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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals manager Ned Yost admitted that he often manages an entire game around getting the ball to reliever Wade Davis in the eighth inning and closer Greg Holland in the ninth. The fact that Yordano Ventura gave him six solid innings made things even easier. Ventura returned from a sore elbow to keep the St. Louis Cardinals off balance, and Kansas City rallied for three runs in the sixth inning before the bullpen closed out a 3-2 win Thursday night that ended a string of eight straight home losses to its cross-state rivals. "The bullpen was fantastic tonight," Yost said. Of course, so was Ventura. The hard-throwing right-hander was skipped his previous time through the rotation because of the ailment, but looked sharp in his return. Ventura (3-5) pitched to contact and took advantage of some sharp defence, which helped him to limit the damage whenever he ran into trouble. "Everything was good," Ventura said through a translator. "I wasnt nervous. I was very anxious. I wanted to pitch well to help the team win." He wasnt in line for the win until the Royals rallied for three runs off Michael Wacha (4-4) in the sixth inning, and Francisley Bueno and Davis each pitched a perfect inning in relief. Holland made things interesting in the ninth. Oscar Taveras led off with a grounder toward second base that Omar Infante fielded deep in the hole and threw awkwardly to first base. Umpire Dan Iassogna initially ruled the throw beat Taveras to the bag, but a video review showed that he was clearly safe. Holland proceeded to strike out Jhonny Peralta, but a wild pitch sent pinch runner Randal Grichuk to second base. Holland then struck out Jon Jay and Peter Bourjos to end the game. The Royals took the first two games of the four-game, two-city series at Busch Stadium, and then lost 5-2 in 11 innings on Wednesday night before taking the series finale. Kansas City improved to 6-2 against National League clubs this season, while its slumping cross-state rivals lost for the seventh time in their past eight games. The game was expected to be a showdown between two of the games bright young pitchers in Ventura, with his 100 mph fastball, and Wacha, who emerged for St. Louis last season. Neither of them disappointed. Ventura left two runners aboard in the first inning and a runner on third base in each of the next three innings. Alex Gordon then helped him out of the fifth, when he threw out Yadier Molina trying to stretch a single into a double with a strong throw from left field. The call was confirmed after a review that lasted 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Wacha only allowed two hits through the first five innings before Alcides Escobar started the Royals rally with a double in the sixth. Nori Aoki followed with an RBI double and Eric Hosmer guided a single through a drawn-in infield to knot the game 2-all. Salvador Perez, who had been in a 2-for-24 slump at home, followed with a go-ahead single. "Wacha was real good up the point of the sixth inning and thats consecutive starts where weve had starters come out and be real good and just hit a wall," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We just werent able to get enough offence back after that." The fact that Aoki had a part in the Royals sixth-inning rally was perhaps fitting. The outfielder was leading off in the first inning when he took a pitch low and inside. He was still leaning slightly over the plate when Molina tried to return the ball to Wacha, and the throw instead ricocheted hard off Aokis helmet and toward the third-base dugout. Aoki crumpled into a heap and lay in the dirt for several minutes before resuming his at-bat. He later grounded out, but hurt the Cardinals with his double during the Royals decisive rally. "Yadi was real apologetic," Yost said. "Nori was just like, OK, OK." NOTES: Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong left in the fifth inning with soreness in his left shoulder, which he hurt diving for a ball Tuesday night in St. Louis. Daniel Descalso replaced him. ... Royals RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts a four-game series against the Yankees on Friday night. Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn will start for St. Louis to open its three-game set in Toronto. Bill Bates Womens Jersey . You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener. Bob Lilly Womens Jersey . The 22-year-old Kreider was injured Friday night in New Yorks win at Columbus, but played in the next two games -- including Monday nights win over Phoenix. But the left winger, who has 17 goals and 37 points this season, was limited to about 10 minutes of ice time in each of the previous games. http://www.shoptheofficialcowboys.com/Elite-Randy-White-Cowboys-Jersey/ . Colorado came up big against Chicago last spring, and repeated that performance Tuesday night. Varlamov stopped 36 shots and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks. Randy White Cowboys Jersey . The Blue Jackets got goals from Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner and R.J. Umberger and Curtis McElhinney posted his first shutout since 2011 in a 4-0 victory on Friday night. Troy Aikman Cowboys Jersey . The Packers, Lions and Bears were a combined 35-15 and as long as Jay Cutler can say healthy, all three could make the playoffs in 2012.MONTREAL -- There was at least one tight battle in Rachel Homans 10 straight victories at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Homan and her Canada rink from Ottawa had to fight back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Saskatchewans Stefanie Lawton 7-6 on Thursday afternoon at the Maurice Richard Arena. Then the Homan rink posted an 8-5 victory over Newfoundlands Heather Strong (4-7) in an evening match to secure first place in the round robin portion of the tournament. "Its good to have a game like that," Homan said of her win over Saskatchewan (8-2). "All the time, every day, all week long would be tough, but it was a great battle by both teams." Homan mused this week about her chances to go undefeated in the Scotties, which hasnt been done since Linda Moore in 1985. Jennifer Jones, now competing for Canada at the Winter Olympics, went undefeated in the round robin last year in Kingston, Ont., but then was beaten by Homan in the final. She has one round robin game left Friday against New Brunswicks Andrea Crawford (6-4), who saw her playoff hopes dashed when Albertas Val Sweeting (8-3) scored three in the ninth and then stole one in the 10th to defeat Manitobas Chelsea Carey (8-2) 7-4. Sweeting clinched a playoff spot and ensured no tiebreaker games would be needed. Carey had a chance at a big score in the 10th, but her angle raise just failed to dislodge Sweetings shot stone. Carey needs a win over P.E.I.s Kim Dolan (3-7) on Friday to finish second and play Homan in the first versus second playoff game on Friday night. The loser of that game plays the winner of the third-versus-fourth game in the semifinal on Saturday. The bronze medal game and the final are on Sunday. Lawton, who lost to Manitoba in the round robin, is in third place. She has a game left against Yukons Sarah Koltun (1-9). Roars went up from the 2,415 spectators at the evening draw as Quebecs Allison Ross (2-9) ended her tournament with a 5-3 win over Ontarios Allison Flaxey (3-7). Flaxey plays Nova Scotias Heather Smith (3-7) on Friday. Going into the Saskatchewan game, Homans rink had outscored eight opponents by a combined 71-30 and had not had to play a full 10 ends. Some wondered if the one-sided wins would leave her vulnerable in the playoffs because she had yet to make any shots under pressure.dddddddddddd She answered that with solid play in a close match, although one in which Saskatchewans shot making faltered in the second half. "That wasnt our strongest game as a team," said Lawton. "We can pick it up. "Rachels team played great and put pressure on us. We can finetune a few of those shots and make them better." Lawton said the fact that her squad didnt have its A-game gives her hope if she ends up meeting Homan again in the playoffs. "I know we can play better and well come out and push them even more," she said. "We had the lead and played a strong first half, but in the second half we werent as strong and that showed on the scoreboard." Homan wrecked on a guard to let Lawton score three in the second end. Canada got two back in the third and another two in the seventh to make it 5-5. It was Lawtons turn to miss in the eighth with a draw that went a little long to give Homan her first lead with a steal of one. Lawton tied it in the ninth, but Homan had the hammer in the final end. She still hasnt had to throw a 10th-end last rock because Lawtons final steal attempt fell just short. Carey clinched a playoff spot in the afternoon with a 9-8 win over Flaxey on a point in an extra end. "Thats step one -- making the playoffs," said Carey. "If Im in the playoffs, Im a happy camper." Crawford downed Koltun 5-4 and Dolan beat Smith 7-5. Flaxey started the Scotties 1-5, but emerged as a spoiler Wednesday with victories over Alberta and the Yukon. She gave Carey a scare with a three in the sixth and another two in the eighth for a 7-5 lead. But Carey rallied with three in the ninth and held Flaxey to one in the 10th to force an extra end. In the morning draw, Sweeting earned a 10-3 win over Ross. Ross opened with the hammer but Sweeting had steals of two, three and two points over the first three ends for a commanding 7-0 lead before Quebec scored one in the fourth. The other early game saw B.C.s Kesa Van Osch claim a 7-3 victory over Strong. ' ' '