ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Stephen Kolek pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Salvador Perez drove in two runs as the Kansas City Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium III. Kolek (2-0) allowed four hits, struck out three and did not walk a batter, retiring 11 of the last 12 he faced. Lucas Erceg earned his 11th save with a perfect ninth. Perez went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs; his sacrifice fly in the first opened the scoring and his solo homer in the fourth added an insurance run. Andre Pallante (4-4) took the loss despite striking out seven over 6 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on eight hits. Kyle Isbel had two hits for Kansas City, which outhit St. Louis 9-5. Iván Herrera singled for one of the Cardinals’ five hits. Kolek combined with relievers Daniel Lynch IV and Erceg on a five-hitter. The Royals improved to 20-27, snapping a three-game skid, while the Cardinals fell to 27-19. Attendance was 38,051 and the game lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes.