Kansas City Royals give Greinke cold reception in 5-3 victory over Dodgers

The Kansas City Royals weren’t hospitable hosts to a familiar face, as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 Monday night.

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke returned to Kauffman stadium, where he won a Cy Young award, had a nervous melt down or two, and insulted the Royals faithful on the way out the door.

He brought with him a sterling record and earned run average, but on this night it was Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie who proved to be the pitcher in the park. Guthrie (5-6, 3.75) tossed 7.2 innings, yielding seven hits, two runs and striking out two. Until he finally ran out of gas in the eighth inning, surrendering two runs before Wade Davis and Greg Holland shut the door on the Dodgers, he never let the Dodgers hitters become a factor in the game.

Meanwhile, the Royals offense was back on track, and sprayed balls all over the K against Greinke (9-4, 2.89). Greinke, always looking like he’d rather be doing something else, probably wished he would have been. Salvador Perez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second. Jerrod Dyson, who went 3-for-3 with two runs batted in and a run scored, plated Alcides Escobar in the same frame to give the Royals a quick 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Lorenzo Cain, batting leadoff, singled home Dyson to make it 3-0. The Royals kept pecking away at Greinke when Escobar’s triple in the sixth scored Perez to make it 4-0, and Dyson singled home Escobar in the sixth to make it 5-0.

NOTABLES: Greg Holland gave up a solo home run to Adrian Gonzalez in the ninth. It was the first time in Holland’s career that he has given up home runs in back-to-back games.

The bottom two in the order, Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar, combined to hit 5-for-6 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs.

NEXT: Clayton Kershaw (7-2, 2.52), fresh off tossing a no-no, faces Danny Duffy (4-6, 2.80) at Kauffman Stadium, 7:10 p.m. Tuesday.