KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was amused when Kauffman Stadium’s sound system played “American Woman” as he trotted out to the mound for the first inning.

The standing-room only crowd of 39,782 drowned out the music with its boos.

Syndergaard silenced the fans with six dominant innings, Neil Walker hit his first home run for the Mets and New York beat Kansas City 2-0 Tuesday after the Royals were given their 2015 World Series rings.

Syndergaard (1-0) was the only pitcher to beat Kansas City in the World Series last year. The rookie won Game 3 after intentionally firing his first pitch above Alcides Escobar’s head, angering the Royals.

Escobar started this one with a triple, but then Syndergaard struck out the next three batters and retired 12 straight before Kendrys Morales’ double opened the fifth.

“That’s not the result I wanted, a leadoff triple, but I gained a lot of momentum after that,” said Syndergaard, who has long, blond hair that falls way below his baseball cap. “I just went about my game plan.”

Syndergaard allowed three hits, walked one and struck out nine.

Mets manager Terry Collins knew the right-hander would not be intimated by the surroundings.

“He’s not afraid. He’s 6-7, 250 pounds,” Collins said. “They don’t have much fear, those kind of guys.”

Last fall, Syndergaard said if the Royals had a problem with his purpose pitch to Escobar they were welcome to charge the mound. There was talk Kansas City would seek retribution during the season-opening interleague series, but no trouble ensued.

Syndergaard pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, striking out Morales on three swings.

“We had the bases loaded in the sixth and he threw Morales a 95, 93 and 93 mph slider that there is not a man on this earth I believe could hit any of those pitches,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I even asked George (Brett), `Do you think you could even foul any of those off?’ And he said, `No way.”

The Royals went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

The Mets acquired Walker in a December trade with Pittsburgh. He homered off Chris Young (0-1) in the fourth after Yoenis Cespedes walked. That was the first hit Young allowed.

“I tried to throw a fastball away, behind in the count 1-0,” Young said. “He put a good swing on it and that was the difference in the game. I got outpitched.”

Young was pulled after five innings and 93 pitches, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out four.

The Mets loaded the bases in the seventh on two walks and a single, but Luke Hochevar retired Cespedes on a fly ball to Escobar to end the threat.

Jeurys Familia, who blew all three save opportunities he had in the 2015 World Series, pitched a spotless ninth for his first save this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Greg Holland had Tommy John surgery last September and remains unsigned as a free agent, but he was back for the pregame World Series ring ceremony. He said he is throwing 60 feet in Arizona and hopes to sign with a club soon, although it is unlikely he will pitch this season. RHP Jason Frasor and OF Alex Rios, former Royals who were members of the 2015 team, were invited to the ring ceremony and both attended.

CONTIGENCY PLANS

With Mets RHP Jacob deGrom’s wife expecting a baby this week, he might be summoned to Florida for the birth and be unavailable to start the home opener Friday against the Phillies. Manager Terry Collins said they could start LHP Steven Matz or RHPs Matt Harvey or Bartolo Colon on Friday. Colon is penciled in for the Saturday start, while Harvey started the opener Sunday at Kansas City and would have his normal four days of rest.

METS SIGN CATCHER

The Mets signed C Rene Rivera to a minor league contract and assigned him to their Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate. Rivera, 32, has a .211 average with 20 home runs and 92 RBI over 334 major league games with the Mariners, Padres, Twins and Rays.

UP NEXT

Mets: As of now, deGrom is the probable starter for Friday after the club has two days off.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura draws an assignment Friday against the Twins.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The reigning champion Kansas City Royals picked up where they left off in November, beating Matt Harvey and the New York Mets 4-3 on Sunday night in the first opening-day rematch of a World Series.

With runners at the corners in the ninth inning, All-Star closer Wade Davis struck out David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes to preserve the win.

Edinson Volquez (1-0), who started the decisive Game 5 at Citi Field last fall, allowed two hits and three walks over six scoreless innings, his night curtailed by an inflated pitch count rather than anything the Mets did.

It wasn’t until Joakim Soria came on in the eighth that New York rallied, scoring three times on Lucas Duda’s two-run single and Neil Walker’s RBI groundout. Luke Hochevar struck out Asdrubal Cabrera to strand runners on first and second.

Davis promptly got into another jam in the ninth before holding on.

Harvey (0-1) allowed four runs — three earned — on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings for the Mets.

There wound up being little good about opening night for the NL East champs, still in search of their first championship in three decades. They spent nearly an hour before the first pitch reliving last year’s World Series defeat through a steady stream of highlights on the crown-shaped big screen, then had to watch the raising of the championship banner over the Royals Hall of Fame in left field at Kauffman Stadium.

Things didn’t get a whole lot better once the game began.

Cespedes, the Gold Glove outfielder whose shoddy fielding hurt the Mets in the Series, dropped an easy fly ball in the first inning that ultimately led to the Royals’ opening run.

Kansas City then strung together a couple of singles before Kendrys Morales popped a sacrifice fly to center in the fourth, and Alex Gordon and Omar Infante added two-out RBI singles in the sixth.

Volquez and the Kansas City defense had things well in hand by that point.

The right-hander escaped a jam by getting Travis d’Arnaud to ground out in the second inning, then watched first baseman Eric Hosmer make a nice diving stop to escape a sticky spot in the third. All-Star catcher Salvador Perez threw out Michael Conforto trying to steal second base to end the fourth.

The biggest misstep Volquez made may have been fashion-related — he wore his spring training hat with a gold crown over the interlocking “KC” to start the game. He swapped it out for the proper one before taking the field for the second inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mets: Harvey got the start despite having a blood clot in his bladder that led to a minor procedure last week. “When the word `blood clot’ came up, that’s severe stuff,” manager Terry Collins said. “We started to look at alternative plans and what we might do down the road. Fortunately, it came out he’s going to be OK.”

Royals: RF Jarrod Dyson was milling around the clubhouse before the game. He’s out a few more weeks with an oblique injury that he sustained in the first game of spring training.

MORE BLING

During the pregame festivities, DH Morales picked up his Silver Slugger Award, and 1B Hosmer, C Perez and SS Alcides Escobar got their Gold Gloves. The remaining members of last season’s team are scheduled to get their championship rings before Tuesday’s game.

UP NEXT

Mets: RHP Noah Syndergaard, whose inside pitch to Escobar in Game 3 was a flashpoint of the World Series, takes the mound Tuesday. Syndergaard allowed three runs in six innings in a 9-3 victory that night.

Royals: RHP Chris Young started Game 4 of the World Series against New York. He also earned the win in Game 1 when he tossed three scoreless innings in a 5-4, 14-inning victory.

— Associated Press —

PHOENIX (AP) — Chris Owings, in his first full game playing center field in professional baseball, hit a three-run homer to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Owings has been an infielder throughout his career but was pressed into service in center field with A.J. Pollock out for the long term after breaking his right elbow in Friday’s game.

Owings could start in center on opening day Monday if manager Chip Hale prefers the matchup against Colorado Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa.

“If we feel like Chris can do it, he’ll probably be the guy out there,” Hale said.

Hale could also go with 23-year-old Socrates Brito in center. Brito, who played in 18 games in the majors last season and was the organization’s minor league player of the year in 2015, figures to get more of the playing time in the outfield over the course of 2016.

“He’s ready for this. We know that he can handle playing every day,” Hale said of Brito. “He’ll be in every game, let’s put it that way. Whether it’s starting or coming in for defense or pinch hitting late in a game.”

Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray pitched 4 1/3 innings in his last start before the regular season. The Royals fielded a lineup of mostly minor leaguers.

Ray allowed a run on three hits, struck out six and walked three. Royals starter Yordano Ventura was on a pitch count and threw only two innings before leaving the game.

Ventura gave up a run on four hits with four strikeouts.

Brandon Drury had three hits and drove in a run for Arizona. The Royals’ Christian Colon had two hits.

John Lannan shut out the Diamondbacks on five hits over four innings in relief, striking out three. Brad Ziegler, Evan Marshall and Andrew Chafin each pitched a scoreless inning out of Arizona’s bullpen.

It was the spring training finale for both teams. The Royals open defense of their World Series championship Sunday night in Kansas City and the Diamondbacks start the regular season on Monday night.

YOST SETS STARTER SCHEDULE

Royals manager Ned Yost said that after Edinson Volquez starts on opening night on Sunday, Chris Young will pitch Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets. Then after two straight days off, Ventura will face the Minnesota Twins Friday followed by Ian Kennedy next Saturday. Yost said the opening day roster will be announced Sunday morning.

STARTING TIME

Royals: Ventura is the Royals No. 3 starter to open the season. His fifth and final spring training start went much better than his fourth, when he gave up 10 runs in four innings.

Diamondbacks: Ray, who’ll be the fifth starter in the Arizona rotation, threw more offspeed pitches than he’s used to, by design. “Felt good. Pitches were working for me well,” he said. “I just had that one kind of long inning (the second), got the pitch count up. But I was able to get out of it and limit the damage.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Kennedy was moved back to the No. 4 starter spot because of a slight hamstring strain from his last start. “This is very mild to the point where you don’t even feel it anymore right now, but still, just being safe,” Yost said.

Diamondbacks: OF A.J. Pollock addressed media members before Saturday’s game, his arm in a sling.

“A lot of frustration. It almost felt like a nightmare, like it really wasn’t happening,” Pollock said.

“Now it’s just kind of get prepared for what’s next,” he said.

What’s next is surgery in the coming days, and Pollock could be out for the season, though he said his goal is to return to action before it ends.

ROSTER MOVES

Diamondbacks: Arizona placed Pollock and reliever Josh Collmenter on the 15-day disabled list and also announced that local product Jake Barrett had made the opening day roster as a reliever. Barrett, from nearby Mesa and Arizona State University, compiled a 0.79 earned run average in 11 spring-training games.

Reliever Silvino Bracho, Drury and Brito also made the team despite lacking much big league experience, and veteran Rickie Weeks Jr., had his contract purchased.

Relievers Enrique Burgos and Evan Marshall were optioned to Triple-A Reno, as was outfielder Peter O’Brien. Outfielder Jason Bourgeois was re-assigned to minor league camp.

UP NEXT

Royals: Those Royals who will be on the big league roster were scheduled to fly back to Kansas City right after Saturday’s game, and Kansas City will open the season Sunday night against the team they faced in last year’s World Series, the Mets.

“It’s fun, but it’s going to be a zoo, too, with everything going on,” Yost said.

Diamondbacks: After an off-day Sunday, the Diamondbacks are home for opening day on Monday. Zack Greinke, their biggest acquisition of the offseason, will start against the Rockies.

— Associated Press —

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Cole Hamels pitched five solid innings in his final spring start, and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Wednesday.

Hamels, who is slated to start on opening day Monday against Seattle, allowed one run and two hits. The left-hander struck out five and walked none.

“What I was trying to accomplish in spring, I feel pretty good and confident what I was able to do especially today,” Hamels said. “It was getting that four-seam fastball in the bottom half of the zone and get the groundouts. I wanted to establish early contact. It’s nice to at least have some quick innings.”

Royals starter Ian Kennedy was led off the field by trainer Nick Kenney while making warmup tosses in the fourth inning. The preliminary diagnosis was left hamstring tightness.

Kennedy, who signed a $70 million, five-year contract in January, was on the disabled list last April with the San Diego Padres with a left hamstring injury.

“It’s slight. We were just being more precaution than anything right now,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He felt some tightness and a little bit of cramping in his leg. We said let’s get him out and see where we are the next day or two, but we don’t think it’s very serious. He caught a spike the inning before and felt it a little bit.”

Delino DeShields tripled twice and scored two runs for Texas.

“If it’s in the gap or down the line, just automatically I’m thinking triples,” he said. I’m just an aggressive runner. I don’t want to pull up at second base. I want to be on third base.”

STARTING TIME

Royals: Kennedy allowed two runs and three hits. He struck out four and walked none.

The right-hander, who struck out the side in the third, is penciled in to start the second game of the season on Tuesday against the Mets, but that could be in jeopardy with the tight hamstring.

“We’re going to wait and see how it feels tomorrow and the next day,” Yost said. “But as of right now (he’ll start). We’re going to see where he’s at. We’ve got 48 hours to make a decision if we want to adjust (Yordano) Ventura’s load or Chris Young’s.”

Ventura is scheduled to start the final exhibition game Saturday and pitch the third game of the season, April 8 against the Twins.

Kennedy said it is not as bad as the hamstring injury that put him on the disabled list last year.

“Last time, I would feel it when I walked,” Kennedy said. “This time, I don’t. It’s not even close to how I did it before. But it’s not right to push it in my last spring training game.”

Rangers: Hamels, who lowered his ERA from 10.38 to 5.79, threw 73 pitches in three innings in his previous start against the Padres. He was much more efficient against the Royals, throwing 61 pitches.

“When you get into the season, you need to have confidence you can throw certain pitches at certain times, how to get guys out and everything kinda changes when the season (begins),” Hamels said. “When the game is really on the line, you have a little bit more adrenaline, things just kind of completely flip. You just have to stay under control, just be confident in what you have and what you’re going to go out there with.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Jarrod Dyson (strained oblique) will travel with the club to Kansas City to complete his rehab. He is hitting in the cages and remains optimistic he could be activated in mid-April.

Rangers: OF Josh Hamilton (left knee soreness) has had no setbacks, but the club adjusted his timetable to return from May 1 to closer to mid-May. Hamilton will go back to Texas for the opening series before returning to Arizona to rev up his baseball activities.

UP NEXT

Royals: After an off day Thursday, the Royals will use RHP Chien-Ming Wang on Friday against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Rangers: RHP Colby Lewis will start Friday against the Indians in Arlington. The Rangers are off Thursday.

— Associated Press —

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Mike Moustakas homered, doubled and drove in five runs to help the Kansas City Royals outslug the San Francisco Giants 16-10 Tuesday night.

Moustakas hit a three-run homer during an eight-run third inning in which 11 Royals batted. Omar Infante added a two-run double in the inning, and then Kendrys Morales homered in the fourth.

“It’s definitely more of a hitter’s night,” Moustakas said. “Both sides were putting good swings on the ball and making solid contact. It’s definitely one of those days, probably not a good day to be a pitcher on either side.”

Moustakas is hitting .360 with three homers and 13 RBI in 50 at-bats.

“These stats don’t matter, but I’m feeling good at the plate, feeling comfortable in the box and seeing the ball is what’s important,” Moustakas said. “I’ve been able to do a good job with that and stay with my approach, which has been pretty successful up to this point.”

Royals starter Yordano Ventura was ambushed by a group of mostly minor leaguers, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits in four innings. Ventura threw seven scoreless innings against the Giants in Game 6 of the 2014 World Series.

“I got my work in which is the most important thing, but my location was bad,” Ventura said. “The good thing that came out of this is I felt healthy.”

Minor leaguers Ricky Oropesa, Austin Slater and Christian Arroyo homered off Ventura and combined to drive in nine runs in the first four innings.

Giants right-hander Clayton Blackburn gave up six runs on five hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings.

STARTING TIME

Giants: Blackburn, who led the Pacific Coast League with a 2.85 ERA last year, has an 8.62 ERA in 15 2/3 innings. He retired only eight of the 17 Royals he faced.

Royals: Ventura will pitch again on three-days rest Saturday against the Diamondbacks.

“I’m looking forward to my next start, because I want to finish spring training on a positive note,” Ventura said.

BUMGARNER THROWS

LHP Madison Bumgarner, who will start the Giants opener Monday at Milwaukee, threw 93 pitches over six controlled innings in a minor league game. Two innings were cut short when Bumgarner reached his pitch limit. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out eight, including the side in the second and sixth innings. Bumgarner said his spring training “wasn’t very good.” He had an 11.12 ERA in four big league starts, yielding 21 hits, including four home runs, in 11 1/3 innings.

“Whether I am or not, I better be ready for the season,” Bumgarner said. “But I feel I’m right where I need to be. It seems like there have been all sorts of spring trainings for me, good, bad and in-between, and it seems like it never necessarily reflects on how the season goes.”

INFANTE LIKELY

Although manager Ned Yost has yet to announce his starting second baseman, it appears Infante will get the nod to begin the season. Infante went 3 for 4 to raise his average to .357, while Christian Colon, his competition, has a .125 average.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: 1B Brandon Belt was ill and a late scratch, replaced by Chris Shaw.

Royals: They will begin the season with four on the disabled list: OF Jarrod Dyson (oblique strain), LHP Tim Collins (second Tommy John surgery to be scheduled), LHP Jason Vargas (rehabbing from July 2015 Tommy John surgery) and LHP Mike Minor (rehabbing from May 2015 shoulder surgery).

UP NEXT

Giants: RHP Johnny Cueto will start at Sacramento, the Giants’ AAA affiliate. Cueto had a 9.58 ERA with opponents batting .347 off him over 10 1/3 innings in three Cactus League starts.

Royals: RHP Chris Young will pitch Friday against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Royals are off Thursday.

— Associated Press —