KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Michael Pineda kept throwing strikes. The Royals kept taking them, trying in vain to drive his pitch count up. When Yankees catcher Brian McCann looked up in the third inning, his right-hander had still thrown just 35 pitches.

He knew then that Pineda was in a groove.

Pineda wound up pitching into the seventh inning Monday night to win for the first time since April 16, helping New York beat the Kansas City Royals 8-1 for its fifth straight win.

“He’s got so much cut on his fastball,” McCann said. “I feel like he could literally throw it every pitch and be successful. When he’s like that, he’s as good as anybody.”

In the makeup of a game rained out in early June, Pineda (3-2) gave up a solo shot to Mike Moustakas leading off the third inning. But that was about it in Pineda’s third game back from the disabled list. He struck out five without a walk.

Jacoby Ellsbury drove in a run in the seventh inning with the 1,000th hit of his career, then added a two-run homer in the ninth. Derek Jeter added a pair of RBIs in his final scheduled trip to Kauffman Stadium, and Stephen Drew and Martin Prado had solo home runs.

“It’s nice when you have a lot of people contribute,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

James Shields (12-7) allowed six runs over 6 2/3 innings for Kansas City.

“We’ve been playing really, really good baseball the last month or so. We’re definitely not going to let just one little game take care of us,” Shields said. “We’re going to move onto this next series and hopefully we’ll win it.”

If you’re willing to count the makeup against New York as a true series, it was the first time in their last 11 that the Royals have dropped one.

“It’s going to happen,” outfielder Alex Gordon said. “We’ll bounce back. We’ll be OK.”

Jeter, who is retiring after the season, answered a standing ovation as he stepped to the plate in the third inning with a groundout to shortstop that gave New York a 1-0 lead.

Moustakas tied the game with his 15th homer in the bottom half.

Drew gave the Yankees the lead back in the fourth with his home run, and they piled on four more runs off Shields in the seventh to put things out of reach.

The last of the runs was scored by Ellsbury, who came home on a sacrifice fly by McCann. Ellsbury initially was ruled out at the plate, but the call was overturned after a 2-minute video review showed his left leg sliding just under catcher Salvador Perez’s tag.

That was plenty of support for Pineda, who had gone through the ringer since his previous win. He served a 10-game suspension for getting caught with pine tar on his neck in a game against Boston, then landed on the DL with shoulder trouble that kept him out until mid-August.

Pineda was stuck with a pair of no-decisions in his first two starts back.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I feel like I have good power in my arm.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Matt Cassel made a winning return to Arrowhead Stadium, even if it was just a preseason game.

The quarterback who was booed, benched and eventually released two years ago by the Chiefs, threw for 152 yards and a touchdown Saturday night, leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-12 win over a scuffling Kansas City team dealing with a rash of injuries and suspensions.

Cassel also threw an interception before turning things over to Teddy Bridgewater in the third quarter. The rookie quarterback, who is still challenging for the starting job, threw a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Allen Reisner less than 2 minutes apart to seal the win.

The Chiefs’ Alex Smith was just 14 of 24 for 124 yards with two red-zone interceptions, and the Chiefs’ first-team offense only managed a 21-yard field goal by Cairo Santos.

They still have not scored a touchdown in 16 possessions this preseason.

While the third preseason game is typically a dress rehearsal for the regular season, both teams sat plenty of star power due to injuries and personal reasons.

Running back Adrian Peterson, excused from practice this week, dressed for the Vikings but did not play. Chiefs counterpart Jamaal Charles, dealing with a foot injury, also dressed after returning to practice Thursday, but did not see the field.

Other noteworthy players missing included Vikings safety Robert Blanton (hamstring) and defensive tackle Linval Joseph (calf), and Chiefs safety Eric Berry (heel), wide receivers Dwayne Bowe (quad) and Junior Hemingway (hip), and linebacker Joe Mays (wrist surgery).

All the missing pieces allowed several players trying to secure starting jobs and roster spots a chance to shine with the first round of cuts due Tuesday.

Jeff Linkenbach and Ricky Henry alternated at left guard for the Chiefs in place of Jeff Allen, who shifted to right tackle. He took the place of Donald Stephenson, who will be suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s drug policy.

Wide receiver Frankie Hammond also made a couple of nice catches for Kansas City. He started in place of Bowe, suspended for the season opener after his arrest last November.

Matt Asiata, starting in Peterson’s place, ran for 48 yards on 11 carries.

Not everything went perfectly for Cassel after his long touchdown pass to Patterson gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead. He was sacked on third down on their ensuing possession, and was stripped of the ball by the Chiefs’ Jaye Howard for a safety later in the first quarter.

The Chiefs moved the ball well in the first half, but two promising drives ended when Smith was intercepted by Captain Munnerlyn in the end zone and by Chad Greenway near the goal line.

Blair Walsh kicked a pair of field goals to extend Minnesota’s lead to 13-5, and both teams pulled their starters in the third quarter. Bridgewater and Reisner connected twice in a span of 1 minute, 44 seconds later in the quarter to put things out of reach.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The status of Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles remains in question after he missed Sunday night’s preseason game in Carolina because of a bruised foot.

Charles had made it through every training camp practice without picking up any significant bumps or bruises. Then, when he was in the process of moving out of the Missouri Western dorms on Thursday night, he rolled his foot over a curb.

The Chiefs had no media availability on Friday or Saturday, so the injury was not revealed until Sunday, when Charles was not on the trip to Carolina.

Coach Andy Reid said Monday that Charles had X-rays and an MRI exam that revealed no significant injury. Still, it is unclear how long Charles will be out.

— Associated Press —

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cam Newton made a successful return following ankle surgery, Jonathan Stewart ran for two touchdowns and the Carolina Panthers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-16 on Sunday night.

Newton completed 4 of 9 passes for 65 yards and led a pair of touchdown drives in the preseason game before exiting late in the second quarter with Carolina (1-1) up 14-6.

Stewart ran for 26 yards on four carries and made a strong case to be the Panthers’ goal-line back — if not their primary ball carrier — with scoring runs of 3 and 2 yards.

Carolina’s first three possessions netted a yard and no first downs. Newton compounded the problem by overthrowing Kelvin Benjamin on a deep ball after the rookie receiver got behind the secondary.

But Stewart replaced DeAngelo Williams and immediately gave the Panthers a boost with a 17-yard carry around left end. The Panthers found their rhythm after that, driving 66 and 50 yards for touchdowns on their next two possessions.

“We had a slow start tonight, which is unacceptable,” Newton said. “We have to stay on schedule and not waste opportunities like the shot to Benji. Kansas City’s a good football team and we didn’t match their intensity early, but it was good to put a few drives together and score some points.”

Kansas City’s Alex Smith finished 14 of 22 for 127 yards.

The Chiefs (1-1) moved the ball well early on without star running back Jamaal Charles, but were forced to settle for a pair of field goals — one of them a 54-yarder by Ryan Succup.

Kansas City’s search for a reliable No. 2 receiver continues.

Dwayne Bowe, who will miss the first game of the regular season because of an NFL-imposed suspension, had five catches for 62 yards but none of the Chiefs’ other wide receivers stood out.

Rookie quarterback Aaron Murray’s first NFL pass was for a 43-yard touchdown strike to tight end Travis Kelce, but he later threw an interception leading to a Carolina touchdown.

Newton had to shake off some early rust.

He missed on five of his first six passes and was sacked for a 13-yard loss, leading to three straight three-and-outs to start the game. He didn’t run the ball at all because coach Ron Rivera didn’t want to chance him reinjuring his left ankle.

Carolina benefited from a 32-yard pass interference penalty on Chiefs cornerback Ron Parker that set up Stewart’s first TD — a run in which the 5-foot-10, 235-pounder bounced off a defender and bowled his way into the end zone.

Newton connected on a 24-yard pass to Benjamin over the middle on Carolina’s next series leading to Stewart’s second score.

It was an encouraging return to the field for Stewart, a former first-round draft pick who has missed 17 games the past two seasons with foot and ankle injuries. Stewart has been limited to 516 yards rushing and one touchdown the past two seasons after rushing for 3,500 yards and 26 TDs during his first four seasons in Carolina.

“It’s been a while since I’ve touched the end zone,” said Stewart, who sat out the first preseason game because of a hamstring injury. “It’s the preseason so it’s good to get my feet wet and get back into the groove.”

The Panthers had a chance to extend their lead before halftime, but Benjamin lost his cool and head-butted Chiefs defensive back Chris Owens. That cost the Panthers 15 yards and took them out of field goal range.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up the St. Joseph portion of their 2014 training camp as they had their final practice at Missouri Western State University on Thursday.  The Chiefs play at Carolina in their second preseason game Sunday and will return to Kansas City to resume their training camp.  Click the links below to listen to post-practice audio.

Head Coach Andy Reid

Training Camp report with “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus

The Kansas City Chiefs are in their final week of training camp in St. Joseph at Missouri Western State University and they wrapped up another practice Monday.  Click the links below to listen to post-practice audio from coaches and players.

Offensive Coordinator Doug Pederson

OLB Tamba Hali

Training Camp Report with “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs rolled to the playoffs last season thanks largely to an opportunistic defense and an explosive special teams unit that accounted for nearly a touchdown a game.

Evidently, nothing has changed this preseason.

Sean Smith and Malcolm Bronson returned interceptions for scores, De’Anthony Thomas brought back a punt 80 yards for another touchdown and Kansas City held on to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 41-39 in their preseason opener Thursday night.

“We want to score touchdowns in all three phases of the game, and we were able to do a pretty nice job of that tonight,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose team had 11 such touchdowns last season. “In return, you have to cut back on some of these turnovers on the other side.”

Yes, the Chiefs also had three turnovers that led to 21 points, including an interception return by Dre Kirkpatrick during a first half that ended with the Chiefs leading 27-24.

“It’s tough to win football games like that,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said.

Andy Dalton was sharp in his only series for the Bengals after signing a new six-year deal this week. He hit wide receiver A.J. Green for a 53-yard pass to set up the opening field goal.

“We wanted to score a touchdown but we moved the ball well,” Dalton said. “We did some good things, some quick passes. Took a shot and hit A.J. on a deep one.”

Dalton quickly gave way to backup Jason Campbell, who was just 6 of 15 for 72 yards. And while he threw a pair of touchdown passes, Campbell also was responsible for the TDs by Smith and Bronson before getting banged up midway through the third quarter and exiting the game.

“We played good, but you still want to win,” Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers said.

Both teams played their starters sparingly, which is common in preseason openers. But the Bengals were also forced to use their backups to plug holes caused by injury.

Starting offensive linemen Andrew Whitworth, Clint Boling and Andre Smith, tight end Jermaine Gresham, wide receiver Marvin Jones and defensive tackle Geno Atkins all sat out the game.

Chiefs safety Eric Berry and defensive tackle Mike DeVito also did not suit up.

Alex Smith, in negotiations on his own long-term deal, struggled along with the rest of the Chiefs’ first-team offense. They went three-and-out on their opening series, and Smith was strip-sacked on their next possession to set up Campbell’s short TD toss to Brandon Tate.

That was just the start of an entertaining, back-and-forth half.

Albert Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards to set up Ryan Succop’s short field for Kansas City. After the Bengals stalled on their next possession, Thomas fielded the punt and spun away from Kirkpatrick before racing 80 yards for a tying touchdown.

“I was just focusing on looking the ball in,” he said. “I saw the lane and took it.”

On the next offensive play, Campbell was intercepted by Sean Smith — a former starter trying to win his job back — and he returned it 36 yards to give Kansas City a 17-10 lead.

Kirkpatrick atoned for his special teams flub when he intercepted a badly thrown ball by Chiefs backup Chase Daniel and returned it 40 yards for a TD. And after the Chiefs added another field goal, Campbell connected with Dane Sanzenbacher for another score and a 24-20 lead.

In the waning seconds of the half, Daniel found tight end Travis Kelce running open down the seam. The big tight end, who missed his rookie season to injury, hauled in the 69-yard TD pass.

Bronson returned his pick-6 early in the second half to give the Chiefs a 34-24 lead, and the teams traded fourth-quarter TDs before Cincinnati scored again in the final seconds.

“I’m not satisfied with the outcome but I saw a lot of positives, things we’ve got to work on and build from,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “We’ve got some work to do. Open-field football for the first time gets everybody’s attention.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up their final practice in St. Joseph at Missouri Western State University Monday before their preseason opener Thursday against Cincinnati.  Click the links below to listen to post-practice audio from coaches and players.

Head Coach Andy Reid

QB Alex Smith

RB Jamaal Charles

The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up their seventh day of training camp Thursday in St. Joseph at Missouri Western State University.  It was the Chiefs fifth practice in full pads.  Click the links below to listen to post-practice audio from coaches and players, along with a report from Mitch Holthus.

Head Coach Andy Reid

LB Tamba Hali

FB Anthony Sherman

Training Camp Report with “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus