KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edinson Volquez pitched seven effective innings, Alcides Escobar had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run and the Kansas City Royals beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 to open a six-game homestand Friday night.

The World Series champion Royals had dropped 12 of their previous 16 games, while the Braves, who have the worst record in the National League, lost for the 17th time in 25 games.

Volquez (4-3) picked up his first victory since April 21, snapping a three-game winless streak. Erick Aybar’s sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Jeff Francoeur, who led off the inning with a single, for the only run Volquez allowed.

Volquez, who threw 55 strikes in 83 pitches, allowed one run on six hits, walked none and struck out two.

Julio Teheran (0-4) is winless in eight starts this season, the longest winless streak of his career, despite a 1.48 ERA in his past five starts. Teheran held the Royals to two runs, one unearned, and four hits over seven innings.

Escobar led off the Royals’ first with a single to right and advanced to third on Francoeur’s two-base fielding error. Escobar scored on Lorenzo Cain’s groundout to Aybar.

Escobar’s two-out single in the second inning scored Cheslor Cuthbert, who has hit in all seven games he has played since being called up from Triple-A Omaha.

Braves rookie left-hander Hunter Cervenka, who had retired the past 30 hitters he had faced and not allowed a run in his first 15 major league appearances, gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in the eighth. Salvador Perez’s two-run single off Alexi Ogando was the key hit of the inning, while Kendrys Morales drove in the other run.

RARE GORDON ERROR

Royals LF Alex Gordon’s 188-game (187 of them starts) errorless streak ended in the fourth inning when he dropped Freddie Freeman’s fly. Gordon’s last error was Aug. 2, 2014, at Oakland.

YOST’S SLIM BOBBLEHEAD

There will be a Royals giveaway of 20,000 Ned Yost bobbleheads on Saturday. “There are two major features and they’re both wrong. My hair is way too gray and it’s got me skinny. I like that part of it,” the Royals manager said with a laugh.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 3B Mike Moustakas (fractured left thumb) played catch for the first time since going on the disabled list May 5.

UP NEXT

Braves: RHP Mike Foltynewicz, who struck out eight and walked none in seven innings in a no-decision against Arizona on Sunday, will make his third start since being recalled May 3.

Royals: RHP Dillon Gee will make his first start since last June 14 while with the Mets. Yost said Gee, who threw 5 1/3 innings in relief Monday against the Yankees, will be on a 90-95 pitch count. “A lot depends on how stressful those innings are, too,” Gee said. “What kind of situations you are in can affect how you feel. I’m in a mindset how deep I can get within 75-80 pitches and go from there.”

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — Chase Headley, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius hit early home runs and the New York Yankees beat Kansas City 7-3 Thursday night, sending the World Series champion Royals to their 12th loss in 16 games.

Kansas City dropped three of four at Yankee Stadium. Before the game, manager Ned Yost insisted he wasn’t worried about his team, saying “it’s a group that doesn’t panic.”

Nathan Eovaldi (3-2) worked around eight hits in five innings, and overcame getting struck on the leg by Lorenzo Cain’s hard one-hopper at the outset.

On Eovaldi’s last pitch, Salvador Perez nearly launched a go-ahead, three-run homer, but right fielder Carlos Beltran caught the ball at the top of the wall. Eovaldi wiped his brow as he walked off the mound while Perez put both hands on the top of his helmet.

Relievers Kirby Yates and Dellin Betances each followed with a perfect inning to hold a 5-3 lead. After the Yankees scored twice more, Andrew Miller worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Chasen Shreve threw a scoreless ninth.

Alex Gordon hit a solo home run and an RBI single for Kansas City. The Royals outhit the Yankees 9-7.

Ian Kennedy (4-3) lost in his first game back in the Bronx since the Yankees traded him after the 2009 season.

Castro homered in the first, then Headley connected in the second for his first extra-base hit this season — and ending a drought of 166 at-bats without a home run dating to last year. Gregorius added a two-run drive in the fourth.

Chien-Ming Wang, another former Yankees pitcher, gave up an RBI single to Castro and a bases-loaded walk to Brian McCann in the seventh.

ROSTER MOVE

The Yankees recalled lefty reliever Tyler Olson from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and sent down outfielder Ben Gamel. On Monday, Gamel got his first hit in the majors.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Chris Young (strained forearm) and RHP Kris Medlen (rotator cuff inflammation) were put on the 15-day disabled list. RHP Peter Moylan and LHP Scott Alexander came up from Triple-A.

Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira returned to the lineup after missing two games because of neck spasms. He went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts… OF Jacoby Ellsbury (hip) hasn’t played since last Friday. … LHP CC Sabathia (groin strain) is set for a bullpen session Friday.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez (3-3, 3.89 ERA) starts at home on Friday night against RHP Julio Teheran (0-3, 3.48) and the Braves. Atlanta has only played two games at Kauffman Stadium, both in 2013.

Yankees: RHP Luis Severino (0-5, 6.12) tries again for his first win when he faces ace Chris Sale (7-0, 1.79) and the visiting White Sox on Friday night.

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer in yet another big first inning against Michael Pineda, and the slumping Kansas City Royals rebounded to beat the New York Yankees 7-3 Wednesday night.

Down by four runs six batters in, New York clawed back to 4-3 against Yordano Ventura before Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run single in the sixth against reliever Nick Goody.

Kendrys Morales added a solo homer in the seventh off Phil Coke as the Royals won for just the fourth time in their past 15 games.

After winning the opening two games of the four-game series, the Yankees were hoping to string together three straight victories for the first time since Sept. 1-4. They are 0-5 this year when attempting to win a third consecutive game.

Ventura (3-2), coming off losses at Seattle and Cleveland, gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.

Danny Duffy, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis followed with scoreless relief.

The World Series champions, just 16-17 this season, were boosted when Perez pulled a hanging slider for his fifth home run this season, a drive that came one day after his 26th birthday.

Winless in his past six starts, Pineda (1-4) has fallen behind early and often. He has a 15.43 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing 12 runs and 19 hits — five of them homers — in 38 at-bats. After the first, his ERA is 4.26.

Six of the first seven Royals reached, interrupted only by Alex Gordon’s sacrifice fly. Pineda settled down and left after a career-high 114 pitches with a 4-3 deficit. Goody hit Alcides Escobar on the back with a pitch, then allowed a two-run single to Cain, who had three homers and five RBI in Tuesday’s 10-7 loss.

Kansas City had been 0 for 13 this year with the bases loaded.

Pineda gave up six runs in 5 2/3 innings and walked four, his most since 2011. He needed 36 pitches to get through the first, when Eric Hosmer hit a key grounder that went under Dustin Ackley at first and into right field that put two on with one out.

New York was 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees have scored just 11 runs during Pineda’s winless streak.

Carlos Beltran’s 399th home run, his third in three days, started New York’s comeback attempt in the second, when Chase Headley hit an RBI single. Starlin Castro, who hasn’t driven in a run since April 27, hit into an inning-ending forceout with the bases loaded.

Rookie Ben Gamel stranded a runner on third in the fourth, and the Yankees got just one run in the fifth after Castro’s double put runners at second and third with no outs. Brian McCann hit an RBI grounder, but Beltran and Ackley grounded out.

Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (hip), first baseman Mark Teixeira (neck) and designated hitter Alex Rodriguez (hamstring) once again sat out; because of the injuries, Aaron Hicks, Ackley and Gamel started for the second straight day.

THWACK

In addition to Escobar getting hit by Goody, Cain (knee) and Alex Gordon (elbow) were plunked by Pineda. Davis hit Brett Gardner on a thigh with two outs in the ninth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Royals manager Ned Yost said he had not yet received results of the MRI of RHP Chris Young’s right forearm.

Yankees: LHP CC Sabathia (strained left groin) will throw a bullpen session this week and anticipates he will be activated from the DL as soon as May 20, the first day he is eligible. … Manager Joe Girardi said Rodriguez (strained right hamstring) also could be reinstated the first day he is eligible, on May 19. … Girardi said Ellsbury might play this weekend.

UP NEXT

Nathan Eovaldi (2-2) is scheduled to start for the Yankees in Thursday’s series finale and former Yankee Ian Kennedy (4-2) is slated to pitch for the Royals. Kennedy is among the AL leaders in ERA (2.13) and opponents’ batting average (.209). Eovaldi’s average four-seam fastball velocity of 97.7 mph is the highest among big league starting pitchers this year, according to Baseball Prospectus’ PITCH f/x data.

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — When Aroldis Chapman takes the mound at his new home, the Yankee Stadium scoreboard spells his name in animated flames.

“Mucho fuego,” he said, meaning “there’s a lot of fire.”

Chapman got his first save for New York, capping a back-and-forth 10-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night as the Yankees overcame three home runs and five RBI from Lorenzo Cain.

“We would have lost 7-0 a couple of weeks ago,” said Brett Gardner, who doubled home the tiebreaking run off Kelvin Herrera (0-1) in a three-run eighth inning.

Chapman, who returned from a 29-game domestic violence suspension on Monday, worked around a walk in a hitless ninth for his first Yankees save, retiring Cain on a game-ending popup. Twelve of his 21 pitches were at least 100 mph, making it 19 of 38 in two appearances.

“I’d pay a ticket to watch that,” said Yankees catcher Brian McCann, who added a two-run double off the fence in right-center later in the eighth.

Chapman reached a peak velocity of 102.1 mph on Cheslor Cuthbert’s leadoff groundout. Fans’ energy increased throughout the ninth as they turned toward the scoreboard seeking the velocity of every pitch.

“When he comes in, there’s definitely more energy in the ballpark,” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said.

With Teixeira (neck spasms), Jacoby Ellsbury (strained hip) and Alex Rodriguez (strained hamstring) sidelined, the Yankees started Dustin Ackley at first base, Aaron Hicks in center field and rookie Ben Gamel in right, shifting Carlos Beltran from right field to designated hitter.

Ackley scored two runs and drove in two, Hicks had two hits and an RBI, and the speedy Gamel scored the go-ahead run on Gardner’s hit after reaching when Gold Glove shortstop Alcides Escobar allowed his one-out grounder to bounce out of his glove for an error.

New York (13-18) trailed 2-1, 3-2 and 6-5 before winning for the fourth time in five games.

“This is the first time that we’ve battled back through a game a couple different times,” McCann said. “Guys had some quality at-bats and huge moments, and we really haven’t done that all year.”

New York is 13-3 when scoring three or more runs — and 0-15 when scoring two or fewer. With 28 runs in the first five games of a 10-game homestand, the Yankees’ offense is starting to revive.

“Maybe it’s the weather heating up. It’s not raining on us,” manager Joe Girardi said. “All of a sudden I think we’re swinging the bats like we’re capable of.”

Still, the last-place Yankees are six games off the AL East lead. The immediate goal is to get back to .500.

“That’s your first step,” Girardi said. “More than that, I think it’s winning series that’s important. And if you win series, that will all take care of itself.”

World Series champion Kansas City has lost 11 of 14, dropping two games under .500 at 15-17. The Royals rallied from deficits of 1-0, 5-3 and 7-6 as Cain tied his career high with five RBI. Cuthbert also homered for the Royals, who have hit six home runs in the first two games of the series.

“We’re just not getting many breaks right now, but you make your own breaks,” manager Ned Yost said. “Not anything good happening for us for the most part.”

Cain hit a solo homer in the third and a three-run drive in the fifth, both off Masahiro Tanaka, who did not have a sharp slider. Cain added a tying homer off Andrew Miller (2-0) leading off the eighth and became the seventh Royals player to hit three homers in a regular-season game. George Brett and John Mayberry did it twice, and Brett also accomplished the feat against the Yankees in the 1978 AL Championship Series.

“I had a good night,” Cain said, “but at the end of the day we lost.”

MILLER TIME

Miller allowed a run for the first time this season.

TROUBLED TANAKA

In his first start against the Royals, the only AL opponent he had not faced, Tanaka matched career highs by allowing six earned runs and three homers in seven innings. “If you look back at some of the previous games, I think I got away with some mistakes, but that wasn’t the case today,” he said through a translator.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Teixeira wasn’t sure whether he could play Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Michael Pineda (1-3) starts for the Yankees on Wednesday night against Yordano Ventura (2-2). Pineda is winless in five starts.

— Associated Press —