KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, giving Kansas City a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins and helping the Royals avoid their first three-game skid since mid-July.

The Royals had been shut down all night by the Twins’ Ricky Nolasco, who scattered three hits over seven innings. But after going quietly in the eighth, the AL Central leaders managed to break through against closer Glen Perkins (3-1) in the ninth.

Alcides Escobar led off the inning with a blooper to shallow right for a single, and Gordon followed by swatting the second pitch he saw over the right-field wall for his 10th homer of the season.

Wade Davis (7-2) earned the win with a perfect ninth inning in relief.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Derek Jeter drove in two runs in his final scheduled trip to Kauffman Stadium, backing a sharp outing from Michael Pineda and helping the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Monday night for their fifth straight win.

Jacoby Ellsbury drove in a run in the seventh inning with the 1,000th hit of his career, then added a two-run homer in the ninth. Stephen Drew and Martin Prado also homered for New York.

Pineda (3-2) gave up a solo shot to Mike Moustakas leading off the third inning, but that was about it in his third game back from the disabled list. Pineda struck out five without a walk in 6 1-3 innings to win for the first time since beating the Cubs on April 16.

James Shields (12-7) allowed six runs over 6 2-3 innings for Kansas City.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Scott Baker won as a starter for the first time in more than three years and the Texas Rangers beat the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.

Adrian Beltre put Texas ahead to stay with an RBI double in the first. Beltre had his fifth straight mulithit game, including all three games against Kansas City to extend his hitting streak against the Royals to 17 games.

Baker (2-3) went five innings in a spot start, 12 days after winning with two relief innings against Tampa Bay on Aug. 12. That was his first victory since a start for Minnesota against Detroit on July 23, 2011.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie gave up a home run on his first pitch and not much else, pitching the Kansas City Royals past the Texas Rangers 6-3 Saturday night for their 24th win in 30 games.

Alex Gordon had two hits, including a first-inning homer for his 15th of the season, and made a diving catch in left field for the AL Central leaders.

Guthrie (10-10) won for the fifth time in six starts. Shin-Soo Choo hit a leadoff homer — after that, Guthrie blanked the Rangers on six more hits before leaving after the eighth. He struck out two and walked one.

The Royals broke a 1-all tie by scoring three runs in the fifth inning, capitalizing on the wildness of Nick Tepesch (4-8). He gave up three four-pitch walks and two singles that inning.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie right-hander Yordano Ventura struck out six in six innings for his 10th victory, and Billy Butler and Josh Willingham had inning-starting homers for the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals in a 6-3 win at Texas on Friday night.

The hard-throwing Ventura (10-9) allowed one run, four hits, and three walks.

Greg Holland worked a scoreless ninth for his MLB-leading 40th save in 42 opportunities after Wade Davis retired all three batters he faces to extend the majors’ longest active scoreless streak to 22 2-3 innings.

Lorenzo Cain shook off a 2-for-14 slump with three hits for Kansas City, which won for the 23rd time in 29 games.

Butler led off the second with his eighth homer, tying the game at 1-all. Cain and Alcides Escobar, the bottom two batters in the Royals lineup, had consecutive RBI singles in that inning against Colby Lewis (8-11) to put Kansas City ahead to stay.

DENVER (AP) — Omar Infante had three doubles and drove in four runs to help the streaking Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 7-4 on Tuesday night.

James Shields pitched six solid innings to get the win for the Royals, who have now won 21 of 26 after getting to Colorado rookie Tyler Matzek in the seventh.

Matzek (2-9) came into Tuesday with a 9.60 ERA in August but was having his best outing since blanking Pittsburgh over seven innings on July 26 when he ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh. Matzek got the first two outs before allowing a pinch-hit single to Josh Willingham and walking Nori Aoki.

Adam Ottavino came on and gave up consecutive doubles to Infante and Salvador Perez to give the Royals a 4-2 lead.

The Royals scored three more runs in the eighth off Colorado’s bullpen. Infante had a two-run double with the bases loaded.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Erik Kratz homered twice after replacing an ailing Salvador Perez, and Jason Vargas pitched seven strong innings to lead the first-place Kansas City Royals to a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

Vargas (10-5) allowed one run on four this and struck out three, but had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 17 when Oswaldo Arcia hit a solo homer in the seventh. Perez had two hits and two RBIs before leaving in the seventh because of discomfort in his right knee, helping the Royals win for the 21st time in 26 games.

Kansas City extended its lead over the idle Detroit Tigers in the AL Central to two games.

Trevor May (0-2) gave up three runs on seven hits and walked four in 4 2-3 innings for the Twins.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games.

Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven times in the second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle.

This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (9-10) returned to the mound after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs to Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas.