James Shields gave the Tampa Bay Rays another strong pitching performance as they make their push in the AL East.

Shields took a three-hitter into the eighth inning, leading Tampa Bay over the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Wednesday for the Rays’ 16th win in 21 games.

Shields (12-7) retired 12 in a row after Alcides Escobar’s two-out single in the third and allowed three runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one, improving to 4-0 with a 2.15 ERA in his last five starts.

“I’m mixing my pitches up pretty well,” Shields said. “My delivery has been really, really well ever since the beginning of this month. My change up is back in action.”

Escobar ended Shields’ day with a two-out RBI triple in the eighth that pulled Kansas City to 4-2. Jake McGee allowed a run-scoring single to Alex Gordon, and Kyle Farnsworth retired Billy Butler on a grounder.

“Shields set the tone, again,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “Our starters normally do that. Great job on his part.”

Jose Labaton homered off Aaron Crow leading off the bottom half, and Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 39th save in 41 chances.

It was the first homer Crow allowed on the road since Boston’s Carl Crawford went deep on Aug. 21 last year at Fenway Park.

Tampa Bay won two of three in the series, limiting the Royals to just five runs. Tampa Bay leads the AL with a 3.27 ERA.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost was ejected in the eighth by plate umpire Scott Barry for arguing after Eric Hosmer took a called third strike.

“These guys have tremendous starting pitching, tremendous bullpen,” Yost said of the Rays. “It’s a team you don’t really want to come in and play because they’re coached well, they’re managed well, they play he game right and their pitching is just phenomenal. That being said, I thought we came in here and matched up pretty good in the three-game set.”

Luis Mendoza (7-9) gave up two runs, five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He also hit a batter and balked.

“I struggled with my command,” Mendoza said. “I tried to pitch careful today and I put runners on base and then they got a big hit. In baseball, the base on balls hurt you.”

Jeff Francoeur’s RBI single put Kansas City ahead in the second, but the Rays took a 2-1 lead in the third on Ben Zobrist’s sacrifice fly and Jeff Keppinger’s RBI single. Ryan Roberts doubled in a run in the sixth, and the Rays made it 4-1 in the seventh on an error at second by Escobar, who couldn’t handle Francoeur’s throw from right on Zobrist’s double.

“We kind of got some there late, but we just ran out of innings,” Francoeur said. “Coming in I knew it was going to be tough series. We got one and we got close to getting one today.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas City reliever Kelvin Herrera got his first major league victory Tuesday night after Royals starter Luke Hochevar and Tampa Bay’s David Price staged a classic pitchers’ duel.

Eric Hosmer’s two-out single in the 10th inning drove in the only run in the Royals’ 1-0 victory that broke the Rays’ five-game winning streak. The run off Joel Peralta (1-5) was unearned after an error on Tampa Bay shortstop Ben Zobrist.

“We knew, the way Price has been pitching the last seven weeks, we had to have Hoch throw a game like he did, and he did,” said Jeff Francoeur, who scored the run after his single that preceded Zobrist’s throwing error. “(Hochevar) matched (Price) pitch for pitch and was better — he gave up one hit.”

Price and Hochevar both pitched eight innings, giving up a combined four hits.

Hochevar, the first overall pick in the 2006 amateur draft, gave up one hit and struck out 10.

Price, the first overall pick in 2007, gave up three hits and struck out eight. It was the second time this month Price pitched eight shutout innings without getting a win to show for it.

“You don’t see that very often anymore, not that dominant on both sides,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You knew there wasn’t going to be much offense going into it. You were hoping you could scratch out one run, maybe two, and somebody’s going to make a mistake.”

Herrera (1-1) pitched the ninth inning and Greg Holland worked the 10th for his sixth save.

Through the first seven innings, the only player to get as far as second base was Luke Scott, who led off the Rays third with a double and advanced to third on a fly ball. It was the only hit off Hochevar. The only other Ray to reach base in the first five innings was Matt Joyce, who walked and was picked off first base by catcher Salvador Perez.

The only Kansas City runner to reach second base against Price was Hosmer on a stolen base in the eighth inning.

“I felt like tonight was probably the best command that I’ve had all year with my fastball,” said Hochevar, who shut out the Rays at Kansas City on June 25.

The right-hander wasn’t wrapped up in his personal duel with Price.

“It doesn’t matter what that guy over there is doing,” he said. “I know he’s good, and everybody knows he’s good, but that does you no good. You’ve just got to lock into what you do to win the game.”

Price, who gave up seven earned runs to the New York Mets in his most recent loss on June 13, has given up only 15 runs in 12 starts since. Those 12 starts include a franchise-record eight straight wins and a 1.56 ERA, dropping his major league-leading ERA to 2.28.

“Early on I had a lot of hard hit balls right at people, and that’s what you’ve got to have,” Price said. “When you’re going good, that’s what happens. Hochevar threw the ball extremely well again against us.”

It was the 10th win in 14 games for the Royals, who are 4-1 against Tampa Bay this season.

“Anytime you play a game like that and you lose 1-0, of course it’s no fun,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “But overall we played a really good game. We pitched great once again. You can’t be an oil painting every night, man.”

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Hellickson found success again at Tropicana Field and helped the Tampa Bay Rays stay hot.

Hellickson pitched seven strong innings for his first home win in three months and the Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Monday night.

“I thought I was really good,” Hellickson said. “Got ahead of guys. Curveball was pretty good. Just threw strikes for the most part.”

Hellickson (8-8) allowed one run and six hits in ending a stretch of seven consecutive home winless starts, dating back to a 2-1 victory over Boston on May 16.

“It all started with the pitching,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I think (Hellickson) set the tone. He was sharp.”

Tampa Bay was coming off an 8-2 road trip that concluded with a four-game sweep over the Los Angeles Angels. The Rays had a 3.73 ERA before the All-Star break but have had 2.32 ERA since, lowering their season mark to an AL-best 3.31

Tampa Bay went ahead 4-1 in the fourth on Jose Labaton’s RBI single and a run-scoring double from Desmond Jennings off Will Smith (4-5).

Hellickson worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth. The right-hander appeared to have induced a double-play grounder from Billy Butler, but second baseman Ryan Roberts throw after recording an out at second broke through the webbing on first baseman Jeff Keppinger’s glove and wound up behind the bag. Unfazed, Hellickson then got an inning-ending double-play from the next batter, Salvador Perez.

“I’m sure that glove may have Kepp’s first first baseman’s glove,” Maddon said. “It had the old Rawlings label on it, so it was an old glove.”

Hellickson was the losing pitcher in his last start — despite allowing one run over seven innings — last Wednesday against Seattle when Felix Hernandez threw the Mariners’ first perfect game.

“I got some runs early and it’s always nice,” Hellickson said.

Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell worked a scoreless eighth to extend his team record scoreless streak to 25 2/3 innings. Kyle Farnsworth got the final three outs in a non-save situation.

Elliot Johnson put the Rays ahead 1-0 on a run-scoring single in the second. Jennings hit a third-inning triple and scored on Smith’s wild pitch as Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead.

Smith lasted just 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs and eight hits. The left-hander had won his previous two starts, allowing two runs over seven innings in games against both Baltimore and Oakland.

“After the first inning, I was just bad,” Smith said. “No location, no breaking ball, which really hurt. I was falling behind too much. I just wasn’t any good. You have those days but you hate having them.”

Keppinger extended the Rays’ advantage to 5-1 with a fifth-inning solo homer.

Kansas City tied it at 1-all on Alex Gordon’s RBI infield single during the third. The Royals completed a 5-1 homestand on Sunday, which included a three-game sweep over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox this past weekend.

“We’re playing well, but it’s a tough place to play and they’re playing very, very well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Their starting pitching’s outstanding.”

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie was working on a no-hitter before one well-placed grounder was ruled a base hit. Then he had to settle for a no-decision.

At least his team won.

Guthrie pitched into the eighth inning in another dominant outing and Salvador Perez drove in three runs as the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep of the AL Central leaders.

Paul Konerko reached on an infield single with two out in the seventh for Chicago’s first hit. Shortstop Alcides Escobar fielded Konerko’s grounder on the outfield grass and his one-hop throw was dropped by first baseman Eric Hosmer.

“That’s an error,” Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. “That’s all you can say about it. No disrespect to Pauly, but he’s not the fastest guy in America. He’ll tell you that. To me you’ve got to flash error up right away.

“Obviously, Guthrie pitched a heckuva game. The worst part is we couldn’t get him the win because he pitched so well.”

Official scorer Del Black ruled it a hit and the Kauffman Stadium crowd of 22,401 loudly booed when the “H” was flashed on the scoreboard.

“The shortstop was on the grass,” said Black, who has been scoring Royals games since 1975. “He had to make a backhanded stop and he was off balance. It’s a tough play from that deep. He makes that play a lot, but it’s a tough play.”

The Royals are appealing Black’s ruling.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I know this, if Hos catches that ball, Konerko is out by 15 feet. I think for the next two hitters I was so upset, I wasn’t really thinking period. I kind of reeled myself back in and got back in the ballgame. I was just glad they got a clean base hit.”

Guthrie said he was not deflated by the hit call.

“That’s a tough ground ball there,” Guthrie said. “I didn’t think Esky would get to it. When he got to it, I knew we had a shot at it and it just didn’t work out.

“It was a tough play. He played himself into the chance to get an error or an hit. It went the way the scorer scored it. If he scored it a hit, great. If he scored it an error, great. My goal was to finish out the game with zero runs.”

Konerko said he had not seen any replays of his hit.

“I didn’t see it when I hit it; I just ran,” Konerko said. “I’m the last guy to have any opinion on it. I know I’m not used to getting infield hits, so I’ll take it.”

The White Sox collected two clean hits off Guthrie in the eighth when Dayan Viciedo and Ray Olmedo singled with two outs. Yost then summoned left-hander Tim Collins to face Dewayne Wise.

Both runners scored when Wise’s hard grounder went between the legs of Hosmer and rolled to the right-field corner, tying it at 2.

The error snapped Guthrie’s scoreless streak at 22 innings, the longest by a Royal this year. Guthrie was charged with two unearned runs and three singles.

“Jeremy’s unbelievable,” catcher Perez said. “He threw the ball down every pitch. He was hitting my glove all day.”

The Royals regained the lead with three runs in the bottom half. Billy Butler led off with a walk and was replaced by Jarrod Dyson, who swiped second for his 23rd stolen base in 26 attempts and scored on Perez’s single to center off Jesse Crain (2-2).

Mike Moustakas walked and scored on a throwing error by catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Lorenzo Cain’s two-out single scored Hosmer, who reached on a walk.

Perez’s double, a high chopper down the third-base line, drove in Cain and Escobar to put the Royals in front in the sixth.

Guthrie retired the first 14 batters he faced before walking Pierzynski on a full-count offering with two outs in the fifth. Alexei Ramirez broke his bat grounding out to third baseman Moustakas to end the inning.

Greg Holland (6-3) retired the final four batters to pick up the victory.

The Royals had four hits in the second inning and failed to score. Butler led off with a single, but Perez grounded into a double play. Moustakas, Jeff Francoeur and Hosmer hit consecutive singles, but Moustakas was thrown out at the plate when he attempted to score on Hosmer’s hit.

The Royals swept a three-game series from the White Sox for the first time since 2003.

— Associated Press —