St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Vin Mazzaro tossed six scoreless innings, Jeff Francoeur knocked in two runs and Kansas City Royals survived a couple of throwing miscues in the ninth inning to escape with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.

Jonathan Broxton worked a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 16th save of the year and the 100th of his career, but the Royals nearly blew the lead.

Tyler Greene legged out an infield hit with two outs and then stole second. The throw from catcher Humberto Quintero was low and dribbled toward shortstop, allowing Greene to advance to third. The throw to third from second baseman Chris Getz was wide, however, and third baseman Mike Moustakas chased the ball down and threw home, where Quintero used his right foot to block the plate and applied the tag to end the game.

Mazzaro (3-1) scattered five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Jarrod Dyson added two hits and an RBI for the Royals, who won their fourth straight game.

Kyle Lohse (6-2) allowed three runs on 10 hits and two walks over seven innings, snapping a streak of seven straight starts without a loss.

Matt Adams had two hits, an RBI and run scored for St. Louis, which has dropped three of its last five.

The Sports Network