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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On a night when just about everybody who stepped onto the mound at Kauffman Stadium saw their pitches rocketing toward the outfield, the Nationals Tanner Roark proved to be the exception. The rookie reliever shut down the Kansas City Royals over the critical middle innings Friday night, emboldening his team after it rallied from a six-run hole. Jayson Werths two-run homer and a terrific catch by Bryce Harper helped sew up Washingtons 11-10 victory. "I knew it was going to be a long one out there," said Roark, who allowed just one hit and one walk over 4 2-3 innings in relief of starter Gio Gonzalez. "I know Im repetitive, but just kept attacking, kept pounding the zone and kept going after guys." Roark managed to get the Nationals to the ninth, but the rest of their bullpen ran into trouble. Justin Maxwells two-run single off Rafael Soriano got the Royals within 11-10, but the Washington closer induced a pair of fly balls to end the game. The first flyout came on a dramatic sliding catch by Harper in right on a blooper by Emilio Bonifacio. The second came on the first pitch to Alcides Escobar, giving Soriano his 33rd save. "You have to catch that ball in that situation," Harper said. "It was a huge play." Denard Span, Ryan Zimmerman, Tyler Moore and Anthony Rendon also had RBIs as the Nationals piled up 11 runs for the second time in three games -- they beat the Cubs 11-6 on Tuesday night. Just like in that one, Roark (4-0) earned the win with some sublime relief pitching. "Unbelievable job. He really hit his spots," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "He made great pitches. I cant say enough about him." Bruce Chen (5-2) was tagged for the second straight time for Kansas City. He allowed seven runs and six hits with five walks in 3 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the year. Maxwell and Eric Hosmer each homered and drove in three runs for the Royals, who have lost six straight. Salvador Perez drove in a pair of runs, and Alex Gordon added three hits. "Its a game of breaks and were getting the bad breaks," the Royals Billy Butler said. "Its good to see the bats come out. The way things are going right now the breaks are coming and were falling on the wrong side. The pitchers have been great all year. This is going to happen. The starters and the whole staff has been great all year. You cant blame them." Royals manager Ned Yost convened a closed-door meeting before the game in the hopes of igniting an offence that scored five runs in a three-game sweep by the last-place White Sox. It looks as if the message worked. Gordon hit a leadoff double in the first and Hosmer followed with a drive to left, quickly staking Kansas City to a 2-0 lead. Maxwell added a solo shot later in the inning. The Royals kept battering Gonzalez in the second. Jamey Carroll got his first hit in 17 at-bats since arriving in a trade from Minnesota. Gordon hit an RBI double, Hosmer drove in a run with a single, and Butlers run-scoring base hit made it 6-0. Then the Nationals started their comeback. Spans triple in the third scored their first run. In a preview of the trouble to come, Chen loaded the bases before escaping the inning on Werths fly ball to centre. Chens nightmare finally came to pass in the fourth inning, when the veteran left-hander served up three singles to the first four batters he faced. Rendons sacrifice fly scored the first of what would turn into seven runs for Washington in the inning. Spans two-out walk loaded the bases, and Zimmerman walked to score a run. Harpers double off the wall in centre cleared the bases and tied it at 6, forcing Yost to trundle to the mound for a pitching change. Werth greeted Louis Coleman with his two-run homer. "We never give up. We never shut it down," Johnson said. "We go hard." The Royals cut the Nationals lead to 8-7 in the bottom half of the fourth on Perezs base hit, but Washington piled on three more runs in the seventh inning. The first came on Moores RBI single, and the final two runs scored when second baseman Chris Getz threw the ball away trying to make a play at home. "It was a weird game. They didnt give up," Getz said. "They didnt give away any at-bats. They kept having great at-bats and fouling stuff off. We came out swinging and did the same thing and we came back. It was a chaotic game." NOTES: The Nationals traded C Kurt Suzuki to Oakland for RHP Dakota Bacus and OF David DeJesus to Tampa Bay for a player to be named or cash. They also recalled C Jhonatan Solano and LHP Xavier Cedeno from Triple-A Syracuse. ... Royals OF Lorenzo Cain (oblique) felt good after doing a series of conditioning drills before the game. ... RHP Jordan Zimmermann starts Game 2 of the series for Washington. RHP Wade Davis goes for Kansas City. Oscar Lindberg Jersey . The Mavericks avoided a season sweep by the Nuggets, who ran away with a win in Denver two weeks ago to hand Dallas its longest losing streak at three games. Dallas (42-28) got a boost in the playoff race when Miami rallied from seven down in the last 3 1/2 minutes to beat Memphis 91-86 Friday night. Tomas Tatar Jersey . "I wouldnt read anything into what happened Saturday at Torrey Pines," Woods said Tuesday after an 18-hole exhibition for past winners of the Dubai Desert Classic. http://www.goldenknightssale.com/authent...knights-jersey/. -- Catriona Matthew remained atop the Airbus LPGA Classic leaderboard Friday, birdieing four of the last seven holes to take a one-stroke advantage over Charley Hull into the weekend. Curtis McKenzie Jersey .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action. Reilly Smith Jersey . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position.MADRID, Spain -- Atletico Madrid and Barcelona set up a winner-takes-all decider for the Spanish league title after both teams drew on Sunday, while Real Madrid lost to see its slim title hopes end. Little-used defender Tobias Alderweireld headed home a corner kick for Atletico in the 74th minute to cancel out Samuel Garcias opener. Though Malaga finished with 10 men, Atletico failed to score a winner that would have secured a first league title in 18 years after Elche held Barcelona 0-0. Instead, Atletico travels to the Camp Nou next weekend for a dramatic finale to decide the champion. Atletico leads with 89 points, three better than Barcelona, which means a draw will be enough to pry the championship away from the defending champion, which must win to retain its title. "We still believe in this team. Were Atletico and were going to go there to win," Atletico captain Gabi Fernandez said. "Were used to playing in finals." Madrid, which has 84 points, limped out of the league race following a poor showing in Vigo, where a pair of turnovers allowed Charles to score both goals in a 2-0 win. Madrid faces Atletico in the Champions League final and played as if it was already looking ahead to Lisbon as defensive mistakes by Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso allowed Charles to net easily in each half. Cristiano Ronaldo was sidelined with an injury and Gareth Bale was on the bench, while Sami Khedira and Alvaro Arbeloa returned from long injuries to play. Atleticos attack looked disjointed early on without leading scorer Diego Costa, with replacement David Villa unable to finish three good scoring opportunities -- including early on when the Spain striker found the crossbar. Raul Garcia headed well wide with only Willy Caballero to beat, and the Malaga keeper made key stops from Villa and substitute Diego Ribas after the break. Thibaut Courtois rushed out to cut off Roque Santa Cruzs solo effort on the hour mark, but the Atletico goalkeepers mix-up with defender Miranda allowed Samuel Garcia to get free to head home the opener. WWith nerves starting to creep in, Alderweireld -- filling in for the suspended Diego Godin -- leapt high to head home a corner that allowed home fans to exhale.dddddddddddd Marcos Angeleris second yellow card left Malaga with 10 men from the 88th, and Atletico pushed forward as Jose Sosas free kick narrowly missed the target before Caballero made a leaping finger-tip stop to Adrian Lopezs curling shot. "Its going to be an important game for the club," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. "Weve reached the last round three points above Barcelona -- nobody would have believed we had a chance to win, but here we are, alive still." Barcelona, which counted itself out of the title race only eight days ago, came out at Elche with intention but eventually seemed to settle for its result when word of Malagas first goal arrived. Andres Iniesta volleyed a shot off the crossbar early on before goalkeeper Manu Herrera got a touch to Lionel Messis effort in the 38th to tip it around the far post. Herrera denied Messi again after the restart, but the defending champions barely threatened again. "Its going to be a great week ahead and for some of us it could be our last game with Barca so it would be a nice way to go out," Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano said. Atletico hasnt lost to Barcelona this season, drawing in four matches before finally beating the Catalans in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. Two teams will join Real Betis in being relegated to the second division on the last day after Almeria and Getafe secured victories to improve their chances of staying up. Real Valladolid allowed Betis to rally back three times before eventually losing 4-3 to the last-place club. Almeria, which won 2-0 at Granada, and Getafe -- a 1-0 winner over Sevilla -- share 39 points. Granada has 38 points ahead of its finale at Valladolid, which is tied on 36 points with Osasuna in the final two drop places. Osasuna drew 1-1 at Espanyol. Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad drew 1-1 in a Basque derby. ' ' '