KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The hallmark of a good team, at least in Royals manager Ned Yost’s opinion, is the ability to wedge open the smallest of openings that an opponent provides.

His club sure did that against Cleveland on Wednesday.

The Royals scored all their runs by tying a franchise record with four sacrifice flies, and Yordano Ventura dominated the Indians over seven stingy innings in a 4-1 victory.

“It’s finding a way to win a ballgame that’s important,” said Yost, whose team has won four straight. “Good teams find ways to score those runs, and we did it four times today.”

In doing so, the Royals became only the second team to score four runs all on sacrifice flies since it became an official stat in 1954. The Expos managed to do it against the Cubs on May 28, 1980, according to STATS, although that happened in an 8-4, 14-inning loss.

“See?” Yost said. “We made history.”

Ventura (4-5) allowed six hits while striking out three without a walk to win back-to-back starts for the first time. The only run he allowed came in the sixth, when he gave up consecutive singles to start the inning and Carlos Santana hit an RBI single.

By then, Indians counterpart Trevor Bauer (1-3) had already allowed sacrifice flies to Jarrod Dyson, Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar. Billy Butler added another sacrifice fly off reliever John Axford in the seventh to complete the scoring.

“Usually I’m able to strike out guys in situations like that,” Bauer said. “I made a couple of good pitches today, but they fouled them off and put them in play. So it is unusual.”

The Indians loaded the bases off Wade Davis with nobody out in the eighth, but two strikeouts and a groundout ended the threat. Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his 19th save.

The Royals (33-32) moved over .500 for the first time since May 18. They also jumped over Cleveland into second place in the AL Central as they embark on a trip that begins with the White Sox and concludes with the division-leading Detroit.

Lonnie Chisenhall had a pair of hits for Cleveland, extending his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. He’s had at least two hits in his last five.

Prior to the game, Indians manager Terry Francona recalled with disdain the last time his club faced Ventura — the young flamethrower’s debut last September. Ventura allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings, and at one point threw a pitch to Yan Gomes clocked at 102 mph.

“He’s got pretty special stuff,” Francona said. “Kind of hope we don’t see that today.”

Turns out he did. Ventura kept the ball down in the strike zone and forced the Indians to chop into a series of groundouts. He retired seven straight batters at one point, never allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield.

“I went out there with the mentality to throw a lot of strike,” Ventura said through a translator. “Something good was going to happen if I threw a lot of strikes.”

Nobody was more frustrated than Jason Giambi. With the Royals shifting their infield, the Indians DH grounded out to the exact same spot three straight times before popping out.

“He’s got great stuff,” Giambi said. “When he locates like he did today, he’s tough. He really is. He’s got good mound presence and attacks the strike zone.”

The Royals scored their first run when Dyson followed a double by Mike Moustakas and a single by Escobar with a sacrifice fly in the third. Nori Aoki followed with a single, and Infante hit his sacrifice fly to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Escobar’s sacrifice fly came after a double by Salvador Perez and a single by Moustakas in the fourth, and Butler added his sacrifice fly after singles by Infante and Eric Hosmer.

That was enough to beat Bauer, who has still never won in seven road outings. The Indians starter allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

“That type of energy and intensity we played with today, that’s the way we need to play,” Butler said. “Bauer was pitching really well. Every opportunity we had we capitalized on.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jason Vargas was completely unaware that Cleveland had piled up 17 runs the previous night.

He was happy about it, too.

Unaware of how hot the free-swinging Indians had been, the Royals left-hander calmly carried a shutout into the eighth inning Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Kansas City offense hit a season-best three home runs in a 9-5 victory to open their two-game series.

“I guess I’m glad I didn’t know they scored 17 runs last night,” said Vargas, who gave up six hits and hit three batters with pitches, but didn’t allow a run until Jason Kipnis drove in a pair with a two-out double in the eighth.

“You just have to get ahead and execute,” he said, “and let the defense do what they do.”

Eric Hosmer hit a two-run shot and also drove in a run during a four-run fourth inning. Alex Gordon went deep in the eighth and Mike Moustakas added a two-run shot later that inning as the Royals (32-32) moved back to .500 by matching their second-best run total of the season.

“It’s a good feeling,” Moustakas said, “but it’s not where we want to be.”

Corey Kluber (6-4), who dominated the Royals earlier this season, allowed six runs — three earned — and six hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked two.

He was nearly bailed out when Tim Collins gave up another run in the eighth inning and Aaron Crow yielded two more in the ninth. But Crow wound up finishing for his first save of the season.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana and David Murphy drove in the other runs for Cleveland.

Both starters dominated for the first couple of innings, Vargas using guile to keep Cleveland off balance and Kluber needing just 17 pitches to retire the first six Royals batters.

Everything changed in the bottom of the third.

Moustakas walked to start things off, and Alcides Escobar followed with a single. Jarrod Dyson then hit a grounder that Kipnis fielded and tossed to Cabrera covering second. But in making the grab and transitioning to his throwing hand, Cabrera dropped the ball. He was still granted an out initially, but replay overturned the umpire’s call and he was given an error.

“When you give teams extra chances, extra opportunities, especially against the middle of the order, sometimes you pay a price for it,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.

“Obviously, nobody is perfect,” Kluber added. “Errors are part of the game.”

That one loaded the bases for Omar Infante, in the throes of a 1-for-21 slump, and he dropped a single into center field for a 1-0 lead. Hosmer followed with his RBI groundout, and Billy Butler added a two-run single moments later to make it 4-0.

“If we don’t win that challenge,” Royals manager Ned Yost said, “we lose out on three runs.”

Hosmer homered in the fifth, his third of the season, and Kluber was yanked after the inning. It was a marked contrast to his last outing against Kansas City, when the right-hander tossed his first career complete game in a 5-1 victory on April 24.

Meanwhile, Vargas was mowing down an Indians order that included the scorching Lonnie Chisenhall, who went 5 for 5 with three homers and nine RBIs the previous night in Texas. Vargas even helped himself, snaring a liner in the sixth to start an inning-ending double play.

It wasn’t until Vargas left the game that the Indians started to rally, and the hole they had dug themselves proved to be far too deep.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fact that the Royals seemed to be finally hitting their stride was not lost on manager Ned Yost as he left his office, ambled down the tunnel and peered out into the rain on Monday.

“When you’re playing well,” he said, “you don’t like rainouts.”

Still, Yost acknowledged that there were benefits to having the game against the New York Yankees postponed, a decision made about two hours before the scheduled first pitch. He was already planning to rest catcher Salvador Perez, and guys such as Omar Infante who have been scuffling will also get the day off.

“There are pros and cons to it,” Yost said.

The game will be made up Aug. 25 at a time to be determined.

Yost said he plans to slide his rotation back one day. Left-hander Jason Vargas, who was supposed to finish up the four-game series against New York, will now start the opener of a two-game set Tuesday against Cleveland. Right-hander Yordano Ventura is on the mound Wednesday.

The Royals are off on Thursday, giving everyone another chance to rest.

Meanwhile, Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka flew ahead to Seattle in anticipation of starting Tuesday, but manager Joe Girardi also plans to push his rotation back a day. That means left-hander Vidal Nuno will start the opener against the Mariners and Tanaka will pitch Wednesday.

There have been signs the last couple weeks that Kansas City is starting to come out of its early season funk, though, and that resurgence has roughly coincided with some changes to the coaching staff when the team was in Toronto. Pedro Grifol was removed as the hitting coach and the job given to Dale Sveum, who once helped to tutor Milwaukee’s young power hitters.

“They’ve done a better job with their approach, getting pitches up, putting good swings on them. When you have a team you believe in there’s a point where it’s going to click somewhere,” Yost said. “Maybe it clicked in Toronto, I don’t know.”

Since leaving Toronto, the Royals have won five of their last seven games. Twice they’ve piled up eight runs, which matched the third-most they’ve scored in any game all season.

That’s the kind of turnaround the Yankees would like to see.

The Bronx Bombers will be taking their slingshot offense to Seattle and Oakland to continue what has already been a disappointing trip. The Yankees won the opener against Kansas City 4-2, but then struggled again to score runs in an 8-4 loss on Saturday and a 2-1 defeat Sunday.

“The one thing you can’t do is you can’t necessarily change everything,” Yankees manager Jo Girardi said. “You look at what guys have done in the past, you look at what guys are doing this year, and you try to piece together what you feel is the best lineup every day.

“We’ve struggled the last three or four weeks scoring runs. We know we need to score more,” he continued, “but guys are going through a time. You just have to ride it out a little bit.”

The Yankees, in the bottom half of the league in several offensive categories, have failed to score more than four runs each of their past 10 games, winning just three times in that stretch.

“You are usually not as bad as you look when things are going bad,” said Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who was 0 for 4 on Sunday. “It’s like you’re usually not as good as you look when things are going good. But we’ve got to turn it around.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — James Shields would have been wise to pop some Dramamine, Ned Yost some antacids.

The Royals’ ace survived six shaky innings mostly of his own doing Sunday, and the Kansas City offense supplied just enough offense against Hiroki Kuroda to squeak out a 2-1 victory.

“Shields had to grind it out again and again,” said Yost, his manager, who spent the entire game on edge, “and he made it through some choppy waters.”

Even without any motion-sickness medicine.

The Royals have won the last seven games that Shields (7-3) has started, and he’s earned the win in four of those. The veteran right-hander may have lasted only six innings in this effort, but he gave up only six hits to the punchless Yankees and allowed one unearned run.

“They’re always tough,” said Shields, who faced the Yankees for the 30th time, more than any other club. “They make good at-bats. It’s always a grind whenever you face them.”

Aaron Crow escaped a jam in the seventh inning, and Wade Davis recorded the 500th strikeout of his career during a perfect eighth before Greg Holland survived a shaky ninth for his 18th save.

The All-Star closer gave up a leadoff single to Ichiro Suzuki and then sent him to second on a wild pitch. Holland kept his cool, retiring Brian Roberts on a fly out, pinch hitter Mark Teixeira on a groundout and then striking out Brett Gardner to end the game.

“Shields battled his butt off,” Crow said. “You want to make sure he gets the win.”

The Yankees failed to score more than four runs for the 10th consecutive game, though the not-so-aptly-named “Bronx Bombers” certainly had their share of chances.

Not just in the ninth inning, either.

New York stranded runners on first and second in the first inning. It loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and failed to score. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the third with a double and was left on third base. And Roberts was stranded after a fourth-inning double.

“Somehow we’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

In all, 10 of the first 12 outs Shields recorded were with runners in scoring position. The Yankees finished 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position.

“It was a game of missed opportunities,” Derek Jeter said. “We had a lot of opportunities. Gives those guys credit. We’ve seen Shields for years now and he’s as good as they come, especially with guys on base. He bears down.”

While the Yankees were struggling to find a clutch hit, the Royals managed to string together the only real success they had against Kuroda (4-4) with two outs in the second inning.

Hot-hitting Salvador Perez, who cracked a three-run homer in an 8-4 win Saturday night, got things going with a single. Cain’s base hit drove in the first run and Moustakas, in the throes of another major slump, added another single to make the score 2-0.

That was all the Royals could muster against Kuroda, who had been unbeaten in his last six starts. He allowed five hits and two walks while striking out three in seven innings.

New York finally scored in the sixth, when Yangervis Solarte hit a double and reached third base on a passed ball. Suzuki drove him in with a groundout to shortstop.

But given a chance to tie the game, the Yankees kept coming up empty.

Their failure in the ninth inning came after Gardner sent a triple to the wall with one out in the seventh. Crow rebounded to get Jeter on a ground out, and then struck out Ellsbury with a full-count pitch to leave the tying run 90 feet away.

“When guys are scuffling it seems like they are scuffling in bunches. When you get hot it seems like a lot of guys are hot,” Jeter said. “These are the times you’ve got to keep swinging. The only way to get out of it is swing out of it.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Royals ball boy earned himself plenty of TV time on Sunday when he fielded a fair ball down the first base line and handed it innocently to a fan in the first row of seats.

The ball had been roped down the line by the Yankees’ Brian Roberts in the fourth inning, and first base umpire Mike Estabrook clearly ruled it fair. But the ball boy evidently failed to notice the signal, and he scooped it up and turned to give it away in one motion.

Meanwhile, Royals right fielder Nori Aoki had run over to point out that it was a fair ball.

It probably didn’t make much difference. Roberts would likely have held at second base, where he ended up as a result of the ground-rule double.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whenever a Royals pitcher has issued a walk lately, the runner has usually scored. So when Ned Yost’s own guys worked a pair of walks against the Yankees on Saturday night in the sixth inning of a tied game, the often-dour manager had an optimistic thought.

“Let’s turn it around this time,” Yost said.

Salvador Perez did just that.

The big catcher belted a three-run homer into the bullpen in left field, and Eric Hosmer added a solo shot later in the game, sending Kansas City to an 8-4 victory over New York.

“I’ve said all along, I thought we have home-run power,” said Yost, whose team has hit just 26 homers — by far the fewest in the majors. “It’ll manifest itself in time.”

Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki drove in a run apiece as the Royals bounced back from an offensively inept performance in a 4-2 series-opening loss Friday night.

Aaron Crow (3-1) retired one batter in the sixth in relief of starter Danny Duffy, and breezed through the seventh to earn the victory. Kelvin Herrera and Michael Mariot finished it off.

David Phelps (1-4) allowed seven runs on 10 hits and two walks in 5⅔ innings.

“Frustrating is the PG-rated word for it,” he said. “I was pitching decent going into later parts of games, but it’s tough to win ballgames when you give up four runs in the sixth and seventh inning. It’s frustrating.”

Yangervis Solarte drove in a pair of runs for New York, and Carlos Beltran — who’s been bothered by an ailing elbow and is still relegated to designated hitter duty — got an RBI with his first hit since coming off the disabled list Thursday.

“It’s like starting over for me,” Beltran said. “One day, two days is not going to do it, any difference. Basically you have to play every day and with playing time that will come. I cannot tell you [when]. I wish I could know.”

The Royals struck first when Billy Butler and Gordon led off the second inning with back-to-back doubles, and Cain and Escobar provided run-scoring singles for a 3-0 lead.

It took the Yankees until the sixth to answer.

Derek Jeter started the rally with a single and Mark Teixeira kept it going with a two-out walk. Beltran followed with an RBI double against his former team, and Solarte tied the game 3-all when his sinking liner to center field dropped just beyond Cain’s outstretched glove.

Duffy, who appeared bothered by lengthy waits for television breaks between innings, was eventually removed after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks in 5⅔ innings.

The Royals made sure to pick him up.

Butler and Gordon worked walks to start the bottom half of the sixth, earning Phelps a visit from Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild. It didn’t do any good. Two pitches later, Perez sent a no-doubt homer into the bullpen in left field to restore the Royals’ three-run lead.

“We needed that,” Perez said. “It’s not been easy, but it’s coming.”

Cain tripled later in the inning, and Aoki’s RBI single knocked Phelps from the game.

“We just scored three runs. That’s the worst kind of team error right there,” Phelps said. “To go out and we have all the momentum right there and in nine pitches gave it right back.”

It was another poor outing by the Yankees right-hander, who moved from the bullpen into the rotation last month. Phelps has lost four straight decisions, allowing 16 runs in the past three.

Hosmer’s homer leading off the seventh was his first since May 5, a span of 130 at-bats, and Brian Roberts tacked on a run off Mariot in the ninth inning that proved to be moot.

“You’ve got to keep battling back,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’re still fighting.”

— Associated Press —