SEATTLE (AP) — Jason Vargas used his “accelerator” to control the strike zone and it meant his first road victory of the season. It came at a place where he felt like home.

Vargas allowed three hits over seven innings and the Kansas City Royals had 16 hits — all singles — in a 6-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Vargas (3-1), who pitched for the Mariners for four seasons (2009-12), struck out six without a walk. He is 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA in four career starts against his former team. His 2.30 ERA at Safeco Field is tied for the seventh best for a starter in park history

Vargas signed a four-year, free-agent deal with the Royals in November.

“When he’s on his game, like he was tonight, he really works the accelerator really well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He pushes down with the fastball, backs off with the changeup. Good curveball.

“What pitchers like Vargie do so well is they disrupt the opposition hitters’ timing. He did that extremely well tonight.”

Vargas said controlling the strike zone is always his goal “but the execution is not always the same. … Tonight I was able control counts and able to make pitches down in the strike zone.”

Salvador Perez, Eric Gordon and Eric Hosmer had three hits each for the Royals while Nori Aoki and Lorenzo Cain had two each.

The Mariners have scored just two runs and have 10 hits over the past three games.

Brandon Maurer (1-1) took the loss, allowing 14 hits, six runs — four earned — and did not walk or strike out a batter. The 14 hits Maurer allowed were just one short of the team record set by Greg Hibbard on May 24, 1994.

“This was a weird, weird game,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. “Maurer threw the ball extremely well, gave up two hard hits. They were persistent, put the bat on the ball and found some holes.

“It was one of those nights. I didn’t look up to see if it was a full moon or not. It was weird.”

The first hit Vargas allowed came in the third, a one-out single by Mike Zunino. Shortstop Alcides Escobar knocked the hard grounder down but it rolled a few feet away. The other hits were Dustin Ackley’s line single to center in the fifth and Robinson Cano’s ground single to right in the seventh.

“He mixed it up and threw strikes,” Mariners third baseman Will Bloomquist said of Vargas. “I saw a couple changeups and they were kind of Jamie Moyer-like, coming out of the back of his hand and falling off pretty good. He threw the ball well.”

The Royals pieced together rallies off Maurer. Only one run scored on a hit. The rest scored on an error, a sacrifice fly, a double play and two on fielder’s choices.

“We don’t care how we get the runs,” Hosmer said. “Any way we can produce them. That’s what we need to do. As an offense, we just have to bear down and find ways to produce runs.”

Aoki opened the game with a single to right followed by Hosmer’s single to right, with Aoki sprinting to third. Aoki scored on Billy Butler’s bouncer to Bloomquist, who tried to start a double play but threw wildly to second, pulling Cano off the bag.

Initially, the umpires ruled Hosmer safe on an apparent error but Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon challenged the call. After a review, it was ruled that Cano dragged his left toe across the bag while in possession of the ball. Hosmer was ruled out. Perez bounced into a double play to end the inning.

Hosmer’s sacrifice fly in the third put the Royals up 2-0.

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller’s throwing error in the fourth allowed two more runs.

Perez opened with a single followed by a clean bunt single by Gordon. Johnny Giavotella then bounced a potential double-play ball to short but Miller’s flip to second sailed into right field and Perez scored.

Gordon would later score the second run on Cain’s double-play grounder.

Kansas City made it 5-0 in the sixth when Butler scored on Giavotella’s fielder’s choice.

Cain’s one-out single in the eighth scored Perez from second to make it 6-0, ending Maurer’s evening.

The Mariners scored in the eighth off reliever Aaron Crow. Miller drew a one-out walk. Pinch-hitter James Jones then stroked a two-out double into the right-field corner. Miller had stopped at third then trotted home on right-fielder Aoki’s throwing error.

NOTES: Mariners LHP James Paxton, who started the season at 2-0 before suffering a strained lat muscle, threw 25 pitches in a bullpen session before the game. RHP Taijuan Walker (right shoulder impingement) will have his first bullpen session Sunday. There is no timetable for either pitcher. Also, RHP Stephen Pryor, coming off shoulder surgery, is back with Triple-A Tacoma. . Kyle Seager was a late scratch for the Mariners because of flu-like symptoms. Bloomquist replaced him. . The Royals pre-game move to promote Giavotella was necessary because of Omar Infante’s ailing back. Infante missed Thursday’s game and will be rested for the series. Giavotella was hitting .352 for Triple-A Omaha. To make room, the club sent RHP Michael Mariot to Omaha.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — James Shields scattered seven hits over seven innings, Eric Hosmer drove in a season-high four runs and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Diego Padres 8-0 Wednesday.

The Royals scored three times in the first and that was plenty for Shields (4-3). He struck out four, walked two and threw 118 pitches.

Two relievers finished for the Royals. The Padres were shut out for a major league-high sixth time this season. San Diego has lost six of eight overall.

Andrew Cashner (2-5) lasted a season-low four innings.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Will Venable hit a two-run single in the 12th inning to give the San Diego Padres a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.

Venable singled off Tim Collins (0-2) and over the head of right fielder Lorenzo Cain to score Chris Denorfia with the tying run and Yonder Alonso with the winning run from second base.

Denorfia led off the inning with a single off Louis Coleman before Collins came on. After a sacrifice, Alonso reached a bloop double to left to bring up Venable.

Mike Moustakas hit an RBI single in the 12th off Tim Stauffer (1-0) to give the Royals a brief lead.

Jedd Gyorko’s solo homer with one out in the ninth inning off Royals closer Greg Holland tied the game at 4. It was Holland’s first blown save in eight chances.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Justin Verlander took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight decision, leading Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 9-4 Sunday and extending the Tigers’ winning streak to a season-high five games.

Billy Butler singled to right on a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the sixth, leaving him with a .432 career average in 74 at-bats against the Detroit ace,

Verlander (4-1) allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in seven innings with seven strikeouts. Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nori Aoki, who walked his first three times up.

Verlander pitched no-hitters against Milwaukee in June 2007 and versus Toronto in May 2011. He improved to 17-5 against the Royals, the best winning percentage (.773) among active pitchers with 10 decisions or more.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mark Buehrle pitched into the seventh inning, Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus each went deep and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3 Thursday night to avoid a series sweep.

Francisco and Rasmus each drove in a pair of runs for Toronto, as did Anthony Gose, who was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to start in place of injured outfielder Melky Cabrera.

Buehrle (5-1) worked through plenty of trouble to last 6 2-3 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. It was a solid bounce-back performance after the left-hander was hammered for seven runs last Friday night against Boston.

Aaron Loup pitched 2 1-3 shutout innings for his third career save.

The Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie (2-2) left the game trailing 4-3 after six innings.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Omar Infante homered and tied a career high with six RBIs, James Shields pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and the Kansas City Royals coasted to a 9-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Nori Aoki scored three runs for the Royals, who took two of three from Baltimore to conclude a 3-4 road trip that began in Cleveland. Kansas City is 12-0 when scoring at least four runs and 0-12 when scoring three runs or fewer.

Infante hit a run-scoring groundout in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third, a two-run double in the fifth and a two-run shot in the seventh. He entered with one home run and 11 RBIs in 21 games.

CLEVELAND (AP) — One by one, the Royals went to the plate and came back empty.

Corey Kluber had them flailing and failing. They missed the right-hander’s pitches, popped them up or hit weak groundouts against Cleveland’s starter.

He controlled them — completely.

Kluber struck out a career-high 11 and allowed Kansas City just four hits in his first complete game, leading the Indians to a 5-1 win over the Royals.

“He handcuffed us,” Royals manager New Yost said. “He threw a great game. We couldn’t do anything with him, nothing all day long.”

Kluber (2-2) didn’t walk a batter and let Cleveland manager Terry Francona give some needed rest to his bullpen. Kluber is the first Cleveland pitcher with a complete game, 11 strikeouts, no walks and no earned runs since Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981.

David Murphy and Asdrubal Cabrera delivered two-run hits in the Indians’ five-run fifth off Bruce Chen (1-2), who controlled Cleveland’s lineup for four innings.

“Obviously I’m not very happy with the fifth inning,” said Chen, who had retired 11 straight heading into the fifth. “I wasn’t able to make good pitches. Early in the game I was mixing my pitches well. There were some key at-bats where I could have made better pitches.”

The Royals scored their only run — and unearned one — off Kluber in the seventh when Omar Infante singled and scored when Indians first baseman Nick Swisher made a half-hearted attempt at Mike Moustakas’ grounder, which got by him for an error and rolled all the way into the right-field corner.

Other than that, Kansas City’s hitters were unable to do much against Kluber, whose previous long outing was 8 2-3 innings last July against the White Sox. He’s 3-0 in four career starts against the Royals.

“He put it to us,” said Alex Gordon, who went 0 for 4 and struck out to end the game. “Give him credit. You look at our offense today and say we stunk. That’s how it was.”

Chen coasted through four innings, dominating the Indians with a mix of off-speed pitches before they touched him for five runs and chased him in the fifth.

The left-hander gave up a leadoff single to Cabrera in the first but clamped down on the Indians until the fifth when Carlos Santana led off with a double, snapping an 0-for-16 slide with just his third hit in 48 at-bats. Michael Brantley followed with a single to center for his team-leading 19th RBI, giving Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

The Indians didn’t stop there as Murphy slapped a two-run single to left, and Cabrera made it 5-0 with his double down the left-field line to end Chen’s outing. It was Cleveland’s biggest inning this season.

“It’s part of the game,” Chen said. “I have to be more consistent. The first four innings I was able to establish all my pitches. I just need to do it the whole game.”

Kansas City managed just one hit off Kluber in the first four innings, and then the Royals ran their way out of a scoring chance in the fifth.

Alcides Escobar singled with two outs and Jarrod Dyson followed with a base hit. Escobar hesitated rounding second, and his indecision cost him as Brantley threw him out from center trying to take third.

The Royals turned a nifty double play to end the first.

With a Cabrera at third, first baseman Eric Hosmer fielded Jason Kipnis’ hard grounder, stepped on first and threw home. Catcher Brett Hayes made a sweeping tag on Cabrera, who was called out. Crew chief Bill Miller called for a review to see if Hayes had blocked the plate, but the call was confirmed.

NOTES: Royals 1B coach Rusty Kuntz returned to the team after undergoing surgery on his broken left arm. Kuntz was struck during pregame batting practice on Monday. He had a plate and eight screws inserted. There’s no timetable on his return to the coaching box. … The Royals open a three-game series in Baltimore on Friday with Yordano Ventura (1-1) facing Ubaldo Jimenez (0-3). … Royals RF Nor Aoki is batting .111 (5-for-45) on the road and .441 (15-for-34) at home. … Slumping catcher Salvador Perez got the day off. He’s in a 1-for-26 slide.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Phil Hughes ended a personal losing streak that dated to last July, pitching into the seventh inning Sunday and helping the Twins top the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to avoid a three-game sweep.

Hughes (1-1), who signed a $24 million, three-year deal in December, allowed an RBI single to Omar Infante in the fifth and a two-run homer to Alcides Escobar in the seventh while winning for the first time in 17 appearances. He had lost eight games since that victory on July 2.

Josmil Pinto homered and Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki each drove in a pair of runs for the Twins, who battered Yordano Ventura (1-1) before piling on against the Royals’ bullpen.

The loss ended Kansas City’s five-game winning streak.