KANSAS CITY (Interstat) — One day after dropping the series opener, the Kansas City Royals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. Luinder Avila (4-3) pitched five innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Alex Lange earned his eighth save with a perfect ninth. Aaron Nola (3-6) took the loss after giving up three earned runs in five innings. The Royals built a 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Lane Thomas and a single by Michael Massey. Philadelphia tied it in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Gabriel Rincones Jr. and went ahead 2-1 in the seventh on a forceout. Kansas City regained the lead in the eighth when Salvador Perez doubled in Bobby Witt Jr. and Thomas. Witt and Isaac Collins each had two hits. Perez finished with two RBIs. The Royals totaled eight hits to the Phillies’ five. Attendance was 14,891. The game lasted 2 hours, 23 minutes. Philadelphia fell to 50-40; Kansas City improved to 36-54.