ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Blake Snell added to a run of top-notch pitching by the Tampa Bay Rays.

The All-Star left-hander helped Tampa Bay match a team record with 27 consecutive shutout innings, and the Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 on Tuesday night.

“This pitching staff, I think, is very, very talented,” Snell said. “I’m not surprised. Guys can pitch, they come in compete and work every day.”

The scoreless stretch ended when Snell (15-5) allowed a fifth-inning solo homer to Ryan O’Hearn.

Snell struck out 11 and gave up four hits in six innings. The left-hander has 13 straight home starts of allowing one earned run or fewer, which is longest stretch in the majors since 1913, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“I like being at home, I don’t like going on planes or buses,” Snell said with a smile. “I don’t know what it is. I feel very comfortable here.”

Tampa Bay has a 1.89 ERA over the last 11 games.

“We’re doing it with a lot of young pitchers,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Blake did his thing. Another dominating performance. I like where Blake’s going.”

Since returning from a stint on the disabled list for left shoulder fatigue Aug. 4th, Snell is 3-0 and has given up two earned runs over 20 innings in four starts.

“He’s not an All-Star by accident,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

O’Hearn has five homers in 14 career games for the Royals, who dropped to 50 games (38-88) under .500.

Tampa Bay’s Tommy Pham had three hits, an RBI and a walk but left in the eighth after dislocating his right ring finger diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt. He’s day to day.

“I thought I broke it,” Pham said. “My finger was pointed the other direction. Got lucky.”

Willy Adames had three hits and put the Rays up 1-0 on a homer off an overhanging catwalk in the second that left fielder Alex Gordon nearly made a diving catch on. The effort would have been in vain if Gordon caught it because Tropicana Field ground rules state a ball hitting that catwalk is an automatic home run.

Gordon was OK after going over the short wall down the left-field line trying to catch Brandon Lowe’s fifth-inning foul ball.

Joey Wendle made it 3-0 with a two-run triple off Glenn Sparkman (0-2) during the fourth.

Sparkman gave up three runs and seven hits over four innings in his second career start.

Sergio Romo pitched the ninth for his 17th save, working out of a two-on, one-out jam.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Yost said LHP Danny Duffy, placed on the 10-day DL on Aug. 13th, is “pretty much on track” to start Thursday night. … RHP Ian Kennedy (left oblique strain) could start a minor league rehab assignment next week. … OF Jorge Bonifacio was a late scratch with lower back tightness.

Rays: 3B Matt Duffy, hitting .202 over his previous 25 games, was rested. Duffy was limited to three minor league games in 2017 following Achilles tendon surgery. “We’re getting to the dog days of the season, that’s something I’ve got to recognize,” Cash said. … LHP Vidal Nuno (right hamstring) allowed three hits in three scoreless innings for Class A Charlotte.

RARE COMPANY

Snell joined Hall of Famer Bob Gibson (1968) as the only pitchers since 1920 with at least 160 strikeouts and fewer than 35 runs allowed through 24 starts, according to Stats LLC.

UP NEXT

Royals RHP Jakob Junis (6-11) will face Rays reliever Ryne Stanek (1-3) in a bullpen game Wednesday night. Junis is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in two appearances against Tampa Bay.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays and their parade of relievers are closing in on some franchise history.

Ryan Yarbrough helped extend Tampa Bay’s shutout streak to 23 innings, and the Rays got their only run via video replay in a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.

The franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings is 27, set in 2013. Tampa Bay began this streak with 14 shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox, including a 2-0 win Sunday.

“They shut out the best team in the league yesterday so that tells you how good they’re doing now,” said Willy Adames, who drove in the game’s only run.

Yarbrough (12-5) pitched 5 1/3 innings in relief of opener Hunter Wood. The rookie left-hander gave up two hits and a walk while striking out six, earning his major league-leading 10th relief win.

Yarbrough has primarily been a long man out of the bullpen while Tampa Bay has experimented with using relievers for one or two innings at the start of most games. He leads the majors with 96 relief innings and has a 3.84 ERA.

“It’s something that you see another guy doing really well, and … we’re all competitive by nature or we wouldn’t be here,” Yarbrough said. “We just want to go out there and do the same, if not better. A little friendly competition in the clubhouse never hurts.”

Ryne Stanek pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Jose Alvarado pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

After singles by Ji-Man Choi and Kevin Kiermaier in the second inning, Adames hit a two-out chopper over third base. Adames beat Rosell Herrera’s throw across the diamond, but it took a 43-second review to reverse the original out call.

“Usually the run you score in the second inning doesn’t define the game. It was pretty unusual,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It just shows we had to play seven innings of perfect baseball.”

The run came off right-hander Jorge Lopez, who pitched five innings in his second major league start. Lopez (0-3) gave up five hits and three walks.

The Royals, who were shut out for the ninth time this season, are 0-4 against Tampa Bay with all four losses coming by one run. They never got a runner as far as third base Monday night.

“The pitching was fantastic. We just couldn’t muster any offense,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Kiermaier had three of Tampa Bay’s eight hits after coming into the game batting .127 in August.

Royals reliever Jake Newberry struck out three in 1 2/3 innings in his major league debut.

Wood pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up two hits with two strikeouts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (left shoulder) “felt really good” after a bullpen session, according to manager Ned Yost, who will determine Tuesday whether Duffy will pitch Thursday night’s series finale.

Rays: INF Daniel Robertson said recent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb went well and he has no pain. Robertson hasn’t given up on getting at-bats during the final days of the season. “There won’t be any rushing it,” he said. … LHP Vidal Nuno (strained right hamstring) will make his second rehab start Tuesday night with Class A Charlotte and should be back in September.

MINORS MATTERS

LHP Matthew Liberatore, taken by the Rays in the first round of the 2018 draft, allowed three hits and struck out eight over five innings to get his first pro win in the GCL Rays’ 6-0 victory over the Twins. He has a 0.98 ERA over 27 2/3 innings in eight starts.

UP NEXT

LHP Blake Snell (14-5) will pitch Tuesday night’s game against Royals RHP Glenn Sparkman (0-1). Snell, whose 2.10 ERA ranks second in the AL, has not given up a run in two straight starts of five innings each.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — For many struggling teams, a large early deficit results in a lackluster effort the rest of the way.

The Chicago White Sox, though, keep battling.

Omar Narvaez homered and drove in the go-ahead run with a single, Chicago relievers tossed seven scoreless innings and the White Sox rallied from a six-run deficit for a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Avisail Garcia and Tim Anderson also homered for Chicago, which has won four of five.

Hector Santiago (5-3) allowed just two hits in four innings of relief to get the win. Jace Fry, the last of six relievers, got the final two outs for his second save.

Of Chicago’s 46 wins, 26 have been come-from-behind affairs.

“It says a lot about them because they’re fighting,” manager Rick Renteria said. “Certainly a great team win.”

Ryan O’Hearn, Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon homered for Kansas City, which dropped to 2-13 in the rubber game of series this season.

White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez needed just 11 pitches to retire the side in order in the first, but was rocked for six runs and three homers (on 46 pitches) in the second. O’Hearn started things with a two-run shot, Merrifield made it 5-0 with a three-run blast and Gordon added a solo shot.

“I wasn’t commanding my pitches,” Lopez said through a translator.

Kansas City starter Heath Fillmyer allowed just one hit in the first three innings, but then suddenly lost it. The right-hander faced six batters in the fourth and didn’t record an out.

Jose Abreu and Daniel Palka had back-to-back singles to start things and Garcia hit a three-run homer to trim the deficit in half. After Nicky Delmonico singled, Anderson homered to make it 6-5. Narvaez followed with a solo blast to tie the score and chase Fillmyer.

“He just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Second time around, they kind of got on him. Wasn’t a bad pitch to Garcia, but from that point it snowballed on him and other pitches weren’t that great of pitches.

“By the time I could get somebody up, the game was tied.”

In the fifth, Narvaez gave the White Sox a 7-6 lead with a two-out RBI single off Brian Flynn (3-4), scoring Garcia from second base.

PROMOTED

Highly touted prospect Michael Kopech will make his major league debut Tuesday night when the White Sox host the Minnesota Twins. The 22-year-old is 7-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 24 starts with Triple-A Charlotte this season, including a 4-0 mark with a 1.84 ERA in his last seven starts. The hard-throwing right-hander has 170 strikeouts in 126 1/3 innings.

“I’m excited to see his progression,” said catcher Kevan Smith, who caught Kopech in Charlotte earlier this season. “His fastball is electric.”

ROYALTY

Gordon’s homer was the 169th of his career (all with the Royals), tying Hal McRae for fourth in franchise history.

DAY TRIPPIN’

The White Sox play the Twins in Minneapolis on Monday night in a makeup of one of three games snowed out in April. The teams then play two games in Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It’s an odd thing, for sure,” Renteria said of the one-game road trip. “I’ve never experienced it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (shoulder impingement) threw long toss on Saturday and is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Monday. Yost said Duffy will start at Tampa Bay on Thursday — the day he’s eligible to come off the 10-day DL — if there are no issues.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jorge Lopez (0-2, 4.44 ERA) makes his second start of the season on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series at Tampa Bay. RHP Ryan Stanek (1-3, 2.74) pitches for the Rays.

White Sox: RHP Lucas Giolito (8-9, 6.15) takes the mound Monday night at Minnesota in the makeup of a game snowed out in April. LHP Stephen Gonsalves (0-0, 0.00) makes his major league debut for the Twins.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Gordon homered and Jorge Bonifacio had a go-ahead RBI single in the decisive sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Saturday night.

Rookie Brad Keller pitched five solid innings for the Royals, who won for the third time in their past nine games. The White Sox had their win streak stopped at three.

Nicky Delmonico homered in the second inning off Keller (6-5), driving a changeup over the right-center field fence. That was the only blemish against Keller, who allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked none.

The White Sox had five hits combined in the fourth and fifth innings but were unable to score.

Dylan Covey (4-10) returned to the form he had displayed the first 2 1/2 months of the season but remained winless in five starts since July 21. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Covey entered the game with a 1-8 record and 8.94 ERA in his last 10 starts. He was 0-5 with a 6.34 ERA versus Kansas City in his career.

After Whit Merrifield opened the game with a single, Covey didn’t allow another hit until Gordon homered with one out in the sixth. One out later, Lucas Duda doubled and scored on Bonifacio’s single to left field.

Alcides Escobar provided an insurance run with a two-out RBI single off Juan Minaya in the ninth.

Five Royals relievers combined for four scoreless innings. The last, Wily Peralta, worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save in as many tries.

NEWBIE IN THE HOUSE

Kansas City promoted RHP Jake Newberry from Omaha and optioned RHP Jason Adam to the Triple-A club. The 37th-round draft pick from 2012 is in line to become the lowest-round selection to debut for the team since OF Jarrod Dyson (50th, 2010).

RHP Blaine Boyer cleared waivers and became a free agent. The veteran has a 12.05 ERA in 21 relief appearances.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Brett Phillips (lower-body fatigue) returned to the lineup after a two-game absence.

White Sox: OF Avisail Garcia will try to work through a balky right knee that’s likely to require surgery after the season. “He’s just going to have to deal with it and continue to move forward. And I think he’ll be able to,” Manager Rick Renteria said. … RHP Nate Jones (strained right arm) “is throwing the ball well and feeling good,” Renteria said, but there still is no timetable for his return. His last appearance came on June 12.

UP NEXT

Royals: Rookie RHP Heath Fillmyer (1-1, 3.61 ERA) will close out the series Sunday.

White Sox: RHP Reynaldo Lopez (4-9, 4.40) will take a 1.93 ERA in his last two home starts into the finale. He didn’t figure in either decision.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — Jose Abreu and Nicky Delmonico hit three-run homers in a seven-run, seventh-inning outburst, lifting the Chicago White Sox to a 9-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Delmonico went 2 for 4 and had a career-high five RBI. Tim Anderson went 3 for 3 with a walk and two stolen bases for Chicago, which has won eight of 14.

Abreu’s homer was his 22nd. The White Sox have homered in a season-high nine straight games, totaling 13 during that stretch.

James Shields (5-14) allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings to snap a five-start winless streak.

Whit Merrifield went 2 for 2 with two walks and an RBI for the Royals.

Yoan Moncada, who was inserted back into the leadoff spot on Friday, started the rally in the seventh with a walk. Yolmer Sanchez then followed with a slow grounder to shortstop that Alcides Escobar booted for an error — snapping the Royals’ 16-game errorless streak.

Right-hander Jason Adam came on to replace Tim Hill (1-4) and Abreu hit the first pitch into the left-center bleachers to give the White Sox a 5-3 lead.

Chicago wasn’t through. After Matt Davidson struck out for the first out, Leury Garcia singled and stole second. After Omar Narvaez walked, Anderson singled to drive in Garcia and make it 6-3. Delmonico then followed with his three-run blast into the right-field bleachers.

Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the third on run-scoring singles by Merrifield and Salvador Perez, and a sacrifice fly by Alex Gordon.

Chicago got a run back in the fourth. Anderson walked with two outs and none on, stole second and scored on Delmonico’s single.

Anderson then chased Royals starter Jakob Junis with a one-out double in the sixth. After Hill came on, Anderson stole second and scored on Delmonico’s grounder to third to make it 3-2.

CASTILLO RETURNS

White Sox C Welington Castillo began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, going 1 for 4 as the DH in a 4-3, 10-inning loss to Louisville. Castillo, 31, was suspended for 80 games on May 24 for violating MLB’s drug policy. He is eligible to return to the majors on Thursday when Chicago begins a four-game series at Detroit.

Manager Rick Renteria said Castillo will resume his role as the No. 1 catcher if he’s physically up to the task. “We’ll see how he’s doing when he gets here and then we’ll move forward,” Renteria said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Brian Goodwin (left groin strain) continued his rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha as the DH on Friday. After a day off on Saturday, the plan is for Goodwin to play five innings in the outfield on Sunday.

White Sox: Garcia (strained left hamstring) was activated from the 10-day DL before the game. He entered in the third inning, replacing RF Avisail Garcia, who apparently wasn’t injured. OF Ryan LaMarre was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte following Wednesday’s game at Detroit, opening the roster spot.

UP NEXT

Chicago RHP Dylan Covey (4-9, 6.06 ERA) looks to snap out of an extended rough stretch on Saturday night in the second game of the series. Covey is 1-8 with an 8.94 ERA in his last 10 starts. RHP Brad Keller (5-5, 3.40) pitches for the Royals after allowing just one run in seven innings against Toronto in last start on Monday.

— Associated Press —