Road-weary Royals begin homestand with 5-1 win over Braves

The pungent aroma of startled skunk (or something else) overpowered the Kauffman Stadium press box on Friday during the eighth inning.

Ironically, that’s also when the Royals could finally breathe easy.

There’s no way around the fact that the club’s recent road stretch stunk.

The Royals, who returned home after playing 13 of last 16 games on the road since April 25, won only four games during that span.

Beginning a six-game homestand against the struggling Braves, the Royals rolled to a 5-1 win behind ace Edinson Volquez — propelled by a three-run eighth.

“It felt awesome to get back to the K and win the first game of the series,” catcher Salvador Perez said. “Hopefully, things will change a little bit for us. Everybody knows we’ve been struggling a little bit, but that happens to every team.”

Volquez set the tone early, needing only seven pitches to breeze through the first inning.

That proved to be a harbinger of the seven strong innings he’d twirl before a sedate home crowd of 33,132 that endured pregame rain showers and sustained 20 mph northerly winds.

Perez said Volquez’s fastball command and ability to tie up Atlanta’s pitcher on the inner half were critical.

“He’s got a pretty good sinker, and it’s hard to hit a sinker at 95-96 on the hands,” Perez said.

The handcuffed Braves didn’t scratch across a run until the seventh.

Even then, it took a wind-aided single to right on a shallow flare by Gordon Beckham, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly to dent Volquez, who filled up the zone and let his defense do the work.

“Last time, in Cleveland, I was all over the place, so I wanted to make sure I threw strikes,” Volquez said. “I had good movement on my fastball today. I used my fastball a lot … and it was easy ... to get a lot of groundballs.”

The final line for Volquez, 4-3, showed only six hits with zero walks against two strikeouts on an efficient 83 pitches in seven innings. He confirmed after the game that it qualified as a “sexy” start.

Still, the Royals, 17-18, only led 2-1 until ambushing Braves lefty relief pitcher Hunter Cervenka in the eighth.

Lorenzo Cain greeted him with a single to center, advancing to second on an error.

“I was just trying to get something in the zone, looking for something to drive up the middle,” Cain said.

Cain’s hit snapped a zero-for-30 stretch for batters facing Cervenka, who hadn’t allowed a run in 15 appearances to start his big-league career.

That changed two batters later when Cain swiped third base as Eric Hosmer coaxed a walk to put runners on the corners.

Batting right-handed for the first time in the game, Kendrys Morales smashed and RBI single to center, and Perez punctuated the victory with a two-run line drive through a drawn-in infield.

Before that, runs were hard to come by against Braves starter Julio Teheran.

He’s been a scant bright spot for Braves, who tied a franchise record for the worst 34-game start at 8-26 (1935 Boston Braves).

Teheran, who entered Friday with a 1.48 ERA in his last four starts, coughed up a single runs in the first two innings, but wound up scattering four hits and three walks in seven innings.

He didn’t allow a hit in the final 4 2/3 innings he pitched.

“He’s very deceptive,” Cain said. “His fastball is very sneaky, and he kept us off balance with his offspeed. He did a great job mixing in his offspeed and has a really good two-seamer, which he hides well so the ball jumps on you.”

Unfortunately for Teheran, right fielder Jeff Francoeur, who called Kauffman Stadium home from 2011-13, gifted the Royals a first-inning run.

Francoeur misplayed a sinking line drive off the bat of Alcides Escobar, whiffing on a short hop as the ball skittered toward the visiting bullpen and Escobar chugged for third.

Three pitches later, the Royals led on Cain’s RBI groundout.

Volquez protected the lead by working around a one-out double in the second by Kelly Johnson, who missed a home run by inches.

Johnson was stranded at second when Cheslor Cuthbert charged diagonally from third and gunned down Gordon Beckham off a barehanded pick.

Escobar’s RBI double in the second inning, driving home Cuthbert who doubled with one away, bumped the Royals’ lead to 2-0.

“It was nice to get that early lead, and it was nice for Eddie to go out, get us seven strong and hold it,” royals manager Ned Yost said.

Things got weird — hey, it was Friday the 13th — for the Royals in the fourth inning.

Royals left fielder Gordon dropped a fairly routine flyball by Freddie Freeman near the warning track in left-center field for his first error since Aug. 2, 2014, at Oakland — a span of 188 games, including 187 starts, without a defensive miscue.

Freeman went to third on Tyler Flowers’ infield single. Replays appeared to show the ball ricochet off Flowers’ foot in the box, which would make it a foul ball.

Yost came out to argue, but the play isn’t reviewable.

Volquez escaped further damage by striking out Johnson and getting Francoeur to pop meekly to Omar Infante. It also took Gordon off the hook for the error — to the extent he was even on it.

“What am I going to say to Gordon?” Volquez said. “He’s got four Gold Gloves. He said sorry to me and I was like, ‘Why would you do that? Do you know how many runs you have saved for me last year?’ But he was mad.”

Royals 5, Braves 1

1-ran for Morales in the 8th.

E: Inciarte (1), Francoeur (2), Gordon (1). LOB: Atlanta 7, Kansas City 7. 2B: Johnson (5), Cuthbert (2). RBIs: Aybar (4), Escobar (10), Cain (18), Morales (14), Perez 2 (20). SB: Cain (4), Dyson (6). SF: Aybar. S: Smith.

Runners left in scoring position: Atlanta 3 (Markakis, Francoeur, Beckham); Kansas City 4 (Cain, Cuthbert, Orlando 2). RISP: Atlanta 1 for 6; Kansas City 3 for 12. Runners moved up: Cain, Gordon 2, Infante. GIDP: Morales. DP: Atlanta 1 (Beckham, Aybar, Freeman).

Holds: Herrera (7). Inherited runners-scored: Ogando 2-2. HBP: Teheran (Orlando).

Umpires: Home, Greg Gibson; First, Ed Hickox; Second, Mike Estabrook; Third, Jordan Baker. Time: 2:45. Att: 33,132.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 10:14 PM with the headline "Road-weary Royals begin homestand with 5-1 win over Braves."