early, try and give us a chance." The Cardinals finished a dismal 2-7 home stand when their pitchers faltered and fell to 30-29 overall. Before the game, manager Mike Matheny fielded an endless series of questions about the lack of hitting. Gordons three-run homer capped a six-run fifth for the Royals against Jaime Garcia that put them up by two. "We cant complain about what the offence did," Matheny said. "It just wasnt enough." Kansas City starter James Shields also scuffled, surrendering five earned runs in 5 1-3 innings, and has given up seven homers his last three starts. Shields helped himself with two hits, including an RBI double. "I was just kind of all over the place, really wasnt commanding my slider at all," Shields said. "I made three crucial bad pitches and thats what caused six runs." Peter Bourjos 422-foot homer put the Cardinals ahead 7-6 in the sixth. Alcides Escobars bloop RBI single off Pat Neshek tied it in the eighth, a rally fueled by pinch hitter Billy Butlers infield hit. Omar Infante doubled off Rosenthal (0-3) with one out in the ninth ahead of Hosmers hit. Wade Davis (5-1) allowed a hit in the eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances for the Royals, the home team for the last two games of intrastate interleague series that resumes Wednesday. "That was one of those grinder games, where youre grinding right from the get-go -- everybody," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It was a great game." Jhonny Peralta added two doubles and an RBI for St. Louis, outscored 14-0 the previous two games by the Royals and Giants. Wong was chosen as the NL rookie of the month earlier Tuesday and his slam in the second was the Cardinals fifth hit in 10 at-bats against Shields. St. Louis loaded the bases in the first, too, but Yadier Molina grounded into an inning-ending double play on good glovework by Escobar at shortstop and capped by Infantes barehanded grab on the move at second and relay. The Royals had one runner in scoring position the first four innings, then batted around and hit for the cycle in the sixth to take the lead. Gordon homered for the second straight day, Escobar had an RBI triple and Shields had an RBI double with his second straight hit. No St. Louis relievers warmed up during the rally and Matheny said after the game a couple of pitchers had been unavailable. "Im on the mound, Im trying to execute pitches until the manager takes the ball out of my hand," Garcia said. "Im not looking anywhere else." NOTES: Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (8-3, 2.32) opposes Jason Vargas (5-2, 3.39) on Wednesday night. Wainwright is 4-1 against the Royals and 9-5 overall in interleague play. Vargas has at least six strikeouts his last five starts, the longest such stretch of his career. ... Shields is the first Royals pitcher to get an RBI since Luis Mendoza May 29, 2013, at St. Louis. ... The Royals six-run inning tied their season best and tied the best against the Cardinals. ... Matt Holliday walked twice and has reached safely the first 30 home games. ... The Royals have played six games with new batting coach Dale Sveum, and have scored six or more runs in four of them. ... Escobars hit ended Nesheks career-best streak of 20 2-3 scoreless innings. ... Wong, the Cardinals 2B, said he jammed his shoulder a bit diving for Butlers infield hit in the eighth and might miss a game. Oilers Jerseys 2020 . Instead, Nonis and Kessel were sorting through the fallout of a wild melee with the Buffalo Sabres, one that saw Kessel suspended for the duration of the pre-season. Edmonton Oilers Pro Shop . The seventh-ranked Berdych wants to focus on the ATP Tour after helping the Czechs beat the Netherlands in the first round. Seeking their third straight Davis Cup title, the Czechs will rely again on veteran Radek Stepanek. https://www.cheapoilers.com/ . The England international raised his middle finger toward Manchester City supporters during Saturdays game at Etihad Stadium, which Arsenal lost 6-3. The incident was not seen by match officials at the time but the FA charged Wilshere retrospectively after a study of video footage. Custom Edmonton Oilers Jerseys . The Brazilian international goalkeeper was beaten twice in the first 12 minutes of his Reds debut in a 3-1 preseason loss to Columbus Crew in Florida earlier this week. Wholesale Oilers Jerseys . Top-seeded Djokovic, who is making only his second appearance this year after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over 54th-ranked Istomin of Uzbekistan. "It wasnt as easy as the scoreline indicates," said Djokovic, who has won in Dubai on four occasions.DALLAS -- Semyon Varlamov has mastered beating the Dallas Stars. Varlamov made 41 saves in the Colorado Avalanches 4-3 victory Monday night and beat the Stars for the fourth straight time. Alex Tanguay scored the winning goal early in the third period, and Varlamov made it stand up despite the best efforts of rejuvenated Stars scoring leader Tyler Seguin. Colorado led twice, but both times Seguin scored to tie the game. Seguin has 23 goals this season, but had not scored in 13 games. He also had an assist on Jamie Benns first-period goal. Varlamov stopped Seguin twice during a third-period power play with the score tied. "On Jamies cross-crease pass, (Seguin) had about 18 inches of open net," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "He just pushed the puck back into the goalies pads." Varlamov knew he was challenged on that play. "(Seguin) is a good player. Hes got a tough shot. Hes pretty skilled. Hes always dangerous, especially when were penalty killing." The goalie also stopped Seguins drive from the left faceoff circle as the Avalanche killed the penalty. Just 19 seconds later, at 4:13 of the third, Tanguays shot from low in the left circle hit a skate, possibly Dallas defenceman Sergei Gonchars, and skidded past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for the 4-3 lead. "It wasnt pretty," Tanguay said, "but those things happen. I had (teammate Paul Stastny) at the corner of the net. If it doesnt hit something else, it probably goes in with him." Colorados Nathan MacKinnon scored on the games first shot. Jamie McGinn also scored in the first period, and Stastny connected on a power play in the second. "The first five minutes," Ruff said. "After that, we dominated. Their goalie stole the show. "We had five or six point-blank chances in the second to blow the game apart. He was there and he made some great saves." Maxime Talbot and Gabriel Landeskog had two assists apiece for the Avalanche. Alex Goligoski assisted twice for Dallas. The Avalanche won two of three games on a road trip that ended Monday. The Stars had won their previous three games by a 14-1 combined margin. MacKinnon scored after a shot was knocked down in front. The puck went to him just to the left of the goal, and he tapped in a shot beforee Lehtonen could slide across to that side.dddddddddddd Lehtonen had allowed only one goal in 67 shots during the three previous games. Colorado scored again at 15:57 of the first period. After blocking a shot by Dallas Alex Chiasson in their end, the Avalanche attacked. Lehtonen stopped Matt Duchenes shot, but McGinn took the rebound in front and flipped a backhand into the top of the net. The Stars cut their deficit to 2-1 just 1 1/2 minutes later. Colorado tried to clear from behind the net, but Seguin retrieved the puck on the left wing boards and dropped it to Benn in the faceoff circle. His wrist shot beat Varlamov upstairs for Benns 20th goal. Seguin tied the game 2-2 with a 4-on-3 power play at 1:02 of the second period. Benn passed from the right circle across to Seguin, who beat Varlamov on the short side. "It felt good," Seguin said, "like I lost the monkey off my back for sure, getting that goal." The goal extended Dallas streak to eight games with a power-play goal (10 total). The Avalanche regained the lead on Stastnys power-play goal at 17:57. The Stars had successfully killed 16 consecutive penalties before that. Dallas tied 16 seconds later, when Seguin sent a drive from the right circle under Varlamovs right arm. "That was my goal," Varlamov said. "I could have moved a little bit, so I was not happy about it. I tried to regroup for myself and get ready for the third period. The third period was huge for us." He faced a total of 13 shots from the Stars two leading scorers, eight by Benn and five by Varlamov. "Hes having a great year," Benn said, "and had another good game tonight." NOTES: A big difference between third-place Colorado and fifth-place Dallas is that the Avalanche are 13-5-2 within the Central Division, and the Stars are 6-9-5. . Tanguay has points in six of his last seven games against the Stars. . MacKinnon has four goals and two assists in his last five games. He and Dallas Valeri Nichushkin are 1-2 in scoring among rookies. . Goligoski has seven assists in the last four games, 10 in the last eight. . Benn has three goals and five assists in the last five games. . Seguin has four goals and four assists against Colorado this season. . The season series concluded with the Avalanche 4-1 and Dallas 1-3-1. ' ' '