Hochevar leads Royals to sweep of Rockies

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kansas City starter Luke Hochevar upstaged opposing pitcher Aaron Cook to lift the Royals to a 4-2 home win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday and a sweep of the three-game series.

Hochevar pitched eight quality innings, allowing two runs to deny Cook his 11th win of the season. Royals reliever Joakim Soria came on in the ninth to record his 21st save of the year.

The victory was the fifth straight for Kansas City (36-43) which improved to 12-3 against National League competition. The win also moved the Royals ahead of the now last-placed Cleveland Indians in the American League Central Division.

"That's a step, no doubt," Royals manager Trey Hillman told reporters. "Sometimes you'd like to take giant steps, but we dug ourselves such a big hole, we just have to get back in it in baby steps."

First baseman Ross Gload finished 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs for the Royals. Gload's two RBI single in the sixth inning gave Kansas City a comfortable 4-1 advantage.

David DeJesus was 2-for-3, with an RBI in the third where the Royals scored two runs off of Cook.

"We went through the 12-game losing streak and we're feeling good now," DeJesus said. "We've got to keep an even keel. We can't be, 'Oh yeah, we're too good.' We've just got to stay humble and keep playing hard."

Cook (10-5) pitched just 5 1/3 innings for the Rockies, allowing eight hits and three runs.

Colorado right fielder Brad Hawpe was 2-for-4 with a solo home run to right field in the seventh inning.

The Rockies, bottom of the National League West Division, fell to 32-47 and have lost their last four games.

(Reporting by Jahmal Corner; Editing by Ed Osmond)