KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jakob Junis carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, the Royals scored more runs than they had in their last six games combined, and Kansas City routed the Seattle Mariners 10-0 on Monday night.

Junis (2-0) hit three batters and walked two, but the quick-working right-hander did not allow a hit until Daniel Vogelbach’s grounder up the middle with one out in the seventh.

Junis finished up the inning without any more trouble, running his scoreless streak to 14 innings to start the season. He was given a standing ovation when his night was done by the announced crowd of 12,324, most of whom promptly filed out with temperatures just above freezing.

By that point, everybody in the Royals lineup but Drew Butera had scored off Marco Gonzales (1-1) and the Seattle bullpen — and all the catcher had done was drive in a couple of runs.

Mike Moustakas homered in the eighth off infielder Taylor Motter as Seattle saved its `pen.

Gonzalez allowed four runs, eight hits and a walk for the Mariners while retiring seven batters, and reliever Casey Lawrence promptly allowed five more runs while getting five more outs.

Kansas City’s offensive outburst on a cold, blustery night came out of nowhere. The club had been held to a single run in four of its previous five games, and two runs in the other. The Royals hadn’t scored more than three runs in a game since a season-opening 14-7 loss to the White Sox.

They had three runs in the first inning alone Monday night.

They tacked on another in the third before a five-spot in the fifth, a half-inning that lasted so long it was a wonder Junis didn’t cool off — or freeze entirely — while sitting in the dugout.

Instead, he trotted back out and worked a four-pitch sixth inning that lasted about 2 minutes in real time. And after he finally yielded a single to Vogelbach in the seventh, Junis struck out Guillermo Heredia and got Ichiro Suzuki to fly out to cap his dominant performance.

Seattle finished with two hits and left five runners on base.

MARINERS MOVES

1B Ryon Healy flew back to Seattle on Monday to meet with Dr. Edward Khalfayan and review an MRI of his ankle, which he hurt Saturday during a postgame workout. Healy was put on the DL retroactive to Sunday and RHP Chasen Bradford was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: DH Nelson Cruz (sprained right ankle) and C Mike Zunino (left oblique strain) resumed baseball activities Monday, and both could be back this weekend. OF Ben Gamel (right oblique strain) is getting at-bats at Tacoma and is also close to returning.

Royals: C Salvador Perez (left knee sprain) hit and ran bases for the first time prior to the game, and reported feeling “pretty good.” Manager Ned Yost said his All-Star could be back early in the four-to-six-week timeframe that was given when Perez got hurt just before opening day.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Eric Skoglund makes his season debut against RHP Felix Hernandez as the three-game set continues Tuesday night. Skoglund has not pitched in a game since an exhibition March 17, thanks to rain outs and postponements that have wrecked the Royals’ early schedule.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — Yan Gomes hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Brandon Maurer in the ninth inning, lifting the Cleveland Indians to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday in the coldest game in Progressive Field history.

Gomes drove a 3-2 pitch barely over the 19-foot wall in left field, ending another tough day for Cleveland’s offense on a high note. Gomes was mobbed by his teammates at home plate after just the fourth hit of the day for the Indians.

Maurer (0-2) walked Yonder Alonso with one out before Gomes connected for his second homer. Cody Allen (1-0) worked the ninth for the win.

The game-time temperature was 32 degrees, the lowest in the 25-year history of the ballpark.

Jon Jay’s run-scoring triple put Kansas City in front in the fifth, but the Indians pushed across an unearned run in the eighth without registering a hit.

Bradley Zimmer led off with a walk and swiped second. He advanced to third on Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice.

Zimmer stayed at third when Jason Kipnis reached on a throwing error by reliever Justin Grimm. But Jose Ramirez followed with a check-swing dribbler, bringing home Zimmer with the tying run. Ramirez was originally ruled safe on Grimm’s wide throw to first, but the call was overturned after a review.

Cleveland hadn’t scored since the first inning of Friday’s 3-2 win. Lucas Duda’s seventh-inning homer gave Kansas City a 1-0 victory on Saturday.

Cleveland’s Mike Clevinger allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings while Kansas City starter Jason Hammel pitched six innings of three-hit ball.

Zimmer denied the Royals a run in the third when he threw Jay out at home on Mike Moustakas’ single. Jay drew a two-out walk and took second on Whit Merrifield’s single.

Kansas City right fielder Jorge Soler snapped a 0-for-34 skid dating to last season with three hits.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Duda (right hamstring tightness) served as the designated hitter for the third straight game.

Indians: RF Lonnie Chisenhall (strained right calf) is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. The injury is similar to the one that caused him to miss nearly two months last season. OF Tyler Naquin was recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (1-0, 0.00 ERA) takes on Seattle on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

Indians: RHP Corey Kluber (0-1, 2.40 ERA), the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, faces the Tigers as Cleveland continues its 10-game homestand.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — Trevor Bauer felt the rules beat him before the Royals did.

Bauer allowed Lucas Duda’s homer on his first pitch in the seventh inning for the game’s only run and Ian Kennedy pitched six shutout innings, leading Kansas City to a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday in frigid, football-like weather conditions.

Duda’s shot off Bauer (0-1) was one of only three hits by Kansas City and a rare highlight as the two teams survived nine innings with the temperature hovering around freezing.

But afterward, Bauer complained that he didn’t have enough time to warm up following the sixth inning. In an attempt to speed up play this season, Major League Baseball has cut the time between innings from 2 minutes, 25 seconds to 2:05.

“First pitch of the inning, coming out, I tried to get loose, but with the new [commissioner] Rob Manfred time [nonsense], we have only a certain amount of time between innings, it’s hard to get loose sometimes, especially in conditions like that. It’s not safe, but, whatever.”

Bauer said at one point plate umpire Will Little told him to speed up and he refused.

“I was like, ‘Look, I’ll take the fine if I need to, but I’m not going to put myself at risk and I’m not going to put the team at risk of me having exactly what happened happen,'” Bauer said. “Throw a pitch that you’re not ready to compete on because you’re still trying to get loose and it gets hit over the fence, and we lose because of it — not because of it, but it was a contributing factor.”

Bauer said the elements — temperatures were in the low 30s — made everything difficult.

“Since I don’t cheat like a lot of guys and put stuff on my hand, just grab the ball and throw it, my pitches were somewhat inconsistent,” said Bauer, who allowed only three hits in eight innings. “It’s like a cue ball. It slips out of your hand. But, it is what it is. It’s worse for the hitters. I was looking forward to it. I thought I pitched pretty well overall.”

So did Kennedy (1-0), who allowed four hits, walked none and struck out eight. The right-hander was only in trouble once but worked out of the sixth-inning jam. Blaine Boyer and Justin Grimm pitched an inning apiece before closer Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect ninth for his second save.

The temperature for the first pitch was 34, one degree above the coldest start to a game in the 25-year history of Progressive Field. Players on both teams bundled up, with several wearing hoods under their caps to try to stay warm.

“The ball feels like it’s an ice cube when it gets thrown to you,” Kennedy said. “For me it was probably my body, trying to keep it warm. You start to get a little cold at the end of the game. Your flexibility starts to die down a little bit. That was the main thing, heat packs, anything to stay warm.”

The Indians came in with an AL-low .157 batting average and stayed as chilly at the plate as the unseasonably cold April. Cleveland hasn’t scored in 17 innings.

Limited to one hit through six innings by Bauer, the Royals got the one run they needed on Duda’s second homer, a rocket into the seats in right field.

Duda jumped on Bauer’s 90 mph fastball and drove it over the wall for Kansas City’s first run since the Royals scored two in the first inning Friday. Duda has both of Kansas City’s homers this season.

CHISENHALL HURT

Indians right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall is likely headed to the disabled list with a right calf injury. He got hurt while making a running catch in the first and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the second.

Chisenhall missed nearly two months last season with a strained right calf.

Manager Terry Francona indicated Tyler Naquin will be recalled from Triple-A Columbus. He was optioned to the minors Friday when Michael Brantley was activated.

K FOR KENNEDY

Kennedy has struck at least one batter in each of his 271 career appearances. He’s tied with Boston’s David Price for the longest such streak among active pitchers.

STRIKE UP THE BAND

Indians DH Yonder Alonso got an early birthday present as his family and a few teammates arranged for a mariachi band to play in the clubhouse before the game. Alonso, who turns 31 on Sunday, even busted out some dance moves while being serenaded.

“They didn’t make me dance, but I just can’t help it,” Alonso said. “I’m from Miami. I’m a Cuban guy. So, it’s just kind of in the blood.”

UP NEXT

Cleveland’s Mike Clevinger is 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four career starts against the Royals, who will go with right-hander Jason Hammel in the series finale. Hammel went 3-2 in five starts against the Indians last season.

— Associated Press —

CLEVELAND (AP) — Michael Brantley singled home two runs in his first at-bat this season and Carlos Carrasco worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 win in their chilly home opener over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Brantley missed Cleveland’s first six games while on the disabled list recovering from offseason ankle surgery. But just hours after being activated, the two-time All-Star delivered in the first inning against Danny Duffy (0-2), who managed to hang around until the sixth.

Following devastating finishes in the past two postseasons, the Indians are hoping this is the year they end their 70-year World Series title drought, baseball’s longest.

Brantley is a major part of their plans, but he needs to stay healthy after being limited to 101 games the past two seasons due to injuries.

Carrasco (2-0) gave up two runs in the first inning, but settled in. The right-hander retired 13 straight before running into trouble in the sixth, when the Royals loaded the bases on two singles and a one-out intentional walk.

But Carrasco struck out Lucas Duda looking at a 3-2 pitch and retired Cheslor Cuthbert on a liner to left.

Nick Goody worked the seventh, Andrew Miller put on two runners then struck out the side in the eighth, and Cody Allen pitched the ninth for his second save.

The Indians, who didn’t hit while blowing a 2-0 lead to New York in the AL Division Series last October, came in batting a league-low .161. They only got four hits, but that was enough thanks to Carrasco and their top-flight bullpen.

The Royals dropped to 3-16 in Cleveland since May 8, 2016.

Down 2-0 in the first, the Indians benefited from Duffy’s early wildness to score three times.

The left-hander, possibly bothered by the bitter, blustery weather conditions, walked Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis before Jose Ramirez dribbled an RBI single through the middle.

After Duffy’s third walk of the inning, this one to slugger Edwin Encarnacion, Brantley dropped a two-run single into right, a satisfying moment for the 30-year-old who has spent the past two seasons battling back from shoulder and ankle injuries.

The Royals scored twice in the first on an RBI groundout by Mike Moustakas and Duda’s broken-bat RBI single, which came after he inadvertently flung another bat into the netting behind home plate.

WELCOME BACK

Rajai Davis received a huge ovation from Cleveland’s fans during pregame introductions. Davis, who hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning of Game 7 in the 2016 World Series, re-signed with the club this winter.

Davis doubled in three at-bats.

CHILLING OUT

The Royals have played a league-low five games, thanks to weather postponements against the White Sox and Tigers. But manager Ned Yost isn’t fretting about their erratic workload. “You can’t do anything to change it, so it’s as difficult as you want to make it,” he said. “You just try to go with the flow the best you can.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Duda (right hamstring tightness) returned to the lineup after missing one game. Yost said he will serve as the designated hitter all weekend.

Indians: Brantley’s workload will be closely monitored before he plays regularly. Manager Terry Francona said the Indians will use a “common sense” approach with Brantley, who has been limited to 101 games over the past two seasons.

UP NEXT

Kansas City RHP Ian Kennedy (0-0, 1.50 ERA) takes on Cleveland RHP Trevor Bauer (0-0, 3.60 ERA) in the second game of the series Saturday. Kennedy is winless in his last five starts against the Indians. Bauer pitched five innings in his first start.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) – The Kansas City Royals celebrated as if they had won a game.

They cheered Wednesday morning when their scheduled game against the Detroit Tigers was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made in a day-night doubleheader on April 20.

“It’s perfect news,” Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar said. “It’s not easy to play in this weather. Everybody saw what happened in the last game.”

With a postponement looming as a possibility, Kansas City breezed to its first victory of the season on a chilly, rainy Tuesday. The Royals beat the Tigers 1-0 in 2 hours, 17 minutes.

“It’s really hard for the hitters,” Escobar said. “The ball doesn’t go anywhere even if it you hit it hard. Nobody wants to play like that.”

“The teams in the AL Central they should start on the West or South side where it is hot.”

— Associated Press —