KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain had three hits and scored the winning run in the 10th inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Friday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Cain led off the bottom of the 10th with a double, went to third on a wild pitch by Aaron Thompson (1-3) and scored on Jarrod Dyson’s fielder’s choice grounder to first baseman Joe Mauer.

The Twins challenged the call, but after a 99-second review the ruling on the field stood.

Wade Davis (4-1) worked a spotless 10th and lowered his ERA to 0.26.

The Royals tied it 2-2 in the eighth when Kendrys Morales’ two-out single drove home Cain, who had singled and stole second. Morales leads the Royals with 51 RBIs.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kyle Gibson threw eight innings of four-hit ball, Danny Santana and Eduardo Escobar had RBI triples, and the Minnesota Twins beat the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals 2-0 Thursday night.

Gibson (6-6) stranded a pair of runners in the eighth before turning the lead over to Glen Perkins, who remained perfect in 26 save attempts. Perkins is two saves shy of matching Eddie Guardado (116) for third-most in Twins history.

The Royals’ Chris Young (7-4) dodged trouble for most of 5 1/3 innings, the only run he allowed coming on a triple by Santana in the fifth. The big, lanky right-hander turned over a 1-0 deficit to the game’s best bullpen, but his offense was unable to bail him out.

Kansas City has lost four straight.

HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve had three hits and scored the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning to help the Houston Astros complete a three-game sweep of a the Kansas City Royals with a 6-5 win on Wednesday night.

The game was tied at 5 in the seventh when Kelvin Herrera (1-2) plunked Altuve on the forearm. Altuve stole second and reached third on a line out. He put Houston on top when he beat the tag at the plate on a fielder’s choice by Chris Carter.

The play was reviewed and upheld.

The Astros trailed early before taking a 5-3 lead after a four-run fifth inning. A two-run triple by Jarrod Dyson off Josh Fields tied it in the seventh before Altuve scored the go-ahead run.

Luke Gregerson (3-1) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Carter and Marwin Gonzalez hit solo homers for Houston and Evan Gattis drove in two runs.

HOUSTON (AP) — Dallas Keuchel allowed seven hits in eight innings to lead the Houston Astros a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

The performance comes after Keuchel (10-3) threw a six-hit shutout in a win over the New York Yankees in his previous start. Keuchel struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter to lower his ERA to 2.03. Pat Neshek allowed one hit in the ninth.

George Springer had a two-run homer in the third inning. Jose Altuve drove in a run in the fifth to help Houston to the victory.

The Astros have taken the first two games of this matchup of teams with the best records in the American League. Houston is 46-34 and Kansas City is 44-30.

Kansas City starter Danny Duffy (2-4) allowed six hits and four runs in 6 2-3 innings in his second start since returning from the disabled list.

HOUSTON (AP) — Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers, and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Monday night.

In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29 and the Astros are 45-34.

McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.

The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.

NEW YORK (AP) — Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson and Seattle designated hitter Nelson Cruz have moved ahead in fan voting for starting spots in the All-Star Game, leaving five Kansas City Royals still in the lead.

Major League Baseball released the results Monday, and voting continues through Thursday night. MLB said more than 500 million votes had been cast.

The starters will be announced Sunday, with the pitchers, reserves and candidates for the final spot to be presented Monday. The game is July 14 in Cincinnati.

Royals outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon, catcher Salvador Perez, shortstop Alcides Escobar and second baseman Omar Infante hold leads. Infante is about 230,000 votes ahead of Houston’s Jose Altuve.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie struck out a season-high seven batters in six innings and Salvador Perez homered to help the Kansas City Royals complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 5-3 victory on Sunday.

Omar Infante hit a tiebreaking single in a three-run sixth inning for the Royals, who have won five of six to open a nine-game road trip.

After winning two of three in Seattle, Kansas City swept the A’s for the first time since 2008.

Guthrie (6-5) allowed two runs and topped 1,000 career strikeouts. The Royals bullpen did the rest with Wade Davis pitching the ninth for his ninth save in as many chances.

Jesse Chavez (4-7) was hurt by an error by third baseman Max Muncy in Kansas City’s three-run sixth inning as Oakland lost its third straight following a season-long five-game winning streak.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Chris Young bounced back from his worst start of the season to pitch six innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 Saturday.

Kendrys Morales hit a two-run single in the sixth off Scott Kazmir (4-5) that erased a 2-1 deficit. The Royals won for the fourth time in five games on their road trip.

Young (7-3) allowed four hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out four.

That was in stark contrast to Young’s previous start against Boston when he was tagged for seven runs in 4 2-3 innings.

Sam Fuld doubled for the A’s, who were wearing throwback uniforms from 1965 when the franchise was in Kansas City. Oakland has lost two straight after a season-high, five-game winning streak.

For the second consecutive game these two bitter rivals played without incident. When they played in Kansas City in April, all three games were marred by bench-clearing dustups.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon homered to back Edinson Volquez, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 5-2 on Friday night.

Unlike when these two teams met in April, when there were bench-clearing scuffles in all three games, there were no signs of lingering animosity. A few players from both clubs exchanged hugs and handshakes before the game, and both managers downplayed talk of any carry-over effect.

Instead the Royals rode the power of Morales and Gordon, and got another strong outing from Volquez.

Pitching against the A’s for the first time since 2007, Volquez (8-4) gave up three hits and one run in seven innings. Volquez also reached 1,000 strikeouts for his career when he fanned Brett Lawrie in the sixth.

Sam Fuld had an RBI double for Oakland, which had its five-game win streak snapped.

SEATTLE (AP) — Mike Moustakas hit a two-run home run and Omar Infante had a three-run double in a seven-run fourth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners 8-2 on Wednesday night.

Alcides Escobar opened the fourth with a single to right off Roenis Elias (4-5), who had retired the first nine batters. Moustakas followed with his seventh homer over the right-field wall.

The Royals would score five more, all with two outs. Infante unloaded the bases with his double to left, then Jarrod Dyson and Escobar each followed with left-field RBI doubles.

Escobar had three hits – two in the fourth – and scored twice. Moustakas had three hits and two RBI.

Ryan Madson (1-1) worked 1-plus inning of hitless relief for the win.