PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh Pirates manager Gene Lamont hustled back from family business in Florida to join his team's game against the Kansas City Royals in progress on Saturday night.

He needn't have bothered.

Mike Sweeney was 4-for-5 with a career-high five RBI as the Kansas City Royals beat the Pirates 16-3 Saturday night, stopping Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak.

Sweeney, Jermaine Dye and Brian Johnson homered for the Royals, who had 18 hits and set a season high for runs.

"I really don't like to get absorbed by the numbers," said Sweeney, who has raised his average from .276 to .352 in the last 32 games. "At the All-Star break, I'll take a peek at the stat sheet and I'll do that again at the end of the season. I try not to get caught up in stats."

Sweeney had an RBI single in the first and a leadoff single in the third, He teamed with Dye to hit consecutive homers off Rich Loiselle in a seven-run sixth inning against three pitchers, including starter Jason Schmidt (2-5), that put the Royals ahead 11-3. Sweeney added an RBI single in a five-run ninth.

"These last three weeks are the best I've felt this season," he said. "I've really been concentrated on hitting the ball up the middle and using the gaps and I feel like I'm doing a good job with that."

Schmidt left after he allowed two hits and a walk. Scott Sauerbeck gave up hits to both batters he faced. Sweeney homered on a 2-0 pitch and Dye followed with his 16th.

"It's all mental," Schmidt said. "Until I figure out what I'm doing wrong, it's going to keep going this way. It's frustrating and it's disappointing. I know I'm better than this."

Kansas City scored five runs in the ninth against Jeff Wallace, who hit Todd Dunwoody with the bases loaded and forced in a run with a walk to Carlos Beltran.

Jay Witasick (1-4) pitched five innings for his first win in seven starts since last Sept. 22 at Seattle. He allowed five hits and three runs, two earned.

Schmidt walked three batters in a 33-pitch first inning and the Royals took a 2-0 lead as Sweeney had an RBI single. Schmidt was charged with seven runs in 5 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.71.

Pittsburgh scored twice in the second on Pat Meares' single and third baseman Joe Randa's two-base throwing error.

Kansas City went ahead to stay with two runs in the third. Beltran hit an RBI triple and scored when right fielder John Vander Wal mishandled the ball for an error.

Pittsburgh closed to 4-3 in the third when Warren Morris led off with a double and scored on Will Cordero's groundout.

Brian Johnson and Johnny Damon had run-scoring singles in the sixth and Jeff Reboulet hit a sacrifice fly.

Game notes
The Royals are 3-2 on their current trip. They haven't had a winning trip yet this season. ... Pirates manager Gene Lamont was back in the dugout during the game. He returned from Florida and his daughter's high school graduation. Bench coach Rick Renick ran the team while he was away. ... Schmidt is 1-3 in his last five starts. His ERA is 7.50 in home games. ... Kansas City had three errors, Pittsburgh two.