KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Miguel Sano belted a three-run homer, Felix Jorge pitched five-plus solid innings to win his major league debut and the Minnesota Twins held off the Kansas City Royals 10-5 on Saturday night for a split of a doubleheader.

Brandon Moss, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon, the Royals’ 7-8-9 hitters, went a combined 6-for-12 with three home runs, seven RBI and scored six runs as the Royals rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Twins 11-6 in the opener.

Sano continues to torment the Royals, hitting safely in all 11 games against them this season with five home runs and 24 RBI. He homered in both games.

Eddie Rosario went 5-for-5 and scored three runs in the second game. Rosario’s single scored Kennys Vargas in a three-run ninth.

Sano hit a three-run homer in a four-run fifth off Jason Hammel (4-7) to put the Twins up 4-2. Hammel retired 12 of the first 15 batters he faced, but only four of the last 13. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings.

Minnesota took advantage of two Kansas City errors in the sixth to tack on three more runs. Jason Castro doubled in two runs and scored on a Joe Mauer single. Eddie Rosario went 5-for-5, equaling his career high in hits.

The Royals answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Buddy Boshers replaced Jorge, who yielded a single to Lorenzo Cain to begin the inning. Jorge Soler homered with two out with Cain aboard. Brandon Moss and Alcides Escobar hit back-to-back doubles for the other run.

Jorge (1-0) was charged with three runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out two.

He gave up a two-run Eric Hosmer homer in the first inning.

In the opener, Mike Moustakas hit his 22nd home run, tying his season high for home runs and matching Jermaine Dye in 2000 for the club record for homers before the All-Star game. Moustakas bats sixth and for the first time in the Royals’ history the 6-7-8-9 batters homered in the same game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Matt Strahm, who was removed in the fourth inning of the first game with a left knee injury, was placed on the disabled list before the second game. “He’s got some patella tendinitis,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s been playing through it a little bit and got a little worse out there, just got sore. He was having trouble pushing off.”

FAIR OR FOUL

Twins manager Paul Molitor insists Hosmer’s three-run homer Friday for Kansas City was foul. After a 111-second delay for a crew chief review, the call on the field was confirmed. “I would imagine that MLB’s going to look at that, considering the fact that we feel we have video that at least backs up that Hosmer’s being foul,” Molitor said Saturday. “They can use it. When you send a steak back, you’re mad that they did it wrong, but you’re trying to help them get it right in the kitchen. You know what I’m saying? So, they’ll figure it out. It’s not a protest thing. It’s not a rules violation. It’s just an imperfect system.”

ROSTER MOVES

Twins: RHP Ryan Pressly was recalled from Triple-A Rochester. Rookie RHP Alan Busenitz, who had a 2.08 ERA in six appearances, was sent to the Red Wings.

Royals: RHP Seth Maness was designated for assignment to make roster space for Farrell. Maness was 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA in eight relief appearances with Kansas City, but allowed 16 hits, including three homers, in 9 2/3 innings. He had a 9.77 ERA in 15 2/3 innings over 10 games with Triple-A Omaha. The Royals recalled RHP Miguel Almonte from Triple-A Omaha after placing Strahm on the DL.

UP NEXT

Hector Santiago will be making his second start since coming off the disabled list from a shoulder strain.

Royals: LHP Travis Wood makes his first start since Sept. 19, 2015, with the Cubs.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jason Vargas picked up his American League-leading 12th victory, Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 8-1 on Friday night.

Vargas (12-3) tied Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers for the major league lead in wins and lowered his ERA to 2.22, which tops the American League. He allowed two hits and one run over seven innings, while walking a season-high four.

Ervin Santana (10-5) took the loss, yielding seven runs, five earned, and eight hits.

It was the second time since 1990 that two pitchers with at least 10 wins and an ERA of less than 3.00 matched up. The previous was June 16, 2002, with Boston’s Derek Lowe (10 wins, 1.89 ERA) and Atlanta’s Tom Glavine (11 wins, 1.53 ERA) squared off in an interleague game.

Santana’s throwing error in the fourth opened the floodgates for a five-run inning. After Jorge Bonifacio opened the inning with a single, Lorenzo Cain hit a sharp grounder to Santana for a probable double play. Santana’s throw sailed wide right of second baseman Brian Dozier and into center field.

Hosmer deposited Santana’s first pitch into the left-field seats, tucking it just inside the foul pole, for his 10th home run.

The Royals sent 10 men to the plate in the inning with Whit Merrifield and Alcides Escobar adding run-scoring singles.

Mike Moustakas blasted his 21st home run to lead off the Kansas City sixth. Escobar tripled and scored on Alex Gordon’s sacrifice fly for the other Royals’ run in the inning. Gordon had another sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Miguel Sano’s two-out single in the third scored Max Kepler, who had walked, for the only run Vargas would allow.

FARRELL’S SON TO DEBUT

RHP Luke Farrell, the son of Boston manager John Farrell, will start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader for the Royals. He went 7-3 record with a 3.83 ERA for Triple-A Omaha. “A couple of hours before we told him, I texted John and said, `Look, I’m just giving you a heads up. Luke is going to make his major league debut on Saturday,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was thrilled.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (oblique strain) made his second minor league rehab start Thursday for Triple-A Omaha. He gave up one run and four hits, walked none and struck out five at Colorado Springs. Yost implied Duffy would likely start Tuesday at Seattle.

MINOR LEAGUER SUSPENDED

Royals minor league C Mark Sanchez is suspended 80 games after testing positive for a performance enhancing drug, Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. Sanchez hit .206 in 33 games with Low-A Lexington.

ROSTER MOVES

The Royals recalled LHP Eric Skoglund, who was 1-1 with a 5.59 ERA in three starts earlier this season. They optioned RHP Jake Junis, who was 2-2 with a 5.66 ERA in eight games, to Triple-A Omaha.

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Jose Berrios will start the opener of a day-night doubleheader. RHP Felix Jorge will make his big league debut in the second game. He went 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA with Double-A Chattanooga.

Royals: RHP Jason Hammel, who went 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in June, will start the nightcap.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — The crowd cheered Michael Fulmer and booed the decision to pull him.

That was the only real drama at the end — after the talented right-hander had shut down Kansas City for almost the entire game.

Fulmer came within one out of a shutout, and the Tigers hit three home runs in a 7-3 victory over the Royals on Thursday. A late Kansas City rally cost Fulmer a complete game after he’d faced only one batter above the minimum through eight innings.

“Just one out short,” Fulmer said. “It happens. I felt like, stuff was good all game, and then, even in that ninth inning, get two quick outs. Wasn’t trying to overdo anything. I felt like they fouled off some great pitches, and ultimately just found holes that one inning.”

Fulmer (7-6) appeared headed for his second big league shutout. He was at only 88 pitches after Alex Gordon grounded out for the second out of the ninth, but then Ramon Torres and Jorge Bonifacio singled, and Drew Butera drove them in with a double.

Justin Upton dropped Eric Hosmer’s soft liner to left field for an error, allowing another run to come in. By that point, Fulmer was up to 104 pitches, and the crowd booed when manager Brad Ausmus came out and removed him.

“I just felt like the momentum was shifting and I didn’t really want to bring it down to the wire where all of a sudden the tying run’s at the plate,” Ausmus said. “Trust me, I wanted to see Michael Fulmer go nine innings, too, but I also don’t want to give the other team any hope.”

Justin Wilson struck out Brandon Moss to end it.

Upton, Ian Kinsler and Andrew Romine went deep for the Tigers. Jakob Junis (2-2) allowed a three-run homer to Upton in the first, as well as a solo shot by Kinsler in the third and a two-run drive by Romine in the fourth.

Fulmer retired his first nine hitters. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year allowed seven hits, with seven strikeouts and no walks.

The first four batters reached base off Junis. Upton opened the scoring with his 15th home run of the year. Kinsler made it 4-0 with his ninth.

Romine’s drive to right was his third home run of the year, a career high. He hit two in each of the previous three seasons.

J.D. Martinez battled through a 15-pitch at-bat against reliever Kevin McCarthy in the seventh, finally hitting an RBI single to make it 7-0.

“I was just trying to give it to him, like, `Put it in play,” McCarthy said. “After a couple, it was like, `Damn.’ I didn’t know what else to do.”

Junis allowed six runs and seven hits in six innings.

SOLID DEFENSE

Part of the reason Fulmer was able to keep his pitch count down was because the Tigers turned double plays following three of Kansas City’s first four hits.

“Middle infield did awesome,” Fulmer said. “I try to get them as many groundballs as I can, especially with a guy on first. They all know how to turn it well.”

SNAPPED

The Royals lost two of three in this set, failing in their bid for a sixth consecutive series victory.

“We just didn’t pitch good today, and matched up against a really, really good pitcher,” manager Ned Yost said. “Had the opportunity to win the series, but Fulmer was just too much for us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: Gordon hit a single in the sixth that bounced off Fulmer and through the left side of the infield. Detroit’s trainer came out to check on Fulmer’s right leg, but he was able to stay in the game. … Martinez appeared to foul a pitch off his right foot during his long at-bat in the seventh. He was removed for a pinch-runner after his single.

UP NEXT

Royals: Kansas City returns home to host Minnesota on Friday night. Royals LHP Jason Vargas (11-3) tries to become the AL’s first 12-game winner when he takes on RHP Ervin Santana (10-4).

Tigers: Detroit hosts Cleveland, with RHP Anibal Sanchez (0-0) taking the mound for the Tigers against RHP Josh Tomlin (4-9).

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — There was no way any Detroit outfielder was going to catch this drive by Salvador Perez.

A night after he was robbed of an extra-base hit by the center fielder, Perez hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and the Kansas City Royals went on to an 8-2 victory over the Tigers on Wednesday. Mike Moustakas followed Perez’s long home run by going deep as well, part of a four-run fourth inning by the Royals.

Perez’s shot cleared the Kansas City bullpen and hit the brick facing behind the seats. It was measured at 451 feet by Statcast.

“I hit it pretty good,” Perez said.

Ian Kennedy (2-6) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings for the Royals, earning his second victory in three starts. He gave up solo homers to Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila, but only after Kansas City had jumped to a 5-0 lead.

Daniel Norris (4-6) permitted five runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Six of those hits came in the fourth.

“I’ve got to find a way to keep out of those big innings,” Norris said. “There have been games that have felt better, but this is two bad starts in a row now. I got through six innings in Seattle, but I gave up five, and then today I don’t even get through four and give up five. I have to be better than that.”

The Royals snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 16-8 in June.

Perez’s deep fly ball the previous night was caught by Mikie Mahtook on a spectacular play in right-center. He gave the Tigers no chance to run down his homer to left-center on Wednesday, which came on a 3-0 pitch. Moustakas followed with his 20th home run of the season, giving the Royals a 4-0 lead.

“One homer is good,” Perez said. “Back-to-back feels better.”

Alex Gordon, who had opened the scoring with an RBI single an inning earlier, added a run-scoring double in the fourth to make it 5-0.

Avila led off the bottom of the fourth with his 11th homer, and Cabrera hit his 10th two innings later.

Gordon hit a run-scoring groundout in the eighth. Perez added an RBI double in the ninth and scored on Jorge Soler’s single.

BOTTOM OF THE ORDER

Gordon, the No. 9 hitter for Kansas City, had his first multi-RBI game since April 8. Alcides Escobar, batting one spot ahead of Gordon, had three hits.

“For me, Esky and Gordy at the bottom of the order were huge,” manager Ned Yost said. “Esky three hits, Gordy with three RBI — a big night for them.”

STRONG RELIEF

After Norris was pulled in the fourth, Warwick Saupold came on and allowed just one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings.

“He really saved the bullpen again today,” Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. “He’s done that for us a few times lately, but it was crucial this time with the doubleheader (against Cleveland) coming up on Saturday.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Kansas City put IF Cheslor Cuthbert on the 10-day DL with a left wrist sprain. The move was retroactive to Monday. The Royals recalled Soler from Triple-A Omaha.
Tigers: Detroit activated DH Victor Martinez, who had been on the DL because of an irregular heartbeat. Martinez came out of a June 15 game with a racing heartbeat, dizziness and cold sweats and eventually went to the hospital when the symptoms continued. “We don’t feel like this is going to be an issue going forward,” Ausmus said. “Hopefully, it’s just a one-time event that never occurs again.”

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (2-1) starts the finale of this three-game series Thursday against Detroit. A victory would give Kansas City its sixth consecutive series win.

Tigers: RHP Michael Fulmer (6-6) starts for Detroit.

— Associated Press —