Corey Kluber kept the Cleveland Indians in the game long enough to get to Kansas City’s bullpen.

Kluber pitched into the eighth inning and pinch hitter Michael Bourn had a big two-run double, leading the Indians to a 3-0 win over the Royals on Friday night.

Cleveland got its first hit of the game against Bruce Chen in the fifth inning, but Kluber and two relievers made sure a three-run seventh was enough. Carlos Santana had an RBI single before Bourn came up his clutch swing.

Kluber (7-5) allowed three hits and struck out eight in 7 2-3 innings. The right-hander, a bright spot in a rotation that’s struggled most of the season, worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth.

”He certainly stays composed,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”For a young pitcher, that’s a big compliment.”

Joe Smith recorded the final out in the eighth and Cody Allen struck out Jarrod Dyson with the bases loaded for his second save. The five-hitter was Cleveland’s American League-leading 12th shutout.

Allen was subbing for regular closer Chris Perez, who had appeared in five of the previous six games. Perez was on the disabled list from May 27 to June 26 with a sore right shoulder and missed time in spring training because of the injury.

Allen knew before the game that Perez was unavailable but wasn’t sure if he would get the call in the ninth.

”I thought it was going to be Joe,” Allen said. ”I knew the possibility was there.”

Composure was also a key for Allen. After allowing two singles, he walked pinch hitter George Kottaras but struck out Dyson to end the 32-pitch inning.

”I was trying to make one good pitch at a time,” Allen said. ”Obviously, I didn’t want to get into a bases-loaded situation but that’s where I was.”

Chen pitched six innings of one-hit ball in his first start of the season. Santana’s leadoff double in the fifth was Cleveland’s only hit off Chen, who struck out four and walked one while throwing 97 pitches.

Cleveland’s lineup seemed to wake up after Chen was pulled. Tim Collins (2-4) gave up singles to All-Star Jason Kipnis and Nick Swisher to begin the seventh before being relieved by Aaron Crow.

Santana then lined a single to center. Dyson charged the ball and made a strong throw home but Kipnis slid around catcher Salvador Perez’s tag and touched the plate with his left hand.

Mark Reynolds, mired in a 2-for-31 slump this month, reached on a bunt hit to the left of the mound to load the bases. Bourn, batting for Ryan Raburn, then singled to right-center to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

Reynolds is known for putting up big home run and strikeout numbers, making the bunt quite the play at the time.

”That caught everybody on the Royals, in the stands, in the press box and me by surprise, but it might have won us a game,” Francona said.

Kluber got out of big trouble in the fifth. David Lough started the inning with a triple but held at third when Alcides Escobar grounded out to second. Elliot Johnson walked and stole second before Dyson walked.

Alex Gordon, who hit a grand slam off Kluber in Kansas City on July 2, struck out. Kluber fielded Eric Hosmer’s slow roller to the left of the mound and ran to first for the putout.

Kluber has been able to pitch out of several jams in his 15 starts in his first full season in the majors.

”I stepped back and took a deep breath,” he said. ”All I can do is calm down, execute pitches and get out of it.”

Gordon drew a one-out walk in the eighth. Kluber, who won for the fourth time in his last five decisions, was removed after striking out Hosmer and received a loud ovation from the crowd of 24,077.

Chen replaced struggling right-hander Luis Mendoza in the rotation. Chen was 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA in 19 relief appearances before being moved to the rotation.

”I did everything I could to help us win, but Kluber was just a little bit better,” Chen said ”Sometimes you have to give credit because he made some great pitches and pitched out of some tough situations.”

— Associated Press —

Derek Jeter walked to home plate, toyed with his batting gloves, stepped into the batter’s box as fans chanted his name and legged out an infield hit.

A feeling of normalcy returned to the Yankee Stadium. The captain was back after a nine-month layoff.

But, perhaps, only for a few innings.

Jeter singled on his first pitch of the season, then felt a tight right quadriceps and was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of New York’s 8-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

He scored a run and went 1 for 4 with an RBI groundout as the designated hitter in his return from a broken ankle sustained in last October’s AL championship series opener. After icing the leg, the 39-year-old was headed to a hospital for a scan.

In a season thus far memorable for sidelined stars rather than sustained success, the Yankees anxiously awaited the test results.

”It’s not frustrating, yet. We’ll see. They MRI everything around here,” Jeter said. ”I hope it’s not a big deal.”

Known for trying to ignore most injuries, Jeter vowed not to this time. Sort of.

”I can’t trick the tests,” he said, before adding: ”I always play.”

He played through September and into October last year with what was called a bone bruise. The left ankle finally gave out in the AL championship series opener against Detroit.

”I don’t think it broke because I was 38. I think it broke because I continued to play on something that maybe I shouldn’t have,” Jeter said.

The possible setback is not what the Yankees were hoping for in a season also hampered by significant injuries to first baseman Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Francisco Cervelli.

”It’s kind of what we went through this year,” manager Joe Girardi said. ”So hopefully it’s nothing, it’s just some leg tightness and he’ll be ready to go.”

Andy Pettitte (7-6) settled down after another shaky first inning to win consecutive starts for the first time since April. Lyle Overbay hit a go-ahead, two-run single in a four-run fifth against Ervin Santana (5-6) as New York overcame a 3-0 deficit and split the four-game series.

New York cut short the star shortstop’s rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues after just four games following injuries Wednesday night to Travis Hafner and Brett Gardner, who hit for Jeter in the eighth. Jeter found out about 11 p.m. in Scranton, Pa., went back to his hotel, waited for his equipment and caught a ride to New York. He arrived about 2:30 a.m., fell asleep 90 minutes later.

And then woke up about 6:30 a.m. – only partly because of the early schedule he had been on during his rehabilitation routine.

”Couldn’t fall back asleep,” he said. ”I was nervous going into the game. It’s almost like it’s opening day for me, even though we’re in – what are we in, July now? I lost track of the months.”

Jeter batted second in his first big league game since Oct. 13. He said after the initial injury he would return by opening day, then fractured the ankle again in April during his rehab and missed the first 91 games of the season.

Jeter turned on a 95 mph fastball in the first – ”I had my mind made up yesterday that I was going to swing at the first pitch” – and sent a three-hopper up the third-base line that fell from Miguel Tejada’s throwing hand. The crowd of 40,381 screamed ”De-rek Je-ter! De-rek Je-ter!”

Jeter’s ankle got more tests when he raced to third on Robinson Cano’s single up the middle and came home without a throw on Vernon Wells’ sacrifice fly to right.

The Yankees’ all-time hits leader grounded out in the second and again in the fifth, when second baseman Johnny Giavotella made a diving stop to prevent an RBI single. That’s when the quad tightened.

Jeter hit a sharp grounder to shortstop with the infield in during the sixth. Alcides Escobar bobbled the ball as Luis Cruz scored from third, and Jeter was thrown out as he jogged up the first-base line.

”He looked the same,” Santana said. ”Very aggressive.”

Jeter had not been introduced at Yankee Stadium by Bob Sheppard’s recording in 271 days, since he sprawled onto his stomach while trying to field Jhonny Peralta’s 12th-inning grounder up the middle, immobile on the infield dirt and yelled out in pain.

”It’s awesome to have him back out there. He’s so positive,” Pettitte said. ”We need his leadership ability.”

Jeter went 1 for 9 in his tuneup at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. After initially saying Jeter could play shortstop in Friday’s series opener against Minnesota, Girardi said he likely would DH again if healthy.

”I think it’s easy to say that you would expect with his age and a double break that I think he’d lose a step or two or half a step, but I think he’s moving extremely well from what I’m told,” general manager Brian Cashman said.

Girardi’s task will be preventing Jeter from playing too much.

”I think Derek would run himself out there the next 70 games if it was up to him,” Girardi said. ”W(equals)e have to pick days off, and we have to pick DH days.”

Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the first when Salvador Perez hit a two-run double and Lorenzo Cain had a sacrifice fly. The Royals’ only other run was unearned, set up by Pettitte’s throwing error on a second-inning bunt.

New York closed to 4-3 in the second when Austin Romine hit an RBI double and scored on Eduardo Nunez’s single. After Overbay’s two-out, go-ahead hit, Zoilo Almonte and Nunez followed with run-scoring singles for a 7-4 lead.

With Jeter in the lineup, his teammates seemed to relax.

”The fans were great, gave me a nice ovation,” Jeter said. ”It’s been a long time.”

— Associated Press —-

Once the New York Yankees finally broke through with the bats, they turned it into an easy night for Ivan Nova.

Robinson Cano hit a three-run homer, Lyle Overbay added a grand slam and New York snapped out of its offensive funk with an 8-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

”We needed that really bad,” Cano said.

Nova delivered another impressive pitching performance and the Yankees, held to one run each of the previous three days, stopped a three-game slide.

But it wasn’t all good news. Depleted by injuries all season, New York had two more players get banged up in slumping Travis Hafner and speedy Brett Gardner.

Hafner came out of the game with a bruised left foot, while Gardner departed with a bruised right leg after getting hit by a pitch for the second time. The team said X-rays on both were negative and they were day to day.

Hafner got hurt while swinging in the indoor cage during the middle innings. He cranked the pitching machine up near 100 mph and fouled one off his foot.

”Just kind of a freak incident,” Hafner said, adding he thinks he should be all right. ”That’s a first.”

Said manager Joe Girardi: ”I don’t get summoned to the cage very often.”

Gardner also walked twice and scored two runs. He reached base all four times from the leadoff spot.

Nova (4-2) yielded only four singles and a double in eight innings for his second win in three solid starts since returning from the minors. He struck out six and walked two.

”He has that kind of stuff that he can be one of the best in the game,” Cano said.

The right-hander was coming off his first career complete game, a three-hitter against Baltimore last Friday that included 11 strikeouts.

”Same thing. Pretty good downhill with his fastball, really good curveball and mixed in a few changeups. I mean, that’s kind of the formula for him. When his fastball’s like this, he’s going to get a lot of outs,” Girardi said. ”It should help his confidence. … He’s back on track.”

Cano and Overbay both connected off Wade Davis (4-8), who dropped his third consecutive start.

”I fell behind when I was in the stretch with runners on. I left bad pitches up in the zone,” Davis said.

With the Yankees still waiting for injured stars Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez to return, Girardi said he wasn’t particularly tempted to shuffle his makeshift lineup in an attempt to spark the offense.

”What would you suggest?” he asked a reporter before the game. ”This is what it is.”

No changes necessary on this night.

Gardner drew a leadoff walk in the first and scored on a wild pitch. With two outs in the third, Cano stayed back on a 1-1 breaking ball and drove it just over the left-center fence. It was the 21st homer of the season for Cano, the American League captain for the Home Run Derby next Monday night across town at Citi Field.

Cano singled to start the sixth and New York loaded the bases with none out for Overbay. He lofted a full-count pitch a few rows deep to the opposite field in left for his fourth career slam and first since May 10, 2006, with Toronto.

”The little things set us up for those big hits,” Overbay said. ”I’m just glad I put a swing on it and put it in the outfield for (at least) a sac fly. I can’t remember how many times I’ve struck out with the bases loaded.”

Davis crouched in disappointment next to the mound and was pulled from the game. He allowed eight runs, matching a career high, and six hits in his second ineffective start this season against the Yankees. They tagged him for seven runs and seven hits May 10 during a three-game sweep in Kansas City.

”Wade threw fine. The numbers don’t always tell the story,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Meanwhile, Nova was cruising thanks to a 93-95 mph fastball and sharp curve. Helped by Luis Cruz’s diving grab at third base, he retired 12 straight before loading the bases with two outs in the fifth. After a visit from pitching coach Larry Rothschild, the right-hander set down Alcides Escobar on a shallow fly.

Cano doubled off the very top of the right-center wall in the seventh, but was thrown out by Lorenzo Cain trying to stretch it into a triple.

Cano also had some fun with double-play partner Eduardo Nunez on a second-inning popup that was caught by the shortstop on Cano’s side of second base. Cano casually folded his arms in mock disbelief as the ball descended and then shot Nunez a nasty look before cracking a smile.

Eric Hosmer hit an RBI double with two outs in the eighth for Kansas City.

— Associated Press —

James Shields caught a break, thanks to Lorenzo Cain and a fleet of Kansas City fielders.

Shields escaped early trouble when Cain ran down a deep drive with the bases loaded, Billy Butler and David Lough backed their ace with home runs and the Royals handed the New York Yankees their third straight loss, 3-1 Tuesday night.

Cain contributed four nifty catches, and Shields appreciated each gem by the speedy center fielder.

”He seemed like he ran a little more than he usually does,” Shields said. ”I told him maybe I’ll pay for a massage.”

Said Cain: ”Sounds good to me.”

Defensive replacement Elliot Johnson ranged a long way for a late grounder and Kansas City backed Shields (4-6) with a pair of double plays. Fittingly, the game ended on a fine, twisting grab by another defensive sub, third baseman Mike Moustakas.

Beset by a lack of run support, Shields had won just once in his previous 12 starts, and came in with a losing record despite a 3.23 ERA and ranking among the AL leaders in several pitching categories.

Shields gave up five hits – including three consecutive singles to start the game, and four in the first overall – in seven innings. He struck out five, walked two and retired his final 13 batters.

”Forget the record. The record has nothing to do with how he’s pitched,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He’s been as good as you would hope a No. 1 starter can be.”

Shields improved to 8-15 against the Yankees after overcoming a rocky start. Brett Gardner led off with a bunt single and Ichiro Suzuki and Robinson Cano also singled for a run. New York loaded the bases with one out, but Shields fanned Lyle Overbay and wiggled out of trouble when Cain ran down Eduardo Nunez’s fly far into the right-center field alley.

If that ball eluded him, Cain agreed, ”the game is out of control.”

CC Sabathia (9-7) gave up seven hits in his second complete game.

Once again, the Yankees had trouble scoring. They’ve managed exactly one run in each of their last three games – not since 2005 had they scored one run or fewer in three straight, STATS said.

”Any time you put four hits in an inning, you think you’ll get more than one run,” manager Joe Girardi said.

As for Sabathia and the Yankees’ staff, ”I think they are pitching pretty good. They’re throwing pretty good ballgames. We’re just not scoring runs for them,” Girardi said.

The hitting slump left the Yankees with a three-game home losing streak for the first time since they dropped four in a row in late July 2012.

Lough led off the sixth inning with a tying home run and Butler opened the seventh with a go-ahead shot. Butler hit 29 homers last year and was an All-Star, but has slumped this season – he came into this series with six homers before connecting in the first two games.

”Got one yesterday, got one today,” Butler said.

Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 22nd save, and second in two nights.

The Royals are trying to win a series at Yankee Stadium for only the second time since the beginning of the 2000 season. Thanks to Shields and the bullpen, they’re 2-0 in this four-game set.

Shields didn’t give up a hit after the second inning, sometimes pitching in rain and even hail.

”It was nice to settle down,” he said.

Sabathia allowed only one hit until Lough homered. Butler’s shot was the 20th homer yielded by Sabathia this season, second-most in the majors to the 21 off Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie.

Doubles by Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer gave Kansas City an insurance run in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie was on a roll – against the Yankees, no less. Neither hail nor sun shower was going to stop him. No way.

Guthrie neatly handled a nemesis and a 59-minute delay to pitch into the seventh inning, Billy Butler homered and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat New York 5-1 Monday night.

”Tremendous competitor,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said of Guthrie. ”He showed it today – to endure an hour rain delay and go out and throw at the level that he threw.”

All-Star Alex Gordon, David Lough and Johnny Giavotella each had RBI doubles, and Alcides Escobar added a run-scoring triple to help the Royals end a five-game skid against New York.

”It’s been tough every year I’ve been here to come in and get a win,” Butler said. ”It means a lot.”

Guthrie (8-6) gave up three hits over six innings, albeit to a Yankees lineup that had only four players that were with the team on opening day.

Leading 5-1, closer Greg Holland was needed in the ninth when Lyle Overbay walked and Luis Cruz singled to start the inning against Luke Hochevar. Holland gave up a hit to Chris Stewart to load the bases. But Holland struck out Eduardo Nunez, Brett Gardner and Zoilo Almonte to end it for his 21st save.

”Holly’s been lights out for us,” Yost said.

Guthrie twice struck out the newest member in pinstripes, Travis Ishikawa, before Overbay homered pinch hitting for the first baseman who was claimed off waivers from Baltimore on Sunday. Overbay’s 10th of the year was New York’s first long ball in six games.

”Not an easy lineup to pitch, too,” he said. ”Obviously they have their injuries now and are missing a lot of keys so you go out there and try to attack them as best as you can.”

Entering 4-9 with a 5.15 ERA against the Yankees in 17 appearances – 15 starts – Guthrie left with runners on first and third and two outs in the seventh. Tim Collins relieved and struck out pinch-hitter Nunez to protect a 3-1 lead.

Aaron Crow relieved Collins in the eighth with two on, two out and got Vernon Wells to ground out to second.

The Yankees have lost two in a row after a season-best six straight wins.

With the sun reflecting off the windows of a building beyond center field, rain and hail sent fans scurrying for cover in the bottom of the third inning. The quick moving cloud was gone before Phil Hughes (4-8) threw his first pitch of the fourth. Hughes retired three straight with the faintest of rainbows arcing over the scoreboard, then the rain returned.

After Guthrie got an out with his 37th pitch, crew chief Dana DeMuth called for the tarp. As ”Singin’ in the Rain” blared over the PA system, the grounds crew struggled to cover the increasingly muddy infield, getting stuck halfway then pulling the huge sheet off and starting again. The biggest cheer of the night – until Overbay’s homer in the seventh – came when the crew finished the job.

Guthrie’s previous outing was delayed by rain at the start for over 2 hours, 30 minutes, then for 12 more minutes in the seventh by a power outage. He was better prepared for the break this time.

”After last game I was trying treat it a little bit different, be a little more focused,” he said.

The right-hander threw every 10 to 15 minutes in the batting cage to stay warm, treating the time as if it were a game.

Guthrie completed the fourth on six pitches.

Adam Warren replaced Hughes to start the fifth. Hughes gave up two runs and four hits in his abbreviated outing.

”He had already thrown a lot and with him coming back second, it would have been an hour-and-15-minute break for him,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. ”I wasn’t real comfortable bringing him back after an hour or so.”

Hughes would’ve liked to stay if only because he finally felt as if he had got in a groove after the second.

”It’s tough. I felt like I really found something,” he said. In the third and fourth innings I felt pretty good, but that’s baseball.”

Passed over for the Home Run Derby last year at the All-Star game in Kansas City by AL captain Robinson Cano, Butler sent a drive the opposite way to right field leading off the second. Fans relentlessly booed Cano at Butler’s home field during the competition last July. Captain of the AL home run team again this year, Cano again did not choose Butler – the Orioles’ Chris Davis and Detroit’s Prince Fielder were his first two picks announced Monday. But it would be hard to object this time. Butler’s long ball was only his seventh – and he’s not on the All-Star team.

An out later, Mike Moustakas lined an opposite-field double to left, and Lough made it 2-0 with a shot that just landed fair down the third base line for a double the opposite way.

Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson helped preserve the 3-0 lead in sixth when he made a diving catch of Almonte’s sinking liner in right-center with Gardner on first.

”I think the game was won with the Dyson play,” Guthrie said.

Giavotella drove in a run in the seventh, and Gordon and Escobar had back-to-back RBIs in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

Josh Reddick homered and drove in four runs for the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Jed Lowrie had three hits, including a homer of his own.

So when Eric Sogard went deep, who really cared?

”There was no home run tunnel or anything,” the light-hitting Sogard joked of a rather muted home run celebration that awaited him after rounding the bases during a 10-4 win over the Kansas City Royals. ”They were probably surprised I hit one.”

Sogard went without a homer in 260 at-bats, since April 27, 2012.

It was that kind of day for the Oakland offense, though. The A’s pounded out 15 hits, and everybody in the starting lineup except Chris Young had one against the Royals’ haphazard pitching.

”We got some runs early,” said Josh Donaldson, who had a pair of hits. ”Then it seemed like every time they got a run our offense would answer right back.”

A.J. Griffin (7-6) rebounded from a miserable start against the Cubs to go five innings for the A’s. The only damage he allowed came on solo homers by George Kottaras and Alex Gordon.

Jesse Chavez earned his first career save with four scoreless innings of relief.

”Saved the bullpen, that’s all I was trying to do,” Chavez said.

Luis Mendoza (2-5) allowed five runs in the second inning for the Royals, and was yanked to a round of boos after retiring just four batters. It was the right-hander’s shortest start in exactly five years – since an outing on July 7, 2008, when he was still with Texas.

”He fell behind early, which puts you in a defensive mode,” Kottaras said. ”Once he falls behind, hitters can look for a pitch in a certain zone and took advantage of it. It happens.”

It’s happened twice in a row now: Mendoza gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in just four innings his last time out against Cleveland. He hasn’t won since June 14 at Tampa Bay.

”A rough outing really for our pitching staff today,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Mendoza’s struggles began with a single in the second by Yoenis Cespedes. John Jaso added a one-out walk and Reddick’s line drive to left gave Oakland a 2-0 lead.

Mendoza struck out Chris Young before another double by Sogard and back-to-back singles by Coco Crisp and Lowrie knocked him from the game. Chen came in from the bullpen and gave up another base hit to Josh Donaldson before finally getting out of the inning.

Kottaras got the home crowd energized with his homer in the second, but the A’s refused to let the Royals engineer another five-run comeback like they did Thursday against Cleveland. Jaso’s one-out single set the table for Reddick, who launched his fourth homer of the year.

After a breakthrough year in which he hit 32 homers, Reddick had been scuffling until he got to Kansas City. He was hitting just .210 with three homers and 25 RBIs in his first 57 games, but found the expansive outfield off Kauffman Stadium to be to his liking.

”Reddick’s been swinging the bat really well here recently,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said, ”and that’s the next step, to start driving the ball.”

Gordon, who missed the first game of the series after a scary collision with the outfield wall earlier in the week, validated his first All-Star nod a day earlier with his homer. His ninth of the season came with two outs in the fifth inning.

Lowrie answered it with a solo shot of his own in the sixth.

The Royals tried to rally again in the bottom half off A’s reliever Jerry Blevins. Mike Moustakas hit an RBI double and Miguel Tejada an RBI single in which he beat a throw to first with a head-first slide. Chavez ended the rally when he retired Eric Hosmer with the bases loaded.

Sogard’s two-run homer in the seventh ended any thoughts of another Royals comeback.

”We’re in the middle of a tough stretch,” Yost said. ”It started here. We’re 3-3 in this tough stretch. The Yankees are tough, a four-game series. And it’s going to be a tough three-game series in Cleveland. We’ve got to continue to play good baseball if we’re going to be successful this next week. We’re going to have to grind it out and try to find a way to win some ball games.”

— Associated Press —