KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Gordon knew that the Atlanta Braves were going to be careful with him with first base open and the go-ahead run standing on second in the 10th inning Wednesday night. He didnt waste the first good pitch he saw. Gordon lofted it into shallow left field, just deep enough to allow David Lough to score, and gave the Royals a 4-3 victory and a split of the first two games the Braves have played in Kansas City. "I just go out there and try to play hard and let my game speak for itself," said Gordon, who hit a leadoff homer in the first inning and made several stellar players in left field throughout the night. "I dont think about it individually," he added. "I think of it as a W." It was a much-needed W, too, after the Royals dropped five of their previous six games. "Thats a great team over there thats leading its division," manager Ned Yost said. "Theyve got 45 wins and we matched them pitch for pitch. Every game we played them we competed. These kids are getting better. I think throughout the second half they will continue to that." Lough had entered the game the previous inning as a pinch hitter, but was still at-bat because Elliot Johnson was picked off first base to end the ninth. Lough singled off Braves reliever Alex Wood (0-2) to start the 10th and then reached second when Miguel Tejada laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. That set the stage for Gordon, who came through with his third game-winning hit of the season. "He started the game with a homer and ended it with a base hit," Yost said. "Hes come up clutch for us in those situations. He did it again tonight." Aaron Crow (4-3) worked the 10th inning for the Royals, who had lost five of their last six. It was the sixth time in the last eight games that Kansas City played a one-run contest. "Its huge," Lough said. "I mean, we know what the braves are capable of doing, theyre in first place in their division, theyre a great team and we stuck with them." The Royals were actually in control through six innings. Gordon ended a 159 at-bat homerless drought with his first-inning shot, the first leadoff homer of the season for the Royals. It was Gordons first home run since May 9 at Baltimore. Billy Butler added a two-out double to right, and then the big DH chugged home when Salvador Perez got just enough of the bat on a pitch from Mike Minor to hit a single to left field. The Royals tacked on another run in the third when Gordon singled to lead off the inning. Alcides Escobar put runners on the corners with nobody out before Eric Hosmer lined into a double play, but Butler managed to bring Gordon home with a timely single to make it 3-0. That was all the offence until Luis Mendoza started to unravel in the seventh inning. The Royals starter kept the Braves off balance with a mixture of fastballs and sliders, and had given up just three hits to that point. But hed put runners on the corners with two outs when he was lifted for left-hander Bruce Chen, who promptly served up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Reed Johnson. Chen walked Jason Heyward to load the bases and was replaced by right-hander Luke Hochevar, who gave up a tying two-run single to Justin Upton. Heyward was thrown out at third on the play to end the inning. Minor allowed three runs on nine hits over six innings, while Mendoza gave up two runs on five hits over 6 2-3 innings. Neither of them factored into the decision. "Mike did a nice job," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "The solo home run by Gordon and he had a couple of innings that were stressful innings, but he did a nice job." Just not good enough to keep the outcome out of the hands of the bullpens. Alex Avilan and Jordan Walden breezed through the Royals lineup, the only blip coming when Mike Moustakas singled off Walden with two outs in the ninth inning. Johnson came in to pinch run and strayed too far from first base, allowing Walden to pick him off and end the inning. Hochevar wound up going 1 1-3 innings for the Royals, who brought in star closer Greg Holland to pitch the ninth inning. He struck out the side on just 11 pitches. "They have a very strong bullpen," Lough said, "but we were able to get to them in that last inning." NOTES: Royals RHP Yordano Ventura (Double-A Northwest Arkansas) and RHP Miguel Almonte (Class A Lexington) will pitch for the world team in the Futures Game. Braves INF Joey Terdoslavich (Triple-A Gwinnett) will play for the U.S. and C Christian Bethancourt (Double-A Mississippi) for the world. ... The Royals begin a four-game series Thursday at Minnesota. The Braves have a day off before starting a three-game set against Arizona on Friday night.Buy Asics Shoes Online Nz . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. Asics Shoes Nz Sale . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. http://www.wholesaleasicsnz.com/ . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Cheap Asics Shoes Nz . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Wholesale Asics Shoes Nz .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena.Andy Murray continues his quest to usurp Novak Djokovic as world No 1 when he targets 500 ATP ranking points at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna this week.The British world No 2 has already won an impressive six ATP titles and added a further 640 points to his tally following his victory at the Shanghai Masters with the Serb unable to defend his title. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just £6.99. No contract. In what has been his most successful year in the sport Murray would match Djokovics current total of seven 2016 titles heading into the Paris Masters and World Tour Finals in the coming weeks with all still to play for. The Scot is one of only three top-10 players to enter the tournament but he has form in Vienna having won two years ago when he beat current defending champion David Ferrer. Sky Sports Barry Cowan explains what Andy Murray needs to do to become the world No 1 by the end of the year He goes up against 27-year-old Slovak Martin Klizan in his opening match before facing a potentially tricky tie against Frenchman Gilles Simon in the last 16.ddddddddddddLucas Pouille could await Murray in the quarter-final with either Ferrer or home favourite and Tie-break Tens conqueror Dominic Thiem a potential semi-final opponent. Kyle Edmund faces defending champion David Ferrer in the opening round Ferrer, 34, opens his campaign against world No 40 Kyle Edmund. The Briton will be looking to continue his march up the rankings after a semi-final appearance at the European Open in Antwerp last week and will fancy his chances of causing an early upset.In the bottom half of the draw, Czech Tomas Berdych suffered a shock defeat to unheralded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili on Monday, meaning Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and surprise Shanghai finalist Roberto Bautista Agut will fancy their chances of reaching Sundays showpiece.Keep across the action on Sky Sports and Sky Sports Mix from midday all this week. You can watch Premier League and EFL Cup football, plus Englands tour of Bangladesh and the Mexican Grand Prix on Sky Sports. Upgrade now and enjoy six months at half price!Also See:Thiem wins Tie Break TensTennis on SkyATP scheduleGet a NOW TV pass ' ' '