KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar singled home Paulo Orlando with two outs in the 10th inning to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

Orlando singled off Will Harris (4-3) with one out and stole second before Escobar’s game-winning looper to shallow right gave the Royals the win and snapped the Astros’ five-game winning streak.

Kelvin Herrera (2-2) pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up the victory.

Carlos Correa’s sacrifice fly gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the sixth, and the Royals tied it on Salvador’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Scott Kazmir made a strong first impression on his new teammates.

Kazmir pitched seven strong innings in his Houston debut, leading the Astros to a 4-0 win over the Kanas City Royals on Friday night.

The 31-year-old left-hander limited the Royals to three singles and only runner — Mike Moustakas in the fourth — past first base. Kazmir (6-5), who lowered his ERA to 2.24, retired the final nine batters he faced.

“It’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” Kazmir said. “When you have a defense like I had behind me especially what you see the first couple of innings, you have a lot of confidence out there. I just pitched to contact.”

Kazmir, acquired by the Astros from Oakland on Thursday for two minor leaguers, hasn’t lost a July start since July 10, 2010, going 7-0 in his past 14 starts.

Kazmir met his catcher Jason Castro for the first time just before batting practice.

“He’s going to be huge for us,” Castro said. “Obviously, the reason we went out and got him is exactly what he did tonight, to give us solid innings. We can’t expect him to throw a shutout every time, but that would be nice. That’s exactly what we were hoping to get out of him, to have another arm like that in our rotation is going to be huge.”

Preston Tucker had three of the Astros’ hits, including his fourth home run in five games — a solo shot in the third inning. Colby Rasmus singled home Carlos Correa later in the inning to make it 2-0.

“I hadn’t got a chance to see him pitch this year,” Tucker said of Kazmir. “I knew he was good. I didn’t know what to expect. That was awesome. That’s just what we needed.”

Correa, a 20-year-old rookie who extended his hitting streak to nine games, and Jose Altuve each singled home a run in the fourth inning.

Left-hander Tony Sipp walked Moustakas and gave up a single to Eric Hosmer in the ninth, which prompted manager A.J. Hinch to summon closer Luke Gregerson for the final two outs. Gregerson logged his 21st save in 24 opportunities, getting Kendrys Morales to ground into a game inning double play.

Royals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie (7-6) gave up four runs and 11 hits, matching his season high, and two walks in seven innings. It was the eighth time this season and his third straight start Guthrie has allowed at least eight hits.

It was too much Kazmir for the Royals to overcome.

“He really handled us with fastballs and changeups,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “But changing speeds … his fastball was 93-95. His changeup was 74 to 80. A lot of variation there. Really commanded the ball well, kept the ball down. Busted us in when we started looking away and off-speeded us down and away when we were looking in.”

The Astros won their fifth straight and are 6-1 since the All-Star break. The Royals are 0-4 against the Astros this season.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith has been suspended the first three games of the regular season by the NFL after pleading guilty to a drunken driving charge earlier this year.

Smith, who was given two years’ probation, is entering a contract year after one of the best seasons of his career. He will miss games against Houston, Denver and Green Bay before returning for the Chiefs’ game against Cincinnati in Week 4.

The 28-year-old Smith started all 16 games for Kansas City last season.

Under the NFL substance abuse policy, first-time offenders receive two-game suspensions. But there can be additional discipline depending on the circumstances, and Smith was pulled over by police last year after his car struck and broke a light pole.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — John Lackey threw seven strong innings after a shaky beginning, Trevor Rosenthal escaped his own jam in the ninth and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royal 4-3 on Thursday night.

Randal Grichuk and Matt Carpenter hit two-run homers as the Cardinals won in the makeup of a rainout last month.

As in the originally scheduled game, St. Louis and Kansas City led their league in wins and Lackey (9-5) and Chris Young (8-6) were the scheduled starters.

Rosenthal, pitching for the third straight day, took over to begin the ninth with a 4-2 lead. Alex Rios led off with a single and Omar Infante followed with a triple.

The Royals went on to put runners on second and third with no outs, but Rosenthal held on for his 30th save in 32 chances. Mike Moustakas grounded out to end it.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edinson Volquez pitched effectively into the eighth inning against his old team and Mike Moustakas hit a three-run homer to lead the Kansas City Royals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Volquez (9-5), who won 13 games last season for the Pirates, picked up his first victory since June 26. He allowed one run on eight hits, while walking one and striking out eight.

Moustakas homered with two out in the eighth with Alex Rios and Jarrod Dyson aboard. Moustakas drove the 3-0 offering from right-hander Charlie Morton into the Royals’ bullpen.

Dyson’s bunt single scored Omar Infante with the first run of the inning.

Morton (6-4) allowed five runs on seven hits, two of them home runs, walked one, hit two batters and struck out four.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals have placed left-hander Jason Vargas on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his elbow, an injury that typically requires season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Vargas left his start against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night after throwing just 26 pitches. He had an MRI on Wednesday that revealed the extent of the injury.

The Royals filled his spot in the rotation by recalling Yordano Ventura. The hard-throwing right-hander had been sent to Triple-A Omaha just a day earlier to work on his inconsistency and rebuild some confidence after a string of poor starts.

Vargas, who is 5-2 with a 3.98 ERA, was instrumental in the Royals’ run to the World Series a year ago. He went 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA in three postseason starts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run single in the eighth inning to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Dyson scored later in the inning on Alcides Escobar’s single to put the Royals up 3-0, and they won for the 11th time in 14 games.

Wade Davis (6-1) struck out Andrew McCutchen swinging to end the eighth with two Pirates on base to pick up the victory.

Greg Holland survived a shaky ninth, allowing a run on four hits and a walk, but struck out Gregory Polanco with the bases loaded for his 21st save in 24 opportunities.

Pirates starter Gerrit Cole (13-4), who leads the majors in victories, was charged with all three runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have optioned right-hander Yordano Ventura to Triple-A Omaha after a string of ineffective outings for the opening-day starter.

The 24-year-old Ventura, who can run his fastball into triple digits, is 4-7 with a 5.19 ERA in 14 starts this year. He spent nearly a month on the disabled list with inflammation of his ulnar nerve.

Left-hander Jason Vargas came off the disabled list and got the start Tuesday night against Pittsburgh. Vargas had been sidelined by a left flexor strain.

Ventura gave up six runs and 10 hits in four-plus innings in Monday night’s 10-7 loss to the Pirates. He is 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in his last four starts.

After going 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA as a rookie and throwing seven scoreless innings to beat San Francisco in Game 6 of the World Series, the Royals signed Ventura to a $23 million, five-year contract at the end of spring training.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Travis Ishikawa had three extra-base hits and drove in four runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates outslugged the Kansas City Royals 10-7 Monday night.

Ishikawa, who was 1 for 13 with one RBI in nine games since the Pirates claimed him on waivers July 5, hit a two-run double in a four-run second. He homered in the fifth with Jung Ho Kang aboard.

A.J. Burnett (8-3) won despite giving up a season-high five earned runs and 11 hits — including two homers — in his initial start since his first career trip to the All-Star Game. The 38-year-old right-hander pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second.

The Royals cut the deficit to 8-7 in the seventh and chased Burnett. Mike Moustakas homered leading off the inning. Eric Hosmer had an RBI triple for his third hit and scored on Kendrys Morales’ groundout.

CHICAGO (AP) — Danny Duffy took a shutout into the ninth inning in the longest outing of his career, and the surging Kansas City Royals beat Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Sunday.

Lorenzo Cain and Paulo Orlando homered as Kansas City (55-35) moved a season-high 20 games above .500. The AL Central leaders took three of four in the weekend series and have won 11 of 14 overall.

Duffy (4-4) gave up rookie Tyler Saladino’s leadoff drive in the ninth for his first career homer. Joe Blanton then came in and got the last three outs for his first career save in his 278th major league game.

Blanton, a starter for most of his career, got the save opportunity after Kansas City split a doubleheader on Friday, and then used seven relievers in Saturday’s 13-inning victory.

Sale (8-5) allowed four runs and a season-high 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings.