Jeff Francoeur had a terrific weekend, and the notoriously streaky hitter hopes the rest of the Royals will follow his success.

Francoeur had two more hits on Sunday, including a go-ahead home run, and Kansas City beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2.

Francoeur finished 7 for 12 in the three-game series. In his last 14 games, he is batting .379 with all five of his home runs this season, two of them on this trip to Baltimore.

“I think you’re starting to see us all kind of get in a groove, which I think we all thought we’d do this year sooner rather than later,” he said.

Kansas City won two consecutive games for the first time since a four-game winning streak from May 12-15.

“I think we knew it was time to kind of get going here,” Francoeur said.

Billy Butler also homered and Alcides Escobar had two hits. Butler had home runs in successive games for the Royals, but was happiest for Francoeur.

“Frenchie is going through one of the better stretches I’ve seen anybody go through. I hope he can sustain it,” Butler said.

Kansas City had superb relief pitching in the last two games. They limited the Orioles to four singles in 7 2/3 innings.

Tim Collins (2-0) was the winner with 1 1/3 perfect innings in relief of starter Luke Hochevar.

Collins, Kelvin Herrera, Jose Mijares, Aaron Crow and Jonathan Broxton combined to limit the Orioles to one hit in the final 4 1/3 innings. Broxton closed for his 10th save in 12 chances.

With two outs in the ninth, J.J. Hardy hit a short fly. Francoeur came in from right field and converged with second baseman Johnny Giavotella, who dropped the ball for an error that allowed Hardy to reach second. Nick Markakis struck out to end the game.

“We’ve got guys with some pretty electric stuff,” Butler said.

Baltimore’s Adam Jones, whose six-year, $85.5 million contract extension was officially announced before the game, extended his career-long hitting streak to 18 — longest in the majors this season — with a fifth-inning double.

The Orioles have lost five of seven.

Brian Matusz (4-5) had a three-game winning streak broken. He allowed three earned runs and seven hits in six innings.

Francoeur hit a leadoff home run in the sixth that put Kansas City ahead 3-2.

“He’s just hot right now, swinging the bat really well. He’s got a good eye for the plate, battles with two strikes. Fouls a lot of pitches off and makes the pitches work. He’s just hot and was able to connect,” Matusz said.

Butler hit a long, arcing home run to left field in the first off Matusz. The Orioles tied it in the bottom half on a single by Hardy and an RBI double by Markakis.

In the second, Francoeur hit a sinking liner to center field that Jones mishandled. It was ruled a single and an error. With one out, Escobar lined a ball off second baseman Robert Andino’s glove for a single. Mitch Maier bunted to Matusz, and Francoeur scored on the safety squeeze for a 2-1 lead.

Baltimore tied it in fourth when Andino, who reached on a fielder’s choice with one out, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Humberto Quintero’s throwing error. Xavier Avery, who had been in a 2-for-22 rut, hit an RBI single.

The Royals broke the 2-all tie in the sixth when Francoeur led off with a home run to left field that was barely fair. It was his fifth home run of the season, all on the road. With one out, Escobar singled, and he scored on Quintero’s RBI double.

“We didn’t do much after the fifth there. That was the story. They made us pay for whatever mistakes Brian made. We had trouble with Butler and Francoeur and they got us again here,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Hochevar started and threw 100 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed one earned run and seven hits. He entered with an 0-3 record and 9.47 ERA at Camden Yards.

— Associated Press —

Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees are still looking to bust out with that big hit. The mood in the clubhouse was much better, though, following a much-needed win.

Robinson Cano homered, Phil Hughes beat Kansas City for the second time this month and New York eked out a 3-2 victory over the Royals on Tuesday night.

Derek Jeter delivered a bases-loaded single that tied the score and New York rallied from an early two-run deficit to snap a three-game skid. Shut out Monday in the series opener, the Yankees (22-21) went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position — one night after they finished 0 for 13 in those situations for their worst performance with RISP since 1990.

“It wasn’t that pretty, but that was a good win,” said Rodriguez, who struck out with the bases loaded but combined with Mark Teixeira on a game-saving defensive play. “It felt really good to win a game like this. Sometimes you need a game like this to kind of get you on a roll. Hopefully it’s a good sign of things to come. We haven’t been winning these kinds of games.”

New York, which had lost six of seven to drop into a last-place tie with Boston in the AL East, now has eight hits in its last 79 at-bats (.101) with runners in scoring position.

Hughes (4-5) gave up five hits in six innings while striking out seven, beating Royals right-hander Luke Hochevar (3-5) for the second time in 17 days.

“It seemed like nothing was a walk in the park tonight,” Hughes said.

The Yankees caught a break when Mike Moustakas lined into a double play to end the eighth. Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his third save, retiring Alcides Escobar with a runner on third to end Kansas City’s five-game winning streak away from home.

Rodriguez fielded Escobar’s grounder behind third base and made a high throw across the diamond. Teixeira stretched out his 6-foot-3 frame and kept his toe on the bag as New York got the call on a bang-bang play.

“I don’t think there’s many other first basemen in the league that could stretch like that and make that play,” Hughes said.

“Had ’em all the way,” Jeter said.

Cano put the Yankees on the scoreboard with a long solo homer in the fourth, making him 6 for 12 with three home runs and nine RBIs against Hochevar — including a grand slam May 6 in Kansas City.

New York tagged Hochevar for seven runs and seven hits over 2 1/3 innings in that outing and he entered Tuesday night 0-2 with an 8.83 ERA in four career games against the Yankees.

He hung tough this time, coughing up a 2-0 lead but keeping Kansas City in it when the Yankees appeared poised to finally break loose.

Teixeira, batting seventh for the second consecutive game, singled through the shift to start the fifth and went to second when Jeff Francoeur bobbled the ball in right for an error. Russell Martin was grazed by a pitch and Dewayne Wise reached on a perfectly placed bunt single even though the Royals were expecting a sacrifice.

Once again, the Yankees had the bases loaded and none out with big hitters coming up. They came up empty in that situation during Monday night’s 6-0 defeat, but not this time.

Jeter dumped an RBI single into right and Curtis Granderson drove in a run with a groundout, giving New York a 3-2 lead.

“We scored a lot of runs right after that and piled on,” Jeter said sarcastically.

Cano was intentionally walked to load the bases for Rodriguez, and the Yankees had a chance to really bust it open. But Rodriguez struck out, drawing boos from the crowd of 37,674, and Raul Ibanez went down swinging as well.

New York never managed another baserunner.

“Hoch pitched great. He did a great job in that inning. They didn’t really hit the ball hard,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He limited the damage big-time.”

Kansas City grabbed an early lead when No. 9 batter Humberto Quintero went the other way on Hughes’ hanging curve for an RBI double in the second.

Francoeur added a solo shot in the fourth to make it 2-0, his third homer this season and second in two nights at Yankee Stadium.

Hughes has served up 11 home runs in 47 1/3 innings this year. He has allowed at least one in all nine starts, the longest streak by a Yankees pitcher since Jack McDowell in 1995.

— Associated Press —