Aviles’ double keys Royals comeback

Down seven runs with San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum on the mound, things sure looked bleak for the Royals.
    Once they got him out of the game, though, all bets were off.
    Mike Aviles had three RBIs and Joey Gathright drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, capping one of the best comebacks in Royals history in an 11-10 victory over the Giants on Sunday.
    Seven different Royals drove in runs, including a pair of RBIs from David DeJesus, and Kansas City belted out 14 hits. The comeback matched the second-best in Royals history, after a nine-run rally on June 15, 1979, at Milwaukee.
    “When we got it to 10-5, the talk in the dugout — and they were accurate — was that we had the momentum even though we were down five runs,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “Today was a grinding out kind of day to comeback from a big deficit against a real good starting pitcher. It’s one of those situations of never quitting as far as a mental mindset, feeling we had a chance against Lincecum and their bullpen.”
    Lincecum took a 10-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth. The Royals scored two in the inning on Jose Guillen’s single and Alex Gordon’s sacrifice fly, then sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run sixth that tied it up.
    Left-hander Ron Mahay (3-0) worked two hitless innings to pick up the victory, and Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 20th save in 21 opportunities. He had retired 18 in a row before Randy Winn’s two-out single in the ninth.
    “There were so many things when you lose a game like that,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “It goes to show that you have to play hard for nine innings, and they did. They shut us down the last four innings and we had trouble shutting them down. This was an ugly game for both sides, really.”
    Winn went 4-for-5 and had three RBIs for the Giants, and John Bowker drove in three runs with a bases-clearing double in the fifth that helped push their advantage to seven runs.
    That’s when Kansas City, sporting throwback Monarchs uniforms, started to rally.
    The Royals closed within 10-5 against Lincecum, chasing him after five innings, and got four consecutive hits against reliever Keiichi Yabu in the sixth. Jack Taschner and Vinnie Chulk didn’t fare much better, with the Royals getting run-producing singles from Ross Gload, Alberto Collaspo and DeJesus.