KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — James Shields threw a four-hitter and Alex Gordon homered as the Kansas City Royals won their sixth straight, beating the San Francisco Giants 5-0 on Saturday night.

The Royals have won nine of 10 to move within 1 1-2 games of AL Central-leading Detroit. The Royals, who have not made the playoffs since beating St. Louis in the 1985 World Series, are in second place in the AL wild card standings.

Shields (11-6) gave up three singles in the first four innings. He allowed only two Giants to reach second base. He walked Joe Panik in the fifth and he moved to second on a wild pitch with two outs, but was stranded. Panik doubled in the eighth.

It was Shields’ ninth career shutout, his first since Sept. 9, 2012.

Tim Hudson (8-9) gave up a home run to Gordon to lead off the fifth inning.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Billy Butler homered and drove in three runs and outfielder Nori Aoki threw out to runners in the same innings as the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.

The Royals, who have not been in the playoffs since winning the 1985 World Series, hold a half game lead for the second AL wild card.

Butler, who is hitting .423 in the past seven games, homered with two out in the first off Madison Burgarner (13-9).

Butler singled home the go-ahead run in the two-run sixth, which was aided by throwing errors on Giants infielders Michael Morse and Matt Duffy. Alex Gordon had an RBI single.

The Giants scored twice in the third on Joaquin Arias’ double and Matt Duffy’s single.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie retired the final 19 batters in Kansas City’s first complete game this season, and the Royals beat Arizona 6-2 on Thursday night for a three-game interleague sweep of the Diamondbacks.

Guthrie (8-9) allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked none in his eighth career complete game.

Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer and Alcides Escobar had a two-run single for the Royals, who have won four in a row and 12 of 15 to pull within 2 1/2 games of first-place Detroit in the AL Central.

PHOENIX (AP) — Mike Moustakas homered and drove in four runs, Yordano Ventura pitched six solid innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 Wednesday night to win their fifth straight series.

Kansas City rolled over Arizona in the opener and had just enough offense for Ventura (9-8) to take the second game.

Moustakas, who was 1 for 13 to start the six-game road trip, hit a two-run homer off Josh Collmenter (8-6) in the third inning and added a run-scoring single off the right-hander in the fourth. He drove in another run on a fielder’s choice in the ninth inning to make it 4-2 and Greg Holland gave up a sacrifice fly to Mark Trumbo in the bottom half before closing out his 32nd save.

PHOENIX (AP) — Billy Butler had a three-run homer among his four hits, Nori Aoki hit a grand slam and the Kansas City Royals gave Danny Duffy some rare run support by bashing the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-2 on Tuesday night.

Kansas City battered Wade Miley (7-8) from the start, scoring 10 runs off him by the fifth inning. Salvador Perez had the first big blow with a three-run homer in the third inning and Butler added another three-run shot during Kansas City’s eight-run fifth. Aoki capped the big inning with his first career grand slam.

The Royals had 10 of their 15 hits by the fifth inning and had a season-high in runs, allowing Duffy (6-10) to cruise to his first win since June 30.

Perez had three hits.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — James Shields pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in nearly a month, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Sunday.

Shields (10-6) retired his first 15 batters before Josh Reddick hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. Alberto Callaspo then had a one-out single before Sam Fuld lined into an double play.

The 32-year-old Shields (10-6) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked none for the fifth time this season.

Billy Butler and Omar Infante had three hits apiece for Kansas City.

Reddick homered twice, getting to Shields again in the eighth.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jon Lester won his Oakland debut while pitching into the seventh inning and Jonny Gomes got two hits during an eight-run burst in his return to the Athletics as they beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Saturday.

Two days after being traded from the sagging World Series champion Boston Red Sox, Lester and Gomes teamed up to boost the club with the best record in baseball.

The 6-foot-4 Lester (11-7) instantly became an imposing presence on the mound in the pitcher-friendly Coliseum. Fans in the crowd of 30,097 cheered the lefty as he went through his warmup routine in left field, then Lester tipped his cap to a roaring ovation when he left after throwing 6 2-3 innings.

Back with the AL West-leading A’s, Gomes delivered in an eight-run fifth inning. He singled and scored off Jason Vargas (8-5), then hit a hit a two-run single off Aaron Crow.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Sonny Gray has been so good over the past two months the Oakland Athletics haven’t needed to score runs in bunches.

On Friday night, with slugger Yoenis Cespedes gone to the Boston Red Sox, they had no answer for Jeremy Guthrie.

Raul Ibanez homered on Gray’s lone mistake, breaking his own franchise record for oldest Royals player to clear the fences and leading Kansas City past the A’s 1-0 on Friday night.

The 42-year-old Ibanez connected in the fifth inning for his fifth homer, giving Guthrie the lone run he needed for Kansas City’s first victory at the Oakland Coliseum since April 10, 2012. The Royals went 1-5 against the A’s last season, including 0-3 on the road.

“There’s no doubt about it, with the pitching matchups we’re facing in this series, this was a huge win for us,” manager Ned Yost said.

Gray (12-4) hung tough in a pitcher’s duel with Guthrie. The right-hander struck out seven in seven innings and didn’t walk a batter for the first time all year.

“You get spoiled because it seems like he’s doing it every time out. He has done it every time out,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s been as consistent as a pitcher can be.”

Gray had his five-start winning streak snapped with his first losing decision in eight outings dating to a June 13 home loss against the Yankees.

“The past is the past and you move on,” Gray said. “Obviously I had a good month. That doesn’t matter.”

Guthrie (7-9) struck out six in six innings to win his second straight outing following a three-start skid as the Royals beat the team with baseball’s best record for their third straight win and eighth in 10. It could get tougher Saturday, when Jon Lester makes his A’s debut two days after being traded by the Red Sox.

The A’s struggled to get anything going and lost for the third time in four games a day after trading two-time reigning Home Run Derby champion Cespedes to the Red Sox for Lester and Jonny Gomes.

Guthrie struck out the side in the sixth, retiring Brandon Moss and Jed Lowrie on consecutive called third strikes.

Nori Aoki doubled leading off the game and advanced on a wild pitch, but Gray retired the next three batters in order to avoid damage.

Gray had five or more strikeouts in each of his five July outings, going 5-0 with a 1.03 ERA for the month.

ROYALS BULLPEN: Kansas City’s bullpen delivered again. The steady pitching has been key in winning a recent run of close games.

Greg Holland followed scoreless innings by Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis for his 30th save in 32 chances — and third in as many games.

“It’s one of those situations where you’re in a 1-0 game with a tough pitching staff over there, you know there’s not going to be a lot of runs scored so you want to go on with your best guys,” Yost said.

TRAINER’S ROOM:

Royals: First baseman Eric Hosmer, who will be out three to six weeks after sustaining a stress fracture of the third finger on his right hand Thursday, is likely headed to the disabled list Saturday. Yost said more testing is likely but a hand specialist has already evaluated him.

“It’s a non-displaced stress fracture,” Yost said. “That means it doesn’t need to be casted, doesn’t need surgery, just needs time to heal. He’s a pretty quick healer, but it’s probably going to be a 3-4 week ordeal.”

Athletics: Center fielder Coco Crisp received pain-relieving trigger-point injections in his strained neck over recent days. Crisp missed his fifth straight game and Melvin said he needs to take swings to test the neck before returning.

FULD’S RETURN:

Sam Fuld started in center field and batted leadoff one day after returning to Oakland where he began the season following a trade from Minnesota. His leadoff double in the fourth was the first hit off fellow ex-Stanford player Guthrie.

ON DECK:

Royals: Left-hander Jason Vargas (8-4, 3.31 ERA) makes his first start since July 8. He underwent an appendectomy the next day after he experienced discomfort.

Athletics: Lester pitches on seven days’ rest after getting scratched Wednesday ahead of the trade deadline. Lester (10-7, 2.52 ERA) is 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA over his last eight starts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.

Ventura (8-8) limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.

Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.

Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.