With every out the New York Yankees made and every run they gave up, the boos from the sparse crowd got louder.

New York’s 6-0 defeat to the Kansas City Royals on a misty, dreary Monday night was the Yankees’ sixth loss in seven games, dropping them into last place in the AL East this late in the season for the first time since 2008.

“At times, it looks like there’s 20 people out there playing defense,” Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. “It happens every year. It happens to every team. It doesn’t look good when you’re going through it, but you’ve got to have confidence.”

Felipe Paulino blanked New York for the second time in a month, and Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur hit two-run homers.

New York’s bats fizzled once again, going 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position with five strikeouts and a foulout — the Yankees’ most hitless at-bats with RISP since July 1990. Jeered repeatedly by their increasingly impatient fans, the Yankees dropped to 21-21, their worst record at this point in the season since they started 20-25 in 2008 — the only time since 1994 that New York failed to make the playoffs. They’re tied with Boston for the division cellar.

“You’re going to hear it on the road, and you’re going to hear it at home when you don’t play well,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s because our fans are passionate and they want us to win. And I understand that. So do the guys in that room. If they’re unhappy with us, believe me, we’re probably unhappier.”

New York stranded runners at the corners in the first, then wasted a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third when Robinson Cano took a slider for a called third strike, Alex Rodriguez struck out swinging on a fastball and Raul Ibanez flied out to the left-field warning track. The Yankees stranded runners at third in the fourth and sixth innings, left two on in the seventh and another in the ninth.

New York is 7 for 37 (.189) with the bases loaded this season and hitting .222 with runners in scoring position, including 6 for 72 (.083) in its last nine games. The Yankees are 0-10 when they fail to hit a home run.

“It’s very frustrating,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve talked about it over and over again. You can’t really describe it. It’s not a lot of fun obviously going out and not getting the job done. But at this point, nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”

Hiroki Kuroda (3-6) allowed three runs, seven hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings, failing to retire the side in order in an inning and raising his ERA to 4.56. After adding Andy Pettitte to the rotation and sending Garcia to the bullpen, pressure may increase on New York to make another move, such as signing free agent Roy Oswalt.

Paulino (2-1) became the first starter to pitch shutout ball against the Yankees in consecutive outings since Boston’s Josh Beckett on April 10 and May 14 last year, according to STATS LLC. Following up on his six innings of four-hit ball on May 5, Paulino allowed six hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out eight and walked two.

“Bases loaded, nobody out against the meat of their order and got through it. A runner on third, one out and got through it. So, he’s pitching really, really well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Kansas City opened a nine-game trip by beating the Yankees for the third time in five meetings this year, and Yost got his 600th win as a manger — earning a beer shower from his players.

Batting cleanup for the first time in his big league career, Moustakas homered in the first inning with a drive that clanked high off the right-field foul pole.

“It’s really cool,” Moustakas said. “Coming into this park, you know all the history behind old Yankee Stadium and the kind of things they brought. Just to play in this stadium is awesome.”

Eric Hosmer added an RBI double in the third, and Francoeur homered into the visitor’s bullpen in the seventh on Freddy Garcia’s second pitch of the night.

In a sign of the Yankees’ frustration, Garcia threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth, then spiked the ball in disgust. In the sixth, Mark Teixeira put both hands on his head incredulously after throwing late to third on Irving Falu’s grounder instead of taking the sure out at first.

By the time Jeter hit a game-ending lineout, completing a seven-hitter, only a few thousand fans remained.

“We have a lot of baseball to be played,” Rodriguez said.

But as Yogi Berra famously said, it gets late early.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of frustration in here,” Rodriguez said. “We know we’re capable of doing a lot more, and I think we will. Tomorrow would be a great day to start.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals never had seen Wade Miley pitch before Sunday and are happy they won’t see him again anytime soon.

Miley tossed seven sharp innings, John McDonald drove in the first run with a bunt single, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Kansas City 2-0.

“That was an easy game to call for me because everything he threw was working,” Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero said. “Miley threw a great game. He worked fast and stayed ahead in the count. I don’t think those guys were too comfortable in the box.”

Miley (5-1) limited the Royals to five hits, throwing 99 pitches and lowering his ERA to 2.14. The rookie walked two and struck out three, sending Kansas City to its 17th loss in 22 home games this season.

“Miley was that good,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We’ve watched video on him. He was exactly what we thought he’d be. He’s got really good stuff, commands the ball down and kind of throws across his body, has a very quick arm and is tough to pick up. He’s got a real good changeup, a nice cutter. He was tough on us.”

David Hernandez and J.J. Putz each pitched an inning to finish off the shutout. Putz earned his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Jeff Francoeur had four of Kansas City’s seven hits to match his career high. It was Francoeur’s 10th four-hit game and first since Aug. 23, 2011, in Toronto.

“Miley’s good,” Francoeur said. “He’s really good. He’s good as advertised. He pounds the strike zone, throws three good pitches. You can see why he made their starting rotation lately — 5-1 is pretty darn good.”

Paul Goldschmidt led off the Diamondbacks fifth with a double, stopped at third on Aaron Hill’s single and scored on McDonald’s bunt single that first baseman Eric Hosmer failed to field cleanly.

Right-hander Nate Adcock (0-2), just recalled from Triple-A Omaha and making his first start of the season, held Arizona to five hits and one run over five innings.

The Royals got four runners to third base — Francoeur in the second and fifth, and Billy Butler in the fourth and eighth — but failed to get them home. They went 0 for 5 with runners at third and 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

“Miley’s makeup is what makes him good,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “He believes in himself, he believes in his catcher and he believes the scouting reports.”

Francoeur tripled off the right-field wall with two outs in the sixth for Kansas City’s only extra-base hit. Alex Gordon grounded out to end the inning.

“Everything I threw Francoeur hit,” Miley said “When I threw him a fastball early in the count, he hit it. I tried to go soft on him early and then come back with the heater and he hit it. He was locked in on everything I threw.”

The Royals’ best chance to score came in the fourth. Butler led off with a walk and advanced to second on Francoeur’s single before Gordon moved up both runners with a groundout. Miley, however, pitched out of danger by retiring Hosmer on an infield popup and Brayan Pena on a grounder.

“That’s a big win for us,” Miley said. “We win the series and the win puts us over .500 on the road trip. I was happy to keep us in the game.”

The Diamondbacks manufactured a run without a hit in the eighth. Gerardo Parra led off with a walk and Ryan Roberts sacrificed. Greg Holland’s wild pitch allowed Parra to reach third and Justin Upton hit a sacrifice fly to right.

The Royals were shut out for the fourth time. They are 2-8 when the opponent starts a left-hander.

— Associated Press —

The Diamondbacks are finally getting things to fall in their favor.

Chris Young came off the disabled list Friday night and provided a pair of RBIs. Joe Saunders kept Arizona in the game after a shaky start, and Miguel Montero drove in three runs against the Kansas City Royals, including the deciding two in the eighth inning for a 6-4 win.

“Bringing CY back today was certainly uplifting to the team,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “It was a big win for us, two in a row.”

Modest for a winning streak, but something that hasn’t happened since April 29-May 1.

The Royals had pulled into a tie in the seventh before Kelvin Herrera (0-1) gave up back-to-back singles to Willie Bloomquist and Justin Upton to start the eighth. Montero’s second double of the game off reliever Tim Collins gave the Diamondbacks the lead.

Relievers Brad Ziegler (3-1) and Craig Breslow got the game to J.J. Putz, who worked around a two-out walk to Billy Butler in the ninth for his eighth save of the season.

Young had been out since hurting his right shoulder running into a wall during a game against Pittsburgh on April 17. Gibson put him at designated hitter Friday night, allowing him to get some at-bats without having to test his shoulder in the outfield.

It was the first time he’d played DH in 776 career games. The option isn’t available unless the Diamondbacks are playing in an American League ballpark.

“It’s a way different lineup with him in it,” said Saunders, who allowed three runs in the first three innings before shutting down Kansas City over the next three. “It gives us more balance, more power. It gives us more opportunities to do different things.”

Humberto Quintero drove in a pair of runs and Butler went deep for Kansas City, which has lost three straight by a combined five runs after leading in each of them.

The Royals dropped to 4-16 at home this season.

“We’ve got to play better,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We can come up with all the excuses, all the reasons why, but the bottom line is we just need to play better, and put our game together at little better. We need to pitcher better and hit better at home.

“We’ve been really good on the road,” he said. “We need to find a way to do it at home.”

Arizona struck early on Montero’s run-scoring double in the first, but that’s all they could manage until the sixth. Luis Mendoza retired the next 12 batters he faced for Kansas City.

The Royals jumped on Saunders in the second inning with back-to-back singles by Johnny Giavotella and Mike Moustakas. Mitch Maier grounded back to Saunders, but his throw to second base was high, preventing Arizona from turning a double play and putting runners on the corners.

Quintero followed with a two-run double, his third straight two-RBI game.

Butler pushed the Royals’ lead to 3-1 with his homer to center leading off the third. It was his seventh of the year, a total he didn’t reach last season until July 22.

Arizona finally solved Mendoza in the sixth inning.

Gerardo Parra, Bloomquist and Upton all singled in the span of four pitches, bringing the Diamondbacks within 3-2. Montero struck out to bring up Young, who picked up the hot hitting he was doing before getting hurt by lacing a two-run double into the left-field corner.

Kansas City answered in the bottom half of the inning.

Irving Falu doubled to right and advanced to third on Butler’s groundout. Gibson drew in the infield to protect the plate, but the move backfired when Alex Gordon slapped a tying single past first baseman Paul Goldschmidt — a ground ball that he normally could have fielded.

Montero made that a moot point with his go-ahead double in the eighth.

“He understands what he needs to do,” Gibson said. “He got ahead in the count and waited for a pitch to hit and came through with a big one.”

— Associated Press —