KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Justin Verlander may not be pitching like he did in 2011, when he won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards.

But he’s been plenty good for Detroit over the last month.

Verlander threw his fifth consecutive quality start, and Ian Kinsler homered and drove in three runs as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 Tuesday night.

The Tigers, who had lost nine of 10 to drop into last place in the AL Central, snapped a four-game losing streak.

Verlander (3-6) limited the Royals to seven hits and four runs, two unearned, over 6 2/3 innings. He has a 0.76 ERA in his past five starts and the Tigers’ lone two victories since Aug. 19, including a one-hit shutout of the Angels in his previous outing.

“It wasn’t spectacular, but it’s nice to get the win for the team,” Verlander said. “My fastball location was really good. When other pitches aren’t working as well, fastball location gets you out of trouble.”

Verlander’s velocity picked up as the game went along. He was throwing 97 mph in his final inning, including 10 straight pitches of 95-plus.

“I’m aware of it,” Verlander said.

The last time Verlander faced the Royals was Aug. 4, when he allowed five runs and 10 hits over seven innings. It was his only rough start in his past eight.

“Obviously we adjusted our game plan to have more success,” catcher James McCann said.

Johnny Cueto (2-4), who the Royals acquired in a July 26 trade with Cincinnati, allowed four runs on nine hits over six innings. Cueto has given up 38 hits in his past four starts, the most hits he has allowed in his career over a four-start span. He has allowed 17 runs in 17 innings in losing his past three starts.

“This is obviously part of the game,” Cueto said with coach Pedro Grifol as his interpreter. “Every player has a streak like this. I’m not concerned because I’m well aware that this is going to turn around and I’m going to help this team.”

Cueto, who shut out the Tigers on Aug. 10, yielded six hits and three runs in the first two innings. Miguel Cabrera, who hit .393 in August, singled home Anthony Gose in the first inning.

“He just wasn’t real sharp the first three innings,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Miguel Almonte gave up a two-run, seventh-inning homer to Kinsler in his major league debut. Kinsler also hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth.

Kendrys Morales homered in the fourth off Verlander. Alex Gordon, who missed 48 games with a groin injury, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second. Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar had RBI in the seventh.

The Royals cut the lead to one run in the eighth on a Salvador Perez single.

Bruce Rondon worked a scoreless ninth for his third save in four opportunities.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: LHP Daniel Norris (right oblique strain) made 60 throws from flat ground.

Royals: LF Gordon was reinstated after being out eight weeks with a strained left groin. … RHP Kelvin Herrera and RF Alex Rios have the chickenpox and likely will miss a minimum of two weeks. … 3B Mike Moustakas (pulled hamstring) did not start, but grounded out as a pinch hitter in the eighth.

UP NEXT

Tigers: LHP Randy Wolf makes his third start after losing his first two despite a 2.57 ERA.

Royals: Newly acquired OF Jonny Gomes will likely start Wednesday. He is 13 for 23 (.522) with two home runs off Wolf.

— Associated Press —

ATLANTA (AP) — Now that he’s officially on the move from Atlanta, Jonny Gomes is excited to be joining the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals.

The Braves traded Gomes during a 4-0 loss to Miami on Monday night. He left the game in the fifth inning, hugged his teammates in the dugout and began packing up his belongings in the clubhouse.

Laughing that his career “has been kind of nomadic,” Gomes will be making his seventh move to a new team in the last five years.

“I’ve been on some good teams — won the World Series, lost the World Series, lost in a playoff game to (Kansas City) last year in the one-game wild card,” he said. “Once (the regular season) is over, it’s a clean slate. Batting averages are gone. Wins and losses are gone. Nothing to be taken for granted. I’ll just go over there, be Jonny Gomes, try not to clog it up and help them win.”

Atlanta sent Gomes and an undisclosed amount of cash to Kansas City for shortstop Luis Valenzuela. The Braves assigned Valenzuela to Class A Rome.

The 34-year-old Gomes has been in the postseason four times since 2010 and helped Boston win the World Series two years ago. The Red Sox traded Gomes and ace Jon Lester to Oakland last year for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and a draft pick.

“I think that just comes with the status for playing a long time on a one-year deal,” he said. “Therefore, you kind of become tradeable if things don’t work out with the team that you’re on.”

Gomes hit .221 with seven homers and 22 RBIs in 195 at-bats with Atlanta. He was playing left field for the Braves and has been a designated hitter during his career. He also pitched Friday in a blowout loss to the New York Yankees.

Kansas City, last year’s AL champion, began the day 13 games up in the AL Central. The Braves started the day 18 games out of first place in the NL East.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jason Heyward hit a two-run, tie-breaking double in the seventh inning to key a five-run rally, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 8-5 on Monday night.

St. Louis won for the eighth time in nine games and moved five games ahead of the idle Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central.

Washington, which had won six of its previous eight, fell 6 1/2 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East. New York beat Philadelphia 3-1 on Monday.

The Cardinals sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh and erased a 5-3 deficit with five two-out runs.

Kolten Wong followed Heyward’s hit with a run-scoring single to push the lead to 8-5.

Stephen Piscotty and Jhonny Peralta had RBI hits off Casey Janssen (1-3) to tie the game. Felipe Rivero gave up the double to Heyward.

Kevin Siegrist (6-1) picked up the win despite allowing three runs in the seventh.

St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal recorded his 42nd save in 44 opportunities. He had missed the previous three games due to the birth of his daughter.

Ryan Zimmerman hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs for the Nationals. Zimmerman, who went 3 for 5 and was a triple shy of the cycle, has 15 RBI in his last eight games.

Heyward, who was homer shy of the cycle in Sunday’s 7-5 win at San Francisco, is 7 for 14 in his last four games.

St. Louis starter John Lackey gave up two runs, one earned, in six innings. He struck out eight and walked four.

Washington starter Gio Gonzalez surrendered three runs in six innings. He had given up 14 earned runs over his last three starts totaling 12 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the third on successive run-scoring hits by Yadier Molina, Kolten Wong and Mark Reynolds to go up 3-1.

Zimmerman’s three-run homer in the seventh, his 13th of the season, put the Nationals up 5-3.

TRAINER’S ROOM:

Nationals: INF Yunel Escobar returned to the lineup on Monday. He missed the previous three games after being hit on the hand by a pitch on Thursday.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez was scratched from his scheduled start on Tuesday due to a sore back suffered in his last start Thursday in Arizona. LHP Marco Gonzales will be recalled from Triple-A Memphis to make the start. The Cardinals first-round selection in the 2013 draft, Gonzales is 1-4 with 5.20 ERA in 13 starts in Memphis. … RHP Lance Lynn will make his scheduled start Friday despite rolling his ankle in Saturday’s 6-0 win at San Francisco.

UP NEXT:

Washington RHP Joe Ross (5-5, 3.24 ERA) will take on LHP Marco Gonzales in the second game of the three-game set on Tuesday. Gonzales is making his first appearance of the season. Ross is 2-0 in his last two starts with a 0.69 ERA, allowing just one run in 13 innings.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A couple of solo home runs from unlikely sources and four strong innings of relief were just enough for the Tampa Bay Rays to get their first and only win of the season over the Kansas City Royals.

Brandon Guyer and Kevin Kiermaier homered, and four Tampa Bay pitchers held the Royals to one hit over the final five innings Sunday in the Rays’ 3-2 win.

By salvaging the final game of a three-game series, the Rays prevented the Royals from a 7-0 sweep of their season series, a feat they have not accomplished since going 12-0 against Baltimore in 1988. The AL Central-leading Royals lost for only the sixth time in 23 games.

“They’re kind of firing on all cylinders right now and we need to get to that point,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We needed this win because we’ve had some frustrating losses, no doubt. We needed to bounce back and get a win in a tight ball game.”

Kiermaier’s sixth-inning homer off Luke Hochevar (1-1) broke a 2-2 tie. It was Kiermaier’s second homer in two games and seventh of the season.

Xavier Cedeno (3-1) got the win in relief while Brad Boxberger pitched the ninth for his 32nd save.

Four of Kansas City’s seven hits came during a two-run third that included RBI by Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain. The Royals had a chance to tie it in the eighth when Rays first baseman James Loney turned a double play by throwing Zobrist out at the plate after fielding a bouncer the Royals thought was foul.

“A game shouldn’t be decided on a play like that,” said Kendrys Morales, who never left the batting circle and was tagged by Rays catcher Rene Rivera. “It’s a little bit frustrating. That play should be reviewable.”

“I think we had some luck on our side right there,” Kiermaier said. “But for us to close out a game today was great because we’ve struggled doing that lately.”

Rays starter Nathan Karns gave up two runs on six hits while striking out five. It was the rookie right-hander’s 19th start in which he has given up two runs or fewer, most in the AL.

Kansas City starter Danny Duffy gave up two runs while striking out six in five innings.

Guyer led off the third with a homer on an 0-2 pitch from Duffy, his sixth of the season.

“A lot of my homers this year have come with two strikes,” said Guyer, who had three hits and scored twice. “I choke up on the bat and just stay simple, put it in play. That’s when a lot of the power comes, but on that one I wasn’t thinking home run at all.”

BULLPEN SERIES

Kiermaier’s home run off Hochevar accounted for the only run given up by the Royals’ bullpen in the series. … The Rays’ bullpen has given up only one run over 17 2/3 innings in the last four games. … Boxberger took the AL lead with his 32nd save.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Alex Rios, out of the lineup for the second straight game with a virus, was sent back to Kansas City. … RHP Ryan Madson has been resting since Aug. 22 to recover from a dead-arm period.

Rays: OF Steven Souza Jr. (broken left hand) is hitting off a tee and doing soft toss. He expects to be back in mid-September.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Johnny Cueto (9-9) looks to end a personal two-game skid when he faces Detroit RHP Justin Verlander (2-6) in the opener of a nine-game homestand Tuesday night. Verlander is coming off a 5-0 shutout Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels in which he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

Rays: RHP Chris Archer (11-10) will go against Orioles LHP Wei-Yin Chin (8-6) Monday night to start a three-game series in Baltimore.

— Associated Press —