Gordon homers, Davis sharp on mound for Royals

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Alex Gordon insists his swing still needs refining even though his spring-training statistics indicate it is just fine.

Gordon homered, Mike Moustakas stroked two doubles to raise his average to .579 and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 Sunday to remain undefeated in 10 spring training games.

Gordon is hitting .500, but the home run to right-center off Tony Cingrani was his first extra-base hit.

"I was taking a lot of pitches early on," Gordon said. "I just decided if I get a first-pitch fastball I was going to go after it, and I put a pretty good swing on it. It feels good to get a good swing.

"I really haven't been swinging it too well even though my numbers might show it, but I really haven't felt that good. That definitely felt better to have a result like that."

Gordon, who has won back-to-back Gold Gloves, led the majors with 51 doubles last season.

"Results do matter, but every spring training stats are always a little bit higher than they should be," Gordon said. "So it's just about feeling good and feeling comfortable and that's where I'm trying to get. I'm not there yet. We still have a month left, so I'll just keep going at it."

The Royals improved to 9-0-1, the only undefeated team in the majors this spring.

"That's pretty impressive," Gordon said. "We might as well go out and try to win a game and that's what we're doing. Hopefully we can continue it and carry that over."

Moustakas doubled in the fourth and scored on Max Ramirez's single. Gordon led off the fifth with a single, stole second and scored on Moustakas' one-out double.

Royals right-hander Wade Davis pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. He has pitched five scoreless innings in winning his first two starts.

"I'm throwing my changeup more," Davis said. "I probably threw 10 today and I had a couple of ground balls and some bad swings on it. That's a good thing. I'm definitely encouraged by that."

The Royals got three consecutive pinch-hit singles from Christian Colon, Xavier Nady and Brandon Wood in a four-run sixth.

Reds starter right-hander Homer Bailey allowed one single in two scoreless innings, logging five of his six outs by strikeout.

"It could be six out of six." Bailey said and laughed. "Strikeouts kind of come and go. I don't worry about those too much. I like outs. I still try to strike everybody out. If they happen to put it in play in the first couple of pitches, I don't quite get there.

"I'd like to have a few first pitch strikes, a couple of them missed by a little bit," Bailey said. "But I guess overall, pretty good. Other than that once we got into the at-bat, it came back. I pitched well."

Notes: Royals INF Elliot Johnson is expected to return Tuesday after missing four games with a bruised knee. ... Royals LHP Everett Teaford, who has not pitched because of a sore shoulder, will throw batting practice Tuesday. If all goes well, he could appear in a game Friday. ... The Royals, who led the majors with a .338 batting average, struck out 10 times, nine of them in the first four innings.