HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve had three hits and scored the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning to help the Houston Astros complete a three-game sweep of a the Kansas City Royals with a 6-5 win on Wednesday night.

The game was tied at 5 in the seventh when Kelvin Herrera (1-2) plunked Altuve on the forearm. Altuve stole second and reached third on a lineout. He put Houston on top when he beat the tag at the plate on a fielder’s choice by Chris Carter.

The play was reviewed and upheld.

The Astros trailed early before taking a 5-3 lead after a four-run fifth inning. A two-run triple by Jarrod Dyson off Josh Fields tied it in the seventh before Altuve scored the go-ahead run.

Luke Gregerson (3-1) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Carter and Marwin Gonzalez hit solo homers for Houston and Evan Gattis drove in two runs.

— Associated Press —

HOUSTON (AP) — Dallas Keuchel allowed seven hits in eight innings to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

The performance comes after Keuchel (10-3) threw a six-hit shutout in a win over the New York Yankees in his previous start. Keuchel struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter to lower his ERA to 2.03. Pat Neshek allowed one hit in the ninth.

George Springer had a two-run homer in the third inning. Jose Altuve drove in a run in the fifth to help Houston to the victory.

The Astros have taken the first two games of this matchup of teams with the best records in the American League. Houston is 46-34 and Kansas City is 44-30.

Kansas City starter Danny Duffy (2-4) allowed six hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings in his second start since returning from the disabled list.

Keuchel has been a workhorse for the Astros, working at least six innings in 28 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Lorenzo Cain had three hits for Kansas City, including two doubles, but the rest of the lineup fizzled. The Royals produced more than one hit in only one inning while being shut out for the second time in a week.

Keuchel got a little help from his defense when Springer robbed Omar Infante of a hit to center field. Springer raced and made an over-the-shoulder catch for the third out of the seventh inning.

Marwin Gonzalez singled with two outs in the third inning before Springer’s soaring shot, which bounced off the foul pole in left field to make it 2-0 and snapped Springer out of an 0 for 8 slump.

Evan Gattis tripled with one out in the fourth inning. The fly ball sailed just out of reach of the glove of Cain, who raced up Tal’s Hill in center to try and grab it and instead crashed to the ground and into the padded wall after missing coming up short. Gattis already has four triples this season after tripling just once in his first two years in the majors.

Chris Carter walked on a wild pitch by Duffy, which sailed over catcher Drew Butera’s head, and allowed Gattis to score and make it 3-0.

Springer drew a one-out walk in the fifth inning before scoring on a double by Altuve to push Houston’s lead to 4-0.

Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar, who was scratched from Monday’s game with a bruise on his index finger, went 1 for 4.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 1B Eric Hosmer missed a second straight game and will likely miss Wednesday’s game too with a sprained left ring finger. Manager Ned Yost said he isn’t sure when Hosmer will return, but doesn’t expect him to be out too long. Hosmer said he was feeling better on Tuesday and that most of the swelling was gone.

Astros: OF Colby Rasmus was out for the fourth straight game because of a skin infection on his left arm caused by a bug bite. Manager A.J. Hinch said Rasmus spent Monday night in the hospital receiving intravenous antibiotics to try to eliminate the infection and that he remained there on Tuesday. Hinch said they hope Rasmus responds to treatment and can avoid going to the disabled list. … OF Jake Marisnick, who is on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, will begin a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Fresno on Wednesday. … RHP Scott Feldman (arthroscopic knee surgery) threw 45 pitches in a simulated game on Tuesday and Hinch said he looked good. Feldman will throw a bullpen in two days and then likely go on a rehabilitation assignment.

UP NEXT

Houston rookie Vince Velasquez (0-0) tries for his first win in his fifth major league start when he opposes Kansas City’s Edinson Volquez (8-4) in the series finale. Velasquez has a 3.72 ERA, but has not factored in the decision in any of his first four starts. Volquez looks for his fifth straight win.

— Associated Press —

HOUSTON (AP) — Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers, and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Monday night.

In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29 and the Astros are 45-34.

McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.

The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.

Blanton, who didn’t walk anyone in his first two starts this season, struggled with control, walking four and giving up five runs and five hits in just 2 2/3 innings. It was his first loss since Aug. 20, 2013. He was out of baseball in 2014 and started this season 2-0 with a 1.73 ERA after being called up from Triple-A Omaha.

McCullers held the Royals scoreless until a solo homer by Salvador Perez cut the lead to 6-1 in the seventh inning.

He retired nine in a row after a single by Alex Gordon to start the second inning. Rios singled to start the fifth, but McCullers still faced the minimum in that inning after Christian Colon grounded into a double play.

Jarrod Dyson drew a walk to start the sixth but he set down the next three batters to end the inning.

The Royals were without shortstop Alcides Escobar and first baseman Eric Hosmer, who both sat out with finger injuries.

Luis Valbuena singled with no outs in the second before Blanton walked Jon Singleton and Preston Tucker with one out to load the bases. A third consecutive walk, this one by Domingo Santana, made it 1-0.

Jason Castro’s sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 2-0 before George Springer struck out to end the inning.

Altuve led off the second with a homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field to make it 3-0.

Valbuena singled with one out before Singleton drew a two-out walk. A bloop single by Tucker scored Valbuena and a single by Santana drove in another run to make it 5-0 and chase Blanton.

Carter added a solo homer off of Brandon Finnegan in the fifth inning to snap an 0-for-7 slump.

Singleton doubled in the eighth inning for his first hit since being called up from Triple-A Fresno on Friday.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Escobar was scratched Monday with a bruise on his index finger. … Hosmer was out with a sprained left ring finger and manager Ned Yost said he probably won’t play during this series, which ends on Wednesday. Hosmer was injured on Saturday and left Sunday’s game early with the problem. He had improved on Monday and the swelling in his finger was subsiding.

Astros: OF Colby Rasmus was for the third straight game because of a skin infection on his left arm caused by a bug bite. Manager A.J. Hinch said Rasmus received intravenous antibiotics on Monday to try to eliminate the infection. He is day to day. … OF Jake Marisnick, who is on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, is improving and could start a rehabilitation assignment soon. … RHP Scott Feldman (arthroscopic knee surgery) will throw a simulated game in Houston on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel (9-3) opposes Danny Duffy (2-3) when the series continues on Tuesday. Keuchel, who is second in the AL with a 2.17 ERA, threw his third complete game of the season in his last start, a 4-0 win over the Yankees on Thursday.

— Associated Press —

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie and Salvador Perez delivered a milestone win for the Kansas City Royals.

Guthrie struck out a season-high seven batters to top 1,000 for his career and Perez homered for his 500th career hit to help Kansas City complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 5-3 victory on Sunday.

“We had two big milestones today, which I think are big,” manager Ned Yost said. “So they got that behind them and now they just keep moving forward.”

Omar Infante hit a tiebreaking single in a three-run sixth inning for the Royals, who have won five of six to open a nine-game road trip.

Guthrie (6-5) allowed two runs in six innings and reached 1,005 career strikeouts in his 12th big league season.

“It’s 1,000 more than I thought I’d probably ever thought I’d have,” he said. “It’s a great accomplishment to be able to get there and have the endurance to get to that number.”

Perez took much less time to reach his big number, getting there in his fifth season with a homer in the eighth inning off Edward Mujica that provided insurance for the Royals.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It’s pretty special to me.”

The Royals bullpen did the rest with Wade Davis pitching the ninth for his ninth save in as many chances as Kansas City swept the A’s for the first time since 2008.

Jesse Chavez (4-7) was hurt by an error by third baseman Max Muncy in Kansas City’s three-run sixth inning as Oakland lost its third straight following a season-long five-game winning streak.

“We were playing really good ball lately and this happens,” Muncy said. “It’s really frustrating that we had good momentum going as a team and we were playing really good ball.”

Billy Burns helped spark a two-run third inning for Oakland when he led off with a single to extend his hitting streak to 16 straight games.

Ben Zobrist drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly and Josh Reddick made it 2-0 when his popup to shallow left fell between shortstop Alcides Escobar and left fielder Alex Gordon for his 500th career hit.

A poor defensive play by Oakland helped the Royals take the lead in the sixth. With runners on first and third and one out, Perez hit a slow grounder to third base. Muncy charged and his throw home was high. Mike Moustakas scored on the fielder’s choice and the runners advanced to second and third on Muncy’s throwing error.

Alex Rios tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Infante gave the Royals their first lead with his two-out hit that knocked out Chavez.

“I got to stop the bleeding and make a pitch,” Chavez said. “It didn’t go our way. I made a pitch to the next hitter for what would have been the third out. I’ve still got to stop the bleeding there. There’s no excuse for it. It’s all my fault.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Lorenzo Cain did not start after tweaking his hamstring stealing a base Saturday. He pinch hit for Eric Hosmer in the eighth and singled. Hosmer, who was moved to DH from first base, sprained his left ring finger on that same double steal Saturday and left Sunday’s game early. He is day to day. … Escobar was also removed in the eighth inning for precautionary reasons with a split nail on his right index finger, but Yost said he thought Escobar would be able to play Monday.

Athletics: Burns (hip flexor) returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games.

STREAKING

Burns had two hits and is one game away from tying the Oakland rookie hitting streak record of 17 games shared by Mike Edwards (1978), Luis Polonia (1987) and Terrence Long (2000).

UP NEXT

Royals: Joe Blanton (2-0) takes the mound at Houston in the opener of a three-game series between first-place teams. Lance McCullers (3-2) pitches for the Astros.

Athletics: Kendall Graveman, who is 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA in seven starts since being recalled from the minors, starts the opener of a three-game series against Colorado.

— Associated Press —