Cardinals suffer 15-inning loss to Royals

ST. LOUIS -- Yuniesky Betancourt started the game on the Kansas City bench. He ended it by getting the biggest hit of the day.

Betancourt was called upon in the first inning when Chris Getz sustained a leg injury. He hit a two-run homer with two outs in the 15th inning to lift the Royals to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

"I don't even know if I could [describe it]," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "We won. That's all I can say."

Yost and Cardinals manager Mike Matheny combined to use all 43 position players in the five-hour game.

Betancourt gave the Royals a 3-2 lead in the 14th on an RBI double, but Kansas City closer Jonathan Broxton (1-1) gave it back. Betancourt then came through with his next opportunity.

The Cardinals’ Tyler Greene reacts after flying out against the Royals during the 14th inning Sunday in St. Louis. The Royals won 5-3. (Jeff Roberson ~ Associated Press)

"That's destiny," Betancourt said of his two RBI chances through an interpreter. "It was my opportunity to put the team ahead twice. I was trying to do my best, and it happened."

The Royals were down to their last strike in the ninth when pinch-hitter Billy Butler homered off Cardinals closer Jason Motte to tie the game 2-2. The home run was Butler's 12th, but the first of his career as a pinch hitter.

"He blew the pitch right before by me," Butler said. "I just figured I had to shorten up and put the barrel on it. That's what I did."

Butler hit an 0-2 pitch from Motte 438 feet over the Cardinals' bullpen in left to tie the game 2-2. Motte has blown four saves in 18 chances.

"I was obviously trying to go for the strikeout and throw it by him," Motte said. "He guessed right and hit it out of the ballpark."

Jarrod Dyson began the 15th inning with a bunt single off St. Louis reliever Eduardo Sanchez (0-1). Dyson was sacrificed to second and, after an out, Betancourt hit an 0-1 pitch into the Royals' bullpen.

Alex Gordon opened the 14th with his fifth walk, tying the club record he set on July 30, 2008, at Oakland.

Yadier Molina, the last available St. Louis position player, had a pinch-hit RBI single in the 14th off Broxton to tie it 3-3. Broxton was perfect in the 15th for the victory.

"This is as tough as they have been," Matheny said. "I don't know any other way to say it."

Matt Holliday and Allen Craig hit back-to-back home runs for the Cardinals and Carlos Beltran extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a first-inning single. Beltran is batting .462 (18 for 39) during his streak.

Humberto Quintero drove in the Royals' other run with an RBI single in the second off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who allowed one run over seven innings.

Royals starter Luis Mendoza was cruising with a 1-0 lead with one out in the sixth when Holliday hit a 434-foot drive to the bleachers in left-center. The homer was Holliday's second in two days and 12th overall. Craig hit his eighth home run down the line in left two pitches later, a 400-foot shot, to give the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage.

Mendoza lasted six innings, giving up two runs while striking out five and walking one.

Noteworthy

* Umpire Kerwin Danley, who was treated for dehydration after working the plate Saturday, was on medical leave Sunday. He was replaced by Mike Estabrook.

* Royals second baseman Chris Getz left the game with a lower leg strain while trying to get to Beltran's first-inning single.

* Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal, mired in a 2-for-31 slump, was not in the starting lineup for the second time in three games.

* The homers by Holliday and Craig marked the sixth time the Cardinals have gone back-to-back.

* Holliday left the game in the eighth for a pinch runner due to what Matheny said was a leg injury. "He's got a little something going on," Matheny said. "We got to a situation where we could get him out and it made sense."