KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — With the Texas Rangers’ defense committing three errors in the first three innings, Cole Hamels had to pitch out of some dangerous situations.

Hamels allowed one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings, Nomar Mazara and Adrian Beltre homered and the Rangers defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-4 on Saturday night.

Hamels, who is 6-1 with a 2.24 ERA in his past nine starts, limited the Royals to five hits, struck out four and walked three. Hamels (11-2) lowered his ERA to 2.87, which is tied for third in the American League.

“A gritty performance,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Obviously, we made it challenging for him with some of the misplays, but he was able to cover them up.”

The Rangers picked up only their fifth victory in 20 games. Hamels has started three of those victories.

“It’s not too cool here right now,” Hamels said of the weather, which had a heat index of 104 degrees for the first pitch. “You just try to stay cool. The other guy has got to do it, too. It’s just a matter of trying to outlast your opponent. They’re a good team. I’m aware of that. I tried to make pitches when you have to.”

Mazara homered in the fourth with Jurickson Profar, who had walked, aboard, which was the first hit off Royals starter Yordano Ventura. Mazara, who tops all American League rookies with 25 games with multiple hits and 141 total bases, doubled to center in the fifth, scoring Delino DeShields.

Beltre, a career .363 hitter at Kauffman Stadium, hit a three-run homer in the Rangers’ four-run seventh off Joakim Soria. Ian Desmond singled in the first run of the inning. Soria has allowed six runs in his past two outings and has a 9.72 ERA in his past nine relief appearances.

Ventura was struck in the right rib cage by a Beltre laser to end the fifth. After Ventura threw to first base, he collapsed to the ground in pain and was attended to by trainer Nick Kenney. X-rays were negative, but Ventura did not come out for the sixth. Ventura (6-8) gave up three runs on three hits and four walks while striking out five.

“I got hit in the rib, obviously, and just lost my breath,” Ventura said through an interpreter. “I was trying to just regain my breath. It hurt at first but I recuperated pretty good.”

He said he does not anticipate missing a start.

Cheslor Cuthbert doubled with one out in the first, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games and took third on Mazara’s fielding error. Cuthbert scored on Eric Hosmer’s groundout for the only run off Hamels.

The Royals scored three runs in the ninth on four singles and a bases-loaded walk before Salvador Perez grounded into a double play to end the game.

“It’s a big deficit heading into the last inning,” said Hosmer, who drove in a run in the ninth with an infield single. “We did a good job of getting to Hamels a little bit, getting him in some situations and getting him out of there early, but it kind of got away from us before we can fire back at their bullpen.”

RANGERS ADD DUFFY

The Rangers claimed 1B Matt Duffy off waivers from the Astros and assigned him to their Triple-A Round Rock club. Duffy, 27, hit .294 with 20 home runs, 29 doubles and 104 RBI last season with Fresno in the Pacific Coast League. He was hitless in three at-bats this season with Houston.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: LHP Derek Holland, who is on the 60-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation, threw his first bullpen session, 25 pitches, since going on the DL. If he has no setbacks, Holland could begin a minor league rehab assignment in early August.

Royals: LHP Mike Minor, who had labrum surgery in 2015, threw a simulated game but has yet to pitch in a big league game this season.

UP NEXT

Rangers: RHP A.J. Griffin will be working on five days’ rest Sunday after a no-decision Monday at the Angels.

Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez is 0-2 with an 8.22 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers, his first club.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy scattered four hits while pitching into the seventh inning, the Royals scratched out three runs off the Rangers’ Yu Darvish, and Kansas City beat Texas 3-1 on Friday night to open their three-game series.

The only run Duffy (6-1) allowed came on Rougned Odor’s homer in the fourth inning. The left-hander struck out four and walked two on a steamy evening where the heat index at first pitch was 108 degrees.

Luke Hochevar wiggled out of Duffy’s jam to end the seventh, Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect eighth and Wade Davis worked around a two-out single in the ninth for his 21st save.

The victory, one day after the Royals (48-47) visited the White House to celebrate their World Series title, kept them from dropping below .500 for the first time since beating Boston on May 17.

Darvish (2-2) nearly matched Duffy in his third start off the disabled list. He allowed single runs in each of the first three innings, struck out 11 and made only one big mistake — Cheslor Cuthbert’s home run.

Still, it wasn’t good enough to keep the AL West-leading Rangers from losing for the eighth time in nine games. The slide has been marked by poor pitching, inconsistent hitting and a series of devastating injuries — sluggers Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo went on the DL earlier this week.

Without them, the Rangers certainly struggled to create scoring chances Friday night.

Duffy carved through the lineup without allowing a hit the first time through, the only baserunner a walk to Elvis Andrus. He went on to load the bases on a single and hit batter in the third inning, but Duffy calmly struck out Ian Desmond on three pitches to leave them stranded.

His only other trouble came when he put runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh, forcing Hochevar in from the bullpen. He got pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland on a liner to preserve a 3-1 lead.

They built it in typical Royals fashion: They scored a run in the first on a single, stolen base, error and groundout then scored again in the second on a walk, stolen base and consecutive singles.

It wasn’t until Cuthbert went deep leading off the third that they made Darvish look fallible.

ROSTER MOVES

The Rangers reinstated LHP Jake Diekman (cut left index finger) from the DL and designated LHP Cesar Ramos for assignment. Diekman last pitched July 5 at Boston.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: Fielder will see neck specialist Dr. Drew Dossett on Monday. The DH/1B is facing the prospect of season-ending neck surgery after an MRI earlier this week revealed a herniated disk near an area that was repaired two years ago. Dossett also performed that procedure.

Royals: CF Lorenzo Cain (left hamstring strain) hoped to begin a rehab assignment his weekend, but it has been pushed back to early next week. He’s been on the DL since June 29. “He was pushing it too hard two days ago and just kind of fatigued his leg,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Not a setback by any stretch.”

UP NEXT

Rangers LHP Cole Hamels, who tossed eight sharp innings in a win over the Cubs his last time out, makes his first career start at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday. He faces Royals RHP Yordano Ventura.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In the span of three innings, the Indians’ Tyler Naquin homered to left field, sent a two-run double down the right-field line and connected on a three-run homer over the center-field wall.

Talk about using all fields.

The rookie outfielder’s career-high six RBI, along with three more homers by teammates and a stellar outing by Carlos Carrasco, led Cleveland to an 11-4 romp over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

“I mean, we talk about it from time to time with young players, it’s fun to watch what they turn into,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He’s a really strong kid and he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

It’s easy to have confidence when the rest of the lineup is producing, too.

Mike Napoli went deep for the second straight day. Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana also hit home runs. And the seven-run fifth inning that featured Naquin’s second homer basically put the game away.

“This clubhouse helps a lot, the team chemistry, the guys in here,” Naquin said.

Carrasco (7-3) was cruising along by the time Naquin finished his heroics, allowing one hit in six shutout innings — a double by Cheslor Cuthbert in the fourth that he followed with back-to-back strikeouts.

Carrasco walked two in the sixth for his only other baserunners.

Cleveland’s first four homers were off Ian Kennedy (6-8), whose bizarre pitching line included eight strikeouts and only one walk. But it was the ninth straight game Kennedy has served up a homer, and he has allowed 26 of them this season, tied with teammate Chris Young for most in the majors.

Kansas City scored all its runs off reliever Austin Adams in the eighth.

The division-leading Indians, who are 4-5 against the hapless Minnesota Twins this season, improved to 26-8 against the rest of the AL Central. They are 8-5 against the Royals.

For the second day in a row, a first-inning homer — this time by Kipnis, his 16th — gave them instant offense. Naquin added a solo shot in the third before adding a two-run double in the fourth.

Cleveland put away the game with a seven-run fifth inning.

With a heat index of 105 degrees at first pitch, Carrasco coolly sliced up a Kansas City offense that scored seven runs in a single inning in the opener. The right-hander retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced around his lone single, and he struck out six while throwing just 84 pitches.

He won for the fifth time in six starts and improved to 6-1 in eight starts in Kansas City.

Kennedy wound up allowing seven runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings for the Royals. It was a rare poor start for him at Kauffman Stadium; he entered the game with an AL-best 2.11 ERA at home.

“I guess any time you give up a home run, you try to justify it a little bit,” Kennedy said. “The ball was flying a little bit, but they’re homers. The curveball to Naquin — that’s a second time I’ve given up a home run to a left-hander to left field. You don’t see that very often.”

PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

The Royals will meet President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday during a ceremony to honor their World Series title. It will be the fifth president that manager Ned Yost has met: Jimmy Carter and George Bush used to come to Braves games when Yost coached in Atlanta, George W. Bush threw out the first pitch on opening day once, and Bill Clinton greeted the champion Braves at the White House in 1996. “So this will be my fifth president,” Yost said, “which is kind of cool.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LF Alex Gordon got the day off as he continues to battle out of a season-long slump. He’s hitting just .200 through 62 games after signing a $72 million, four-year deal in the offseason. He missed several weeks with a fractured wrist in a collision with 3B Mike Moustakas.

Indians: OF Michael Brantley was expected to have an MRI exam on his ailing right shoulder Wednesday, though the results were not yet available. Brantley experienced a setback while on a rehab assignment.

UP NEXT

The Royals open a three-game set Friday night against Texas. The Indians also have a day off before visiting Baltimore on Friday night.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Salazar has no idea why he seems to handle the Kansas City Royals so easily.

Perhaps it’s because he’s such an aggressive pitcher and they have such an aggressive lineup.

The Indians’ right-hander went right after the Royals in his third outing against them this season, shutting them down into the seventh inning in leading Cleveland to a 7-3 victory.

“They like to swing a lot,” said Salazar (11-3), who tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings against Kansas City in a 7-1 victory in early May, and allowed one run over eight innings in a 6-1 win last month.

“You really have to mix your pitches.”

He did that nicely, striking out seven and walking one over 6 2/3 innings.

“He did a really good job of keeping them off the scoreboard, for the most part,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We really needed that bounce-back win.”

Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer in the first off Brian Flynn (1-1), and Carlos Santana drove in two runs off long reliever Dillon Gee, as the Indians snapped a five-game skid at Kauffman Stadium.

Francisco Lindor added a solo shot in the ninth for Cleveland.

“You’re facing an All-Star pitcher in Salazar,” said Royals manager Ned Yost, who skippered the winning club last week. “He’s not an All-Star for nothing. He’s tough.”

The Flynn-Gee combo got the call for the Royals in place of ineffective fifth starter Chris Young. Flynn lasted 2 2/3 innings in his first start since August 2014, while Gee went the next 5 1/3 innings.

Then again, Cy Young would have had a tough time matching Salazar on another hot, humid night.

He didn’t allow a runner past first base through the first five innings, striking out Alex Gordon twice along the way. He seemed to falter in the oppressive weather in the sixth, when Salvador Perez drove in a run and Kendrys Morales scored on a wild pitch, but managed to escape the inning.

He gave up a sacrifice fly in the seventh before Kyle Crockett finished the inning.

Salazar pitched with the lead the entire way after Napoli’s homer in the first inning, his 21st of the year just skirting inside the left-field foul pole. But the rest of the Indians’ offense came from the same kind of small ball that carried the AL Central-rival Royals to the World Series title last season.

They scored a run in the second on a single, a walk and two sacrifices. The division-leaders added three more in the fifth on a double, three singles, a walk and a fielder’s choice.

It was a nice way to rebound after Cleveland blew a late lead in a 7-3 loss the previous night,

“I was really pleased the way we handled it,” Francona said.

STATS AND STREAKS

Indians OF Erik Gonzalez had a single in the third for his first career hit. … Salazar has won seven straight, a career best. … Lindor has hit 24 career homers. Nineteen have been solo shots. … Gee matched the longest relief outing of his career.

HOT SEATS

Yost and Francona both said they may change up their lineups for the series finale on Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to approach 100 degrees for the afternoon start with a heat index well into triple digits. “We’re going to see tonight who needs a break,” Yost said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: OF Michael Brantley will have an MRI on Wednesday after experiencing pain in his right shoulder. He had surgery last November and played in only 11 games this season before landing back on the DL. Brantley has been on a rehab assignment at Double-A Akron since July 11.

Royals: RHP Kyle Zimmer, one of the club’s top prospects, has been diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and will miss the rest of the season. The former first-round draft pick will have surgery in the coming weeks. The Mets’ Matt Harvey had surgery for the same condition Monday.

UP NEXT

The Royals’ Ian Kennedy is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA in daytime starts this season. He goes against fellow right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who is 4-2 with a 1.94 ERA in seven road starts.

— Associated Press —