James Shields allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings and was part of a combined four-hit shutout in Kansas City’s 3-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night to give the Royals a sweep of a day-night doubleheader.

Kansas City won the first game 2-1 as Danny Duffy took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and pitched a combined two-hitter.

Royals pitching held the Tigers to a run and six hits for the two games.

Eric Hosmer homered in each game.

Shields (8-8) won his fourth game in his past five starts. He walked four and struck out one.

The Tigers threatened against Shields in the second and third innings.

In the second, a walk to Andy Dirks and Brayan Pena’s single gave Detroit runners on first and second with one out.

But Shields got both Ramon Santiago and Jose Iglesias to hit pop-ups to the shortstop to get out of the inning.

The right-hander walked Austin Jackson to lead off the third inning and Torii Hunter singled him to second.

But Shields retired the next three hitters.

Miguel Cabrera was retired on weak roller to Shields between the mound and first base on which the runners moved up to second and third.

But Prince Fielder hit a short fly ball to left fielder Alex Gordon. Despite Jackson’s speed, it wasn’t nearly deep enough for him to score.

Shields then got Victor Martinez to line out to right to end the inning.

Luke Hochevar pitched a perfect eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth, allowing a hit, for his 34th save. He had saves in both games of the doubleheader.

Jose Alvarez (1-3), called up from Triple-A Toledo to make the start, took the loss. He gave up two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out five.

Alvarez’s only big mistakes came in the third with two outs. He walked Jamey Carroll and Hosmer followed with his second home run of the day, that gave the Royals a 2-0 lead. Hosmer blasted Alvarez’s 1-1 pitch deep into the right-field stands for his 14th homer.

Alvarez was replaced by Jeremy Bonderman with two outs in the sixth. Bonderman got the final out of that inning and the first two outs of the seventh before being replaced by Phil Coke and Al Alburquerque.

Carroll’s sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 3-0. It was an unearned run off Bonderman, whose throwing error on an attempted pickoff throw sent Chris Getz from first to third. He scored on the sac fly.

Duffy (1-0) beat Justin Verlander in the opener.

Duffy was called up from Triple-A Omaha to make his second big league start of the season, and didn’t allow a hit until Cabrera’s hard-hit, two out single in the sixth.

”I was glad that they finally got one, honestly, because I just wanted to pitch,” said Duffy, who underwent Tommy John surgery. ”I wanted to protect this arm.”

Kelvin Herrera replaced Duffy in the seventh and retired the side in order. Aaron Crow worked the eighth and allowed Santiago’s pinch-hit home run leading off the inning. Crow got the next three batters.

”Would have liked to have been able to accomplish two things, win and keep the bullpen fresh,” Verlander said. ”Just didn’t happen that way. Felt like I threw the ball well. Just their guys pitched extremely well, which is they’ve done all year.”

Verlander (12-9) allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Kansas City made it 2-0 on consecutive doubles leading off the seventh by Justin Maxwell and Emilio Bonifacio.

— Associated Press —

Prince Fielder went three weeks without a homer, and the Detroit Tigers kept right on rolling.

Now that drought’s over – and Fielder’s team is sitting pretty in the AL Central.

Fielder’s two-run shot in the first inning Thursday night sent the Tigers to a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Andy Dirks added four hits for Detroit, which leads second-place Cleveland by 6 1/2 games in the division.

”Prince produces runs. I don’t care how he does it,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ”Tonight happened to be by way of the home run, but he’s a run producer, always has been. It’s in the book and it’ll be in the book at the end of this year.”

Dirks had two doubles and two singles for the Tigers, who took the opener of this five-game series with third-place Kansas City. The Royals have lost three in a row after a 17-3 stretch that put them in contention for a postseason spot.

Kansas City now trails Detroit by 8 1/2 games in the division. The Royals are 5 1/2 behind Oakland in the race for a wild card.

Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez (11-7) allowed a run and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. Bruce Rondon finished the eighth, and Joaquin Benoit pitched a hitless ninth for his 16th save in 16 chances.

Jeremy Guthrie (12-9) allowed four runs and 13 hits in seven innings.

Fielder went deep for the first time since July 24, belting a towering drive to right-center to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. The Tigers scored two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera.

Dirks, batting leadoff because Austin Jackson had the night off, scored twice. It was the second four-hit game of the season for Dirks, who is from Kansas and went to Wichita State.

”It felt good. It’s hard to explain – it’s just one of those ‘feel’ things,” Dirks said. ”I could feel the path of the bat as I was swinging. My timing was better and everything just clicks. Your legs work with your hands and different things.”

The Tigers won despite an atrocious night on the bases. Dirks led off the Detroit third with a double, and then was caught in a rundown when Hunter grounded to the mound. After Dirks was tagged out, the Royals got a double play because Hunter had turned too far around first.

In the sixth, Brayan Pena took too much of a turn after hitting a single, and he too was caught off the bag.

Kansas City, meanwhile, stole three bases, but the Royals couldn’t break through against Sanchez after scoring a run in the first inning.

”We had a good scouting report today,” Kansas City’s Alex Gordon said. ”When you’re not hitting doubles and home runs, you’ve got to make something happen.”

Gordon’s RBI single made it 1-0, but Dirks singled to start the bottom of the first, and Fielder went deep for his 18th homer of the season.

The Royals had a man on second in the second, a man on third in the fourth and then a man on second again in the fifth. But they were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

After a double by Dirks in the fifth, Detroit had men on second and third with one out. Hunter singled to make it 3-1, and Cabrera’s fly ball to center dropped in front of Jarrod Dyson for another run.

Cabrera, who has been bothered by hip and leg injuries lately, made a nice sliding catch in foul territory near third base on an eighth-inning popup by Gordon.

”He’s obviously playing in some pain,” Leyland said. ”Just a gutty performance, day after day. You know, we’ve got a lot of guys that go out there all the time – and I don’t want to slight Miggy, because he’s been going out there and playing. There’s not too many guys that could do what he’s doing, under the circumstances, but we’ve got a lot of guys that go out there.”

— Associated Press —

Justin Ruggiano picked the scuffed-up ball off the carpet, smiled a toothy smile and proudly held it up for everyone to see in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium.

A souvenir from his first career hit? Nope.

Just his first hit in a while.

Ruggiano snapped a franchise-worst 0-for-42 slump by hitting that ball for a single in the first inning Wednesday, and then added two more hits and drove in a run as the Miami Marlins beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 to wrap up a winning three-game series.

”It became a mental issue. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody in the world,” said Ruggiano, whose last hit came on July 12. ”I’m just glad it’s over with. Now I can get back to doing what I do.”

Ruggiano drove in the Marlins’ first run, but they still trailed 2-1 when Koyie Hill doubled off reliever Tim Collins (2-6) to start the seventh. Christian Yelich then hit a grounder toward third that utility man Elliot Johnson let through his legs to put runners on second and third.

Donovan Solano and Logan Morrison followed with RBI groundouts to give the Marlins the lead.

That was enough for the Marlins bullpen. Dan Jennings (2-3) got through the sixth, A.J. Ramos worked the seventh and eighth, and Steve Cishek handled the ninth for his 26th save.

Cishek struck out Alex Gordon with runners on first and second to end the game.

”This is a resilient group of guys,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. ”They keep coming back and battling, and I think you saw some big hits by guys out there.”

Solano and Morrison each finished with a pair of RBIs for Miami.

”It’s always good to go out there and play well against teams that are making a push for a playoff spot,” Redmond said. ”That’s a good feeling heading home.”

Indeed, the Royals were rolling when the series began. They’d won 17 of 20 after taking the opener to climb into playoff contention, but now limp off to play five games in four days against AL Central-leading Detroit with their first defeat in eight series.

Now, the Marlins have won two straight to finish off a long road trip.

The Royals, blanked 1-0 in 10 innings Tuesday night, got off to a good start when Eric Hosmer doubled in the first inning and eventually scored on a single by Salvador Perez.

The Royals failed to take advantage of the erratic Jacob Turner, though. The Marlins starter walked six without a strikeout in five-plus innings, but Kansas City could only squeeze out one more run against him on a groundout by David Lough in the fourth.

The Marlins got their first run when Ruggiano drove in Adeiney Hechavarria in the top half of the fourth. They were otherwise hamstrung by Royals starter Ervin Santana, who dodged eight hits and two walks over six innings to hand his bullpen the lead.

The Royals’ relievers – with little help from their defense – failed to hold on. Johnson’s error turned the game, Royals manager Ned Yost said, and eventually led to the go-ahead runs.

”In Elliot’s defense, it was cue-ball shot with a lot of English. It had a lot of spin on it, it hit and then boom, it stayed down,” Yost said. ”It changed the whole complexion of the inning.”

For his part, Johnson refused to make any excuses.

”We’re in the middle of the hunt and they’re not going to tolerate that sort of stuff. It seems like an easy play,” Johnson said. ”It wasn’t as easy as it seems, (but) still I should have made it. I’m playing in the big leagues and you’ve got to make those kinds of plays.”

Solano and Morrison tacked on run-scoring singles off Luke Hochevar in the ninth, and Cishek finished up for his 21st straight save, the third-best streak in the majors.

— Associated Press —