Associated Press

Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run homer, Mat Latos won for the first time in four starts and the San Diego Padres beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Monday night.

The Padres, coming off consecutive series victories against Boston and Atlanta, have won five of six. The Royals have lost seven of nine.

Latos (5-8) allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings, struck out six and walked two to win for the first time since June 5 against Houston. Heath Bell pitched the ninth for his 21st save in 22 chances, getting the final out after allowing consecutive two-out singles.

The Padres continued their domination of Jeff Francis (3-9), who allowed four runs, three earned, and five hits in five innings.

Francis dropped to 5-13 with a 5.65 ERA in 22 career starts against San Diego. The former Colorado Rockies pitcher is winless in his last six starts against San Diego. At Petco Park, he’s 3-7 with a 5.27 ERA in 12 starts.

Overall, Francis has lost three straight starts and four of five.

With Chase Headley aboard on a double, Ludwick homered to left with two outs in the first, his 10th.

Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer hit a sacrifice fly in the third and Latos helped himself in the bottom of the inning when he hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 lead. The inning ended when catcher Brayan Pena held onto the ball after being run over by Headley, who was trying to score on Ludwick’s double to left.

The Padres took a 4-1 lead in the fourth when Jesus Guzman reached on a throwing error by shortstop Alcides Escobar and eventually scored on a throwing error by first baseman Hosmer, who was trying to throw him out at third after Orlando Hudson’s groundout.

The Royals have thrown out 16 runners at the plate, including four in the last five games.

The Royals pulled to 4-3 with one out in the sixth on Pena’s two-run double down the right-field line to score Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur, who opened the inning with singles. Pena took third on Escobar’s fly to right but was stranded when second baseman Hudson made a nice play to throw out pinch-hitter Billy Butler and end the inning.

Gordon extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

Royals Media Relations

The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has signed four non-drafted free agents.  The Royals have now inked 10 non-drafted free agents since the First-Year Player Draft concluded earlier this month.

Corey Hall, 23, was 4-7 with a 3.26 ERA in 15 starts at Santa Clara University in 2011.  The 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher is a native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.  The 22-year-old Steve Brooks is a 6-foot, 200-pound outfielder from Wake Forest University who stole 30 stolen bases in 33 attempts in 56 starts in 2011.  Justin Fradejas is a 22-year-old outfielder from Auburn University who hit .316 with 11 doubles in 57 games, including 56 starts.  The 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-handed hitter was a 35th-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in 2010, but chose to return for his senior season.  Derek Hamblen, 22, played infield and outfield for Belmont University in 2011, hitting .309 with 11 home runs and 36 RBI in 64 starts.

Associated Press

It was a bad time for the Cubs to face Kansas City right-hander Luke Hochevar. It was an afternoon start and Hochevar excels in day games.

Hochevar won again under the sun and Alex Gordon extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI double in a four-run first inning as the Royals beat Chicago 6-3 on Sunday.

Hochevar is 9-3 with a 4.43 ERA in 14 day starts the past two seasons, compared to 2-11 with a 5.28 ERA in 21 appearances at night. He picked up just his second victory in his last 10 starts, with both coming in afternoon games.

“I don’t pay attention to that stuff,” Hochevar said. “Whether it’s day or night, I’ve got to go out and do exactly the same thing. I don’t get into that. I’ve pitched good in day. I’ve pitched good at night. It doesn’t matter.”

Hochevar (5-8) departed after 5 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out five. Louis Coleman struck out D.J. LeMahieu to end the sixth with the bases loaded.

The six runs were the most the Royals have scored since June 14 when they won 7-4 at Oakland. The Royals banged out 13 hits, with every starter having at least one except Mike Moustakas.

“When you get a lead like that, you can’t let them inch back in,” Hochevar said. “That’s what I was trying to do, keep them back in that corner and not let them try to wiggle their way out. It was really big for our offense to come in and pick me up early and put six on the board.”

The Royals started with their first six batters reaching in the first. Melky Cabrera led off with a bunt single and stopped at second on Eric Hosmer’s single. Billy Butler delivered an RBI single. Gordon’s double scored Hosmer before Jeff Francoeur, who had three hits, added a run-scoring single.

After Moustakas walked, Matt Treanor’s sacrifice fly scored Gordon.

“We wanted to come out and set the tone like we did,” Gordon said. “To get four runs, especially for Hoch, he can go out and relax. He pitched a good game.”

Randy Wells (1-2), who gave up just five hits over six innings in his previous start, has not won since April 4. After a shaky start in which manager Mike Quade had Rodrigo Lopez warming up in the bullpen in the first, Wells lasted six-plus innings, allowing six runs and 10 hits.

“It was just bad pitching on my part,” Wells said. “I didn’t make the adjustment and got us into a 4-0 hole. The four in the first happened so fast. I’m pretty embarrassed about it.”

The Cubs trimmed their deficit to 4-3. Geovany Soto, who went 3 for 3 and walked, led off the third with a home run, his second in two games. In a two-run fourth, Reed Johnson doubled with two outs and scored on Blake DeWitt’s single. Soto’s double scored DeWitt.

The Royals padded their lead with two runs in the fourth. Chris Getz and Hosmer each had an RBI single.

“The tack-on runs to get us back to a three-run lead was big,” Royals manager Ned Yost. “The two runs in the fourth were huge. It kind of took the momentum away from them. It was key to have a little breathing room after the score got back to 4-3.The first six guys in our lineup reached base, but to Wells’ credit, he settled down and got them deep into the game.”

Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 13th save in 18 opportunities.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro singled in the first to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games. He ranks second in the National League with 104 hits.

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chris Getz didn’t have to wait long to redeem himself.

Twenty-four hours after he botched a bouncer in the ninth inning that led to an unearned run in a loss, he drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning and the Royals beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 Saturday night, snapping a season-high six game losing streak.

Getz’s grounder was deflected by pitcher Jeff Samardzija (5-4) to Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, but his throw to first was late and Jeff Francoeur, who had walked, scored. Samardzija walked two and hit a batter and retired only one of the five batters he faced.

“Last night was kind of brutal with the small debacle in the eighth,” Getz said. “Well not small, it was huge. That’s the great thing about baseball; you come back the next day. I don’t have to wait a week. Show up the next day and you can do something to help the team. It just so happens I came up a situation I don’t want to say to make up for it, but certainly gives yourself a chance to win the game.”

Samardzija, an All-American wide receiver at Notre Dame, tried to barehand Getz’s hopper.

“I thought his hands were better,” Getz said and laughed.

Samardzija wished he hadn’t touched the ball.

“I just couldn’t stop myself,” he said. “I saw it coming and I thought I had a chance at it. In hindsight, if you have a great athlete like Castro back there at short, you got to take the odds that Castro is going to make that play. If I don’t hit it, he makes that play.”

Greg Holland (2-1) pitched a perfect eighth to pick up the victory. Joakim Soria struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to log his 12th save in 17 opportunities.

While Getz has only seven extra-base hits and a .261 average, he is hitting .367 with runners in scoring position.

“Getz is really, really good in those situations, hitting better than .360 with runners in scoring position and finds a way to get them in,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I’ve got a lot of trust in that situation in Getz. I knew we needed to get a run right there and get Soria in the game. I had all the confidence in the world that Chris would find a way to put the ball in play and make something good happen.”

The Royals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth when Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler stroked run-scoring singles. The Royals had a chance to add on with the bases loaded and one out, but Mitch Maier and Mike Moustakas had infield popouts to end the inning.

Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto hit back-to-back home runs in a span of four pitches by Danny Duffy in the top of the sixth to tie it at 2-2.

Duffy, a rookie left-hander making his ninth career start, worked a career-high seven innings, allowing two runs on nine hits, while striking out two, walking one and hitting a batter. Duffy struck out nine in 3 2/3 innings in his previous start at St. Louis before exiting with a cramp in his left leg.

“That was Duffy’s best game,” Yost said. “He was very efficient with his pitches. He spotted his fastball well, had great stuff. When they got the back-to-back homers that was the only little dent they put in him. He did a great job all the way around. He was throwing more strikes, getting quicker outs, he was throwing his breaking ball for strikes and actually had a pretty good changeup.”

Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, who was facing the Royals for the first time in his career, gave up two runs on eight hits in seven innings, while walking three and striking out two.

The Cubs, who had four runners thrown out on the base paths Friday, had Reed Johnson cut down at the plate in the third, when he attempted to score from second on Jeff Baker’s single to left. It was Alex Gordon’s 12th assist, which leads all big league outfielders.

Gordon also singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, matching the second longest streak of his career.