KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Yordano Ventura threw six innings in his return from a sore elbow, and the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Thursday night and end a string of eight straight home losses to their in-state rivals.

Ventura (3-5) was skipped his previous time through the rotation because of minor elbow pain, but he looked sharp in his return.

He pitched to contact and took advantage of some sharp defense, which helped him to limit the damage whenever he ran into trouble.

The Royals rallied for three runs off Michael Wacha (4-4) to take the lead in the sixth inning, and Francisley Bueno and Wade Davis each pitched a perfect inning in relief of Ventura.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Matt Carpenter had a career-high five hits, including the go-ahead double in the 11th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 on Wednesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

After the Royals rallied with two runs in the ninth, Peter Bourjos worked a one-out walk off Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera (1-2) in the 11th. Carpenter then rapped his double to center field, drawing a roar from a crowd comprised mostly of Cardinals fans.

Allen Craig added a two-run single off Tim Collins later in the inning, and Pat Neshek breezed through the bottom half to end the Royals’ six-game winning streak against National League clubs.

Sam Freeman (1-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th inning.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eric Hosmer hit a tiebreaking single off closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-7 Tuesday night for their second straight road victory in the four-game, two-city series.

Rookie Kolten Wong’s first career home run was a grand slam in the second that ended the Cardinals’ 20-inning scoreless drought and gave them an early four-run cushion. The defending National League champions finished a dismal 2-7 homestand when their pitchers faltered.

Alex Gordon’s three-run homer capped a six-run fifth for the Royals against Jaime Garcia that put them up by two. Kansas City starter James Shields also scuffled, surrendering five earned runs in 5 1-3 innings.

Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances. The intrastate rivalry now shifts to Kansas City, the home team for the last two games of the interleague series that resumes Wednesday.

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Buehrle pitched eight sharp innings to become baseball’s first 10-game winner, Edwin Encarnacion homered again and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-0 Sunday.

Buehrle (10-1) won his sixth straight decision. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three.

He lowered his ERA to 2.10, second-best in the AL to New York’s Masahiro Tanaka, and improved to 25-12 lifetime against the Royals.

Encarnacion, who matched Mickey Mantle’s AL record with 16 home runs in May, started off a new month with another drive. He hit a two-run shot off Aaron Crow in the eighth for his 19th homer of the season.

Jeremy Guthrie (2-5) lost his fifth straight decision.

TORONTO (AP) — Juan Francisco had three hits and four RBIs, Marcus Stroman won his first career start and the Toronto Blue Jays used a seven-run first inning to rout the Kansas City Royals 12-2 on Saturday.

Adam Lind went 3 for 5 with three RBIs as the AL East-leading Blue Jays snapped a two-game losing streak and finished May with a record of 21-9. Toronto has won 15 of its past 19.

Stroman (2-0) allowed one run and five hits in six innings. The right-hander walked none and struck out six.

Todd Redmond worked the final three innings for his first save.

The Blue Jays gave Stroman all the support he would need with a 12-batter first inning against Royals right-hander Aaron Brooks, who was also making his first career start. Toronto set a team record when the first eight batters reached safely against Brooks. The Blue Jays had seven straight reach safely to begin a win over Baltimore on Sept. 15, 2007.

TORONTO (AP) — When Jason Vargas snuffed out a Toronto rally in the first inning, it gave the Kansas City Royals an early lift, one they carried all the way to a second straight win over the Blue Jays.

Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain homered, Vargas won for the first time in three starts and the Royals beat the Blue Jays 6-1 on Friday night.

Vargas (5-2) allowed one run and seven hits in six innings, walked three and struck out seven. He is 2-0 with a 1.60 ERA in six road starts this season.

Vargas allowed a leadoff triple to Jose Reyes in the first, but Reyes had to hold at third on Melky Cabrera’s fly ball to right. Jose Bautista followed with a walk, but Vargas got out of it by getting Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie to fly out.

“I feel something like that hopefully sets the tone for the game and fires us up,” Vargas said. “We were able to get a run the next inning and keep it moving from there.”

Vargas kept on turning the Blue Jays away whenever they put men on base. Toronto finished 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 14 runners.

“Vargas keeps you off balance,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “If you’re sitting on a pitch, you don’t get it. We had some shots but he was better.”

Cain went 3 for 4 and matched a career high with four RBIs, and Gordon reached base three times as the Royals handed Toronto its second consecutive loss following a season-best nine-game winning streak.

“This is more of the offense that we envisioned coming out of spring training,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We’re not going to be a club that’s going to lead the league in home runs but we’ve got home run power that we haven’t used.”

The home runs were the 23rd and 24th of the season for the Royals, whose total is the lowest in the majors.

Aaron Crow worked the seventh and Kevin Herrera pitched the final two innings, striking out Dioner Navarro for the final out and stranding runners at first and second.

Cain got the Royals on the board with an RBI single off left-hander J.A. Happ in the second, and Gordon followed Butler’s leadoff single by homering on a 3-2 pitch in the fourth.

Bautista replied with a two-out homer in the fifth, but the Royals restored their three-run lead in the sixth. Gordon drew a one-out walk and was almost caught stealing but ended up at second after first baseman Encarnacion dropped Happ’s pickoff throw. The mistake proved costly when Cain drove in Gordon with a two-out single.

Kansas City chased Happ and capped the scoring in the eighth on Cain’s two-out homer.

Happ (4-2) lost for the first time in four starts, allowing a season-worst six runs in 7 2-3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.

“They put some good swings on me,” Happ said. “They were aggressive and they definitely made me pay for my mistakes.”

For the second straight game, Bautista threw out a runner at first from right field. After getting Billy Butler on Thursday, Bautista slid to corral Infante’s shallow fly and gunned a throw to first in the seventh after Infante didn’t initially run out of the box.

“I don’t know if you’ll see a better play in baseball today than that play right there,” Yost said. “Omar hit the ball and lost it, he thought it was foul. For Bautista to come, smother the ball, one, and then still see that he had a play at first base, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a play like that. Tremendous play.”

NOTES: 3B Danny Valencia returned to Kansas City’s lineup after missing the past five games with a sore left hand. … Toronto selected RHP Bobby Korecky from Triple-A Buffalo before the game and optioned LHP Rob Rasmussen to Triple-A. Korecky was designated for assignment following the game and RHP Marcus Stroman was recalled from Buffalo to start Saturday, with RHP Drew Hutchison pushed back to Tuesday for extra rest. … The Royals intend to recall RHP Aaron Brooks from Triple-A Omaha to start against the Blue Jays on Saturday. Brooks will pitch in place of RHP Yordano Ventura, who left his last start with a sore elbow. … Ventura played catch Friday and will throw a light bullpen Saturday.

TORONTO (AP) — Omar Infante hit a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Kansas City Royals overcame two home runs by Edwin Encarnacion to beat the Blue Jays 8-6 on Thursday night, snapping Toronto’s winning streak at nine games.

Facing Todd Redmond (0-4), Alcides Escobar singled to begin the 10th. Pedro Ciriaco was hit on the front of the helmet while squaring to bunt and Nori Aoki advanced the runners with a sacrifice before Infante lined a single just over the reach of leaping third baseman Brett Lawrie.

Wade Davis (4-1) worked two innings for the win and Greg Holland closed it out for his 15th save in 16 chances.

The Blue Jays were on the verge of victory in the ninth before the Royals tied it with an unearned run off Casey Janssen, who blew a save for the first time in nine chances. After Jose Bautista threw out Butler at first base from right field for the second out, Alex Gordon singled to left and was replaced by pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson, who stole second and scored when Encarnacion couldn’t handle an errant, bouncing throw from shortstop Jose Reyes on Salvador Perez’s grounder.

Reyes batted with a runner on in the 10th but couldn’t atone for his gaffe, striking out looking to end it.

Perez hit a solo homer in the second for the Royals who snapped a four-game skid and avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season.

The Royals had 14 hits on the same day they shook up their staff, making Dale Sveum the hitting coach and Mike Jirschele their third base coach. Pedro Grifol, who took over as hitting coach last season, was reassigned as a catching instructor.

Encarnacion matched a major league record with his fifth multihomer game in a month. Albert Belle did it in September 1995 and Harmon Killebrew in May 1959.

The blasts were Encarnacion’s 15th and 16th in May, breaking Bautista’s team record for homers in a month. Bautista hit 14 in June, 2012.

The major league record for home runs in May is 17, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. Encarnacion has two games remaining this month.

Encarnacion has 18 total homers, second in the majors to Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz, who entered play Thursday with 19.

Both of Encarnacion’s homers, which came in the fourth and sixth innings, were two-run shots into the second deck, and both came off Royals right-hander James Shields.

Bautista added a two-run shot in the first as the Blue Jays boosted their major league-leading total to 79. Toronto has hit at least one home run in 11 of the past 12 games.

Shields came in having won four straight decisions and was 6-1 with a 1.13 ERA in his past eight starts against Toronto, but couldn’t duplicate that success. He allowed six runs and eight hits in seven innings, including a season-worst three homers. Shields walked none and struck out six.

Bautista put the Jays in front with his first-inning homer, but Perez cut the lead in half in the second and the Royals tied it on Gordon’s RBI double in the fourth.

Encarnacion restored Toronto’s lead in the fourth but R.A. Dickey couldn’t make it stand up as Kansas City scored three in the fifth. Ciriaco hit an RBI double and Infante and Butler had RBI singles.

The Royals chased Dickey in the sixth when Lorenzo Cain hit a leadoff double and Escobar followed with a bunt single. Steve Delabar came on and struck out Ciriaco, then appeared to give up a run when Cain scored on a wild pitch, with Aoki claiming he had been hit by the bouncing pitch. After a replay review, Aoki was awarded his base and Cain was sent back to third. Infante followed with a double play liner to shortstop, with Escobar forced out at second.

Buoyed by the reprieve, the Blue Jays reclaimed the lead in the bottom half on Encarnacion’s two-out homer.

Dickey allowed five runs and a season-worst 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

NOTES: Kansas City has 22 home runs, the fewest in the majors. … Royals LHP Jason Vargas (4-2) faces Blue Jays LHP J.A. Happ (4-1) on Friday.