ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — One pitch, one run. And then it was smooth sailing for Jeremy Guthrie.

Guthrie gave up a leadoff home run by Shin-Soo Choo, but didn’t allow another run over eight innings as the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 Saturday night for their 24th win in 30 games.

Alex Gordon had two hits, including a first-inning homer for his 15th of the season, and made a diving catch in left field for the AL Central leaders.

Guthrie (10-10) won for the fifth time in six starts. After Choo’s homer, he retired 12 straight and gave up only four more hits. He struck out two, walked one and left after the eighth with a 6-1 lead.

“The mistakes I made, we got fortunate,” Guthrie said. “Not too many were hit hard. The biggest thing was I was trying to stay aggressive and keep the pitch count as low as I could and try to get deep.”

Royals manager Ned Yost had no quarrel with the pitch that gave Texas an immediate 1-0 lead.

“The first pitch was actually a pretty good pitch,” Yost said. “It was a fastball that was down. You’re trying to get ahead with the first pitch of the game.”

The Royals broke a 1-all tie by scoring three runs in the fifth inning, capitalizing on the wildness of Nick Tepesch (4-8). He gave up three four-pitch walks and two singles that inning.

Jarrod Dyson drove in three runs, matching a career high, with a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single for the Royals.

Aaron Crow worked the ninth for Kansas City, allowing two runs.

Tepesch allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. With the bases loaded in the fifth, he walked Dyson and allowed a two-run single to Omar Infante on an 0-2 pitch.

“I felt like I was little all over the place all night,” Tepesch said. “I think that inning was just the worst of it.”

Dyson chased Tepesch in the seventh with the two-run single on which Lorenzo Cain slid in with the second run. The safe call was confirmed by video replay following a challenge by Texas manager Ron Washington.

“The more you win, the more you believe,” Dyson said. “It’s like routine to you. So that’s probably why we’re going so good right now.”

— Associated Press —

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yordano Ventura still reverts to being the rookie pitcher he is for the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals.

The hard-throwing right-hander also keeps winning.

Ventura struck out six in six innings for his 10th victory, he walked three and got help from inning-starting homers by Billy Butler and Josh Willingham to beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Friday night.

“There was kind of two Yordanos,” manager Ned Yost said. “There was one that was within himself, and he was banging strikes, staying downhill. And then there was one when he was just throwing out there, raring back, and struggled to keep the ball down.

“All in all, I thought he threw a good ball game for us.”

Greg Holland worked a scoreless ninth for his MLB-leading 40th save in 42 opportunities, becoming the first Royals pitcher since Dan Quisenberry in 1983-84 to have consecutive 40-save seasons. That came after Wade Davis retired all three batters he faced to extend the majors’ longest active scoreless streak to 22 2/3 innings.

Lorenzo Cain had three hits after a 2-for-14 slump for Kansas City, which won for the 23rd time in 29 games. Cain doubled and scored in the seventh for the final Royals run.

Butler led off the second with his eighth homer, tying the game at 1-all. Cain and Alcides Escobar, the bottom two batters in the Royals lineup, had consecutive RBI singles in that inning against Colby Lewis (8-11) to put Kansas City ahead to stay.

Willingham made it 4-1 when he homered in the fourth, his 14th overall and second in 10 games since the Royals acquired him on Aug. 11 from Minnesota, the AL Central’s last-place team.

“Obviously, it’s awesome being in a pennant race, and every game, every at-bat means something,” Willingham said.

Adrian Beltre had two hits and drove in the first Texas run with a groundout in the first.

Lewis pitched exactly one year after right hip resurfacing surgery. The 35-year-old right-hander is the first known major league pitcher to come back after such an operation.

Lewis retired the last eight batters he faced, and his only strikeouts came against the final two. He allowed four runs and six hits without a walk over six innings — four being 1-2-3 frames.

“Early in the game, he just couldn’t get the ball down. But then after that he settled in, and when he left the ballgame we were still in it,” manager Ron Washington said. “He’s been a huge factor (this season). I think when you look at it, it just shows you his professionalism.”

— Associated Press —

DENVER (AP) — Matt McBride hit his first career grand slam and Jorge De La Rosa pitched eight crisp innings, helping the Colorado Rockies cool off the Kansas City Royals with a 5-2 win on Wednesday night.

The loss trims the Royals’ lead to one game over Detroit in the AL Central.

Danny Duffy (8-11) was cruising along with a 2-1 lead until a two-out error by third baseman Christian Colon in the sixth opened the door for a big inning. McBride lined a fastball from Duffy into the left-field bleachers and then zipped around the bases in exhilaration.

It was McBride’s first homer since Sept. 25, 2012, and third of his career. He was called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs the day before.

De La Rosa (13-8) allowed five hits and two run against his former team. He also got the Royals to hit into four double plays, tying a franchise record for most by a single pitcher in a game.

LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 20 chances.

Duffy was in command most of the night as he allowed five hits and five runs, one earned, in seven innings. After getting two quick outs in the sixth, Colon fielded a grounder and threw a one-hopper that first baseman Billy Butler couldn’t scoop. Wilin Rosario singled and Corey Dickerson drew a walk to set the stage for McBride.

Another hard-luck loss for Duffy, who’s the only AL pitcher with a losing record and an ERA under three runs.

This was just the second time De La Rosa faced his old team. He spent two seasons with the Royals before being dealt to Colorado in 2008 for cash considerations.

He was cashing in on his slider and changeup to get out of one jam after another.

De La Rosa’s only mistake was in the second when he grooved a 91-mph fastball that Alex Gordon hit into the right-field bleachers. Erik Kratz brought in another run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth that scored Josh Willingham, who led off the inning with a double.

The Royals finished interleague play with a 15-5 mark.

— Associated Press —