KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals’ Alex Gordon knew he put a good swing on the pitch, and he knew that his high fly ball had a chance to clear the outfield wall the way the wind was gusting out.

He just wasn’t sure until the ball finally disappeared.

Gordon’s three-run shot, the first home run by Kansas City this season, highlight a five-run fifth inning Wednesday, and carried the Royals to a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

“This is a big park. We’re never going to hit a lot of home runs here,” Gordon said. “I hit it pretty good, but in this park you never know. Luckily I caught it enough.”

Gordon finished with four RBIs, matching a career high. Norichika Aoki, Johnny Giavotella and Billy Butler also drove in runs for the Royals, who have struggled to find offense all season.

They had only scored more than four runs once in their first seven games, lost 1-0 to Tampa Bay the previous night, and were the last team in the majors without a home run.

“The offense gave us a lot of breathing room,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Runs are nice. Home runs are nice too. But I don’t care how we get them.”

Jeremy Guthrie (2-0) recovered from a sloppy start to hold the Rays to four hits over seven innings. The only run he allowed came on Desmond Jennings’ homer in the fourth.

The right-hander, who turned 35 on Tuesday, was coming off a rough start against the White Sox. But Guthrie navigated trouble in each of the first three innings, leaving five Rays on base, and then retired his final 12 batters to hand a 7-1 lead to his bullpen.

“You’re going to make good pitches and they’re going to hit them hard sometimes,” Guthrie said. “But if you make good pitches, more often you’re going to get an out.”

Jake Odorizzi (1-1) mowed through the Kansas City lineup the first three innings before allowing Butler’s RBI groundout and Gordon’s run-scoring single in the fourth.

Everything unraveled for him in the fifth.

Lorenzo Cain singled off Odorizzi to lead off the inning, and Aoki followed two batters later with a triple to right. Giavotella, recalled from Triple-A Omaha to replace injured second baseman Omar Infante, hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.

Hosmer and Butler followed with back-to-back singles, and Gordon popped a pitch to right-center that hung up long enough in the wind to land over the fence.

“I was making my pitches, getting what we wanted. Balls were on the ground, not hit very hard, they just didn’t find anybody,” Odorizzi said. “That’s baseball.”

It was a rough way for Odorizzi to return to Kauffman Stadium, where he made his big league debut with the Royals in 2012. He allowed all seven runs on 10 hits and a walk in five innings.

“He didn’t do anything wrong today. He threw really well,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “Those numbers are highly deceiving. Aoki’s ball was well-struck and the home run was part of natural forces of nature. People who look at that line are going to misinterpret that outing because he threw the ball extremely well. It was just an unfortunate game for him.”

The Royals squandered a scoring chance with runners on first and second and one out in the second inning when Mike Moustakas struck out and Gordon was thrown out heading to third.

Royals manager Ned Yost trundled onto the field and challenged the call. After a review of 2 minutes, 10 seconds, the ruling made by third base umpire Quinn Wolcott stood.

It hardly mattered the way the Royals were swinging — and the way Guthrie was pitching.

“They’ve played really well against us the last couple of years. You’ve got to give them credit,” Maddon said. “Just keep doing that stuff and it will come back to us.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — (AP) James Loney hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Rays starter Chris Archer wriggled out of two bases-loaded jams and went seven innings in an impressive pitchers’ duel between top young arms. Royals rookie Yordano Ventura dazzled in his season debut, holding Tampa Bay to two hits in six shutout innings.

Looney’s grounder to right scored Wil Myers, who snapped an 0-for-15 slump when he reached on an infield single to start the ninth. Myers advanced on a two-out wild pitch by Greg Holland (0-1).

Joel Peralta (1-1) got one out with the bases loaded and Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his second save.

Ventura walked none and struck out six, including Myers three times.

Archer pitched out of bases-loaded, one-out jams in the third and sixth. He induced Eric Hosmer to ground into a double play to end the third. In the sixth, Archer retired Alex Gordon on an infield popup and Danny Valencia on a grounder to leave the bases full.

The Royals loaded the bases again in the eighth against relievers Jake McGee and Peralta, but Valencia looked at three straight strikes from Peralta to end the inning.

Mike Moustakas, hitless in his first 21 at-bats this season, opened the Royals ninth with a single to center but went no further.

Tampa Bay missed an opportunity in the eighth when Royals reliever Wade Davis walked Matt Joyce and plunked pinch-hitter Logan Forsythe with a pitch. Davis recovered to strike out Yunel Escobar and David DeJesus.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals announced the results of tests taken overnight after the team’s second baseman Omar Infante was hit in the face by a pitch from Tampa Bay reliever Heath Bell.

Overnight tests revealed Infante suffered “a non-concussive head injury.” Infante, 32, was diagnosed at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

He also had incurred a sprain of his right jaw and a laceration that required six stitches due to the impact of the pitch.

The immediate plan is to evaluate him over the next 48 hours, though based on the Kansas City medical team’s initial diagnosis it does not appear he’ll miss a significant amount of time. There is no determination at this time as to whether this will necessitate a stint on the disabled list.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jason Vargas took a shutout into the ninth inning, Alcides Escobar hit a three-run double and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 Monday night in a game that included two significant injuries.

Rays starter Matt Moore (0-2) came out in the fifth inning with a sore left elbow. The All-Star lefty grimaced after throwing a pitch to Norichika Aoki and was immediately removed by manager Joe Maddon.

Two innings later, Royals second baseman Omar Infante was hit in the face by a pitch from reliever Heath Bell. Infante also left the game, walking off under his own power with Kansas City trainers Nick Kenney and Kyle Turner.

Infante, struck on the left cheek, was spitting blood and had blood on his forehead as trainers held a towel to his face.

Vargas (1-0) allowed four hits, walked one and struck out two in eight-plus innings, lowering his ERA to 1.20 in two starts. He lost his shutout bid when Ben Zobrist homered on his second pitch in the ninth.

Greg Holland replaced Vargas and earned his third save, but not before giving up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Matt Joyce.

Escobar was 1 for 19 before his bases-loaded double off the left field wall on a 2-2 pitch from Bell with two outs in the seventh. Escobar’s three RBIs matched his career high. Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain singled to load the bases before Escobar’s first extra-base hit of the season.

Eric Hosmer singled home Aoki, who tripled, in the first inning.

Moore, who missed 31 games last season with an elbow injury, threw 78 pitches. He was replaced by Cesar Ramos.

The Rays, who have lost seven straight at Kauffman Stadium, have scored three runs in their four losses this year while going 1 for 32 with runners in scoring position during those defeats.

Evan Longoria had three of the Rays’ six hits.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chris Sale knew he had to pitch his best Sunday with James Shields starting for the Kansas City Royals.

“Indubitably, yes,” Sale said. “You know what you’re getting with a starter like James. You have to bear down and do it.”

Sale gave up four singles in eight scoreless innings as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Royals 5-1 in a pitching duel between top starters.

Alexei Ramirez and Tyler Flowers each drove in a pair of runs as the White Sox won the series finale after dropping the first two games.

Sale (2-0) struck out six and walked one. In his previous four starts against the Royals, the White Sox had backed him with one run, enough to beat Shields 1-0 in the 2012 opener.

“There was an energy to Chris coming off the mound,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Big pitchers do that when you face up against a guy like Shields. He knows we’ve lost three in a row and he’s going up against Shields and he wanted to go out and shut them down.”

Shields (0-1) took the loss in this one, too, giving up a run on five hits, striking out six, walking none and hitting two batters in seven innings.

“What we saw out there today was two No. 1 starters that were at the top of their game,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Both of them had their A-game on the mound. That’s as good of stuff as I’ve seen James Shields have. He had everything working, his fastball at 94-95, a great cutter, a great change, a great curveball.

“Sale was right there with him. He has everything going. Both starters just pitched a great game, both of them.”

Ramirez drove in the game’s first run in the seventh when Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar knocked down his grounder but had no play for Conor Gillaspie at home.

Sale allowed a runner past second only in the third inning, when Lorenzo Cain and Omar Infante singled and Ramirez committed a throwing error. Sale wiggled out of trouble by retiring Danny Valencia on a pop up. Cain had two of the hits off Sale.

The White Sox scored four runs in the ninth off Royals left-handed relievers Tim Collins and Francisley Bueno. The inning included a Flowers two-run single and an RBI double by Ramirez.

Alex Gordon singled home Eric Hosmer in the ninth off Matt Lindstrom for the only Kansas City run.

The Royals won their first replay challenge of the season when Marcus Semien was ruled safe at first, but it was overturned on a review that took 68 seconds. Ventura challenged that Hosmer was out at first to complete a double play in the sixth, but replays indicated he was safe.

Plate umpire Greg Gibson issued a warning to both benches in the sixth when Infante had to jump out of the way of Sale’s pitch way inside after Shields had hit two batters, including Jose Abreu in the top of the inning.

“I’m not trying to hit Abreu right there, there’s no doubt about it,” Shields said. “We’ve got a zero-zero ball game. I’m not trying to put a runner on base. There was definitely no intent. I understand they are trying to protect their players over there, but in that situation I’m not trying to hit him. I don’t think there’s any reason for any retaliation at all.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — While Salvador Perez came up with the winning hit right after Norichika Aoki made the game-saving catch.

Salvador Perez hit a go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 Saturday.

Alex Gordon doubled off left-hander Scott Downs (0-1) before Perez hit Maikel Cleto’s second pitch down the left-field line.

Wade Davis (1-1) let the White Sox tie it at three when gave up two runs in the eighth on two singles, a walk, a hit batter and sacrifice fly.

Greg Holland worked around a leadoff walk for his second save in two days.

Royals right fielder Aoki prevented the White Sox from taking a lead when he made a lunging catch of Alexei Ramirez line drive to end the eighth with two runners on base.

“Nori made a tremendous catch that saved the game from being cracked open there,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Aoki, a six-time Gold Glove winner in center field in Japan, got a good jump on Ramirez’s scorcher.

“It was a situation where we couldn’t give up any more runs,” Aoki said through an interpreter. “That was the play I was most happy with. The only thing was the sun was in my eyes.”

Ramirez already had two singles and believed he had one over extra bases over Aoki’s head.

“I don’t think it got up in the wind enough to have a chance,” Paul Konerko said “That’s what the game comes down to sometimes, something so small.”

Conor Gillaspie hit an RBI single in the eighth before Konerko’s sacrifice fly tied it and gave him 146 RBIs against Kansas City, the most by any opponent.

Royals left-hander Bruce Chen allowed one unearned run on six singles, walked none and struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings, but had to settle for a no-decision.

White Sox left-hander John Danks did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, when six straight Kansas City batters reached base.

“I wish I had an explanation for it,” Danks said. “It was the heart of the lineup. I was trying to come inside and just lost control a little. Hosmer I got behind 2-0 and you don’t want to make too good a pitch to him.”

Omar Infante, Eric Hosmer, Butler and Alex Gordon opened the inning with singles. Butler’s single scored Infante for the first run, while Mike Moustakas walked with the bases loaded for the other run. Butler drove in another run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

“John just had the one inning where it got out of hand and he lost his control and it came back to bite us,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.

Moustakas’ fielding error led to an unearned White Sox run in the fifth. Adam Eaton’s groundout scored Ramirez.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Gordon got the big hit and Norichika Aoki and Omar Infante spent all day setting the table.

Gordon hit a three-run double in the first inning and Jeremy Guthrie pitched effectively into the sixth inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 7-5 in their home opener Friday.

Aoki and Infante were acquired in the offseason to get on base at the top of the order. They each had three hits, and Aoki worked a walk, too.

“That’s why we made those additions, guys who can get on base and put the ball in play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Nori and Omar were on base seven times, which was big. That set the table for Gordy’s big double. It was a good offensive day for us.”

Guthrie allowed four runs on seven hits, four walks and a hit batter in 5 2/3 innings.

“It was just windy,” Guthrie said. “It was never really cold. The grip is not perfect in conditions like that, but … we’re fortunate enough that we’re moving around every play, so we stay pretty warm.”

Lorenzo Cain drove in two runs with a two-out fifth inning single that put Kansas City ahead 7-2.

The Royals jumped on White Sox rookie right-hander Erik Johnson for six hits and four runs in the first two innings. Johnson retired only 14 of the 28 batters he faced, yielding seven runs on 10 hits, three walks and a hit batter to take the loss.

“The biggest thing is that I’ve got to compete better for my team,” Johnson said. “We were right there. We put five runs on the board after I put them in a hole. You’ve got to give credit to our offense for never giving up.”

Jose Abreu and Conor Gillaspie hit sacrifice flies against Guthrie, and Adam Eaton hit a two-run single off reliever Kelvin Herrera in the sixth, but both runs were charged to Guthrie.

Tyler Flowers, who went 4-for-4 Thursday against Minnesota, had hits in his first three at-bats, but the streak ended in the eighth when Aoki dropped his fly ball to right.

“I thought we came up with a couple of big hits,” Flowers said. “But Guthrie made some good pitches in situations that could have escalated into bigger innings. We had him on the ropes a couple of times, but missed a couple of hits here or there. We were probably a couple of hits away.”

The Royals, who had not made a challenge in spring training or in the first two games against the Tigers, asked the umpires to review a call in the seventh when Abreu was called safe at first on a throwing error by third baseman Mike Moustakas that pulled Eric Hosmer’s foot off the bag. After a two minute, 49 second delay, the call was upheld.

“I figured it was a good time to take a shot at it,” Yost said. “I thought it would be a 50-50 chance.”

Greg Holland pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save after setting a Royals’ record with 47 saves last season.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — With the Detroit Tigers in a jam after a close play at first base, Brad Ausmus calmly made his way onto the field.

No histrionics from the rookie manager — not in this situation at least. All he had to do was challenge the call and wait.

“It’s almost awkward when you go out there,” Ausmus said. “Normally the manager would go out there to scream and yell, but it doesn’t make sense to go out there and scream and yell if they know you have a challenge. In essence, I’m really just taking my time getting out there so we can get a determination from our video room as to whether we should use the challenge.”

Baseball’s new instant replay system was popular at Comerica Park on Wednesday, when two calls at first base were overturned in Detroit’s favor. The second reversal ended a Kansas City rally in the 10th, and the Tigers eventually won 2-1 on Ian Kinsler’s single in the bottom of the inning.

Kinsler also hit a solo homer in the fourth, helping Detroit win despite a blown save by new closer Joe Nathan. Max Scherzer pitched eight scoreless innings for the Tigers.

“All I kept thinking about was picking up Max. He was so good all game and you don’t want to waste that kind of performance,” said Kinsler, who was acquired from Texas for Prince Fielder in a November trade. “It was great for Joe, too. We know he’s a great closer, but it is a lot easier to forget about a bad outing when your team wins the game.”

In the top of the 10th, Kansas City’s Norichika Aoki was called safe at first, and it looked like the Royals would have first and third with two outs against Al Alburquerque (1-0). But upon further review, the throw barely beat Aoki. He was called out to end the threat.

There was another overturn in the sixth when Detroit’s Tyler Collins was initially called out at first, giving Kansas City a 4-6-3 double play. The play was reviewed and Collins was ruled safe, although Detroit didn’t score.

“That’s exactly why the system is there — to get the call right,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Both calls went against us, but they were the right calls, so I don’t have any problem with it.”

Scherzer allowed four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts, but Nathan blew a save at Comerica for the first time after 19 straight as a visitor.

Alex Gordon’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth tied it, and Nathan balked the runners ahead when he pulled up in the middle of his motion. Nathan said afterward he stopped because he wasn’t sure he and catcher Alex Avila were on the same page.

“I just didn’t want to cross him up,” Nathan said. “I thought I saw a fastball in, and when I came up to my balance position and looked in, I saw him setting up away.”

After Alburquerque made it through the 10th, Austin Jackson and Nick Castellanos both walked for Detroit. Kinsler won it with a two-out single to left-center off Tim Collins (0-1).

Scherzer can become a free agent after this season, and if he keeps pitching like this he’ll be in line for quite a payday. The American League Cy Young Award winner mostly cruised until the eighth, when Salvador Perez doubled leading off.

Scherzer rebounded to strike out Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain. Ausmus then visited the mound, but he left Scherzer in. Alcides Escobar followed with a flyout on Scherzer’s 110th and final pitch.

Scherzer said Ausmus told him to make a decision about staying in.

“I said, `Give me a second to think about it,” Scherzer said. “I needed to be honest with Brad. I said, `Give me the ball.”

Jason Vargas, who signed a $32 million, four-year contract in the offseason, was sharp in his first start for Kansas City. He allowed a run and five hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out six.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — On a day of dandy Detroit debuts, Alex Gonzalez helped Brad Ausmus start his tenure as Tigers manager with a win.

Gonzalez lined an RBI single off Greg Holland in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Tigers a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday in Ausmus’ first game since replacing Jim Leyland. Victor Martinez homered for Detroit, and Justin Verlander was sharp aside from a three-run fourth inning that wasn’t all his fault.

“There’s two things that could have spoiled opening day for me,” Ausmus said. “One, if we lost. And two, if the sun wasn’t out. Because for me opening day, the sun is out, fans are having fun, they’re eating their popcorn, drinking their beer. The energy is higher.”

Kansas City lost its sixth straight opener.

Ausmus was upstaged a bit by another newcomer on a bright, pleasant day in downtown Detroit.

Gonzalez was acquired by the Tigers in late March following an injury to shortstop Jose Iglesias. Detroit is just hoping he can fill in competently, and Gonzalez did not impress at first. His error in the fourth helped the Royals score an extra run, but he made up for that with a tying triple in the seventh.

Gonzalez then singled with men on first and third in the ninth.

“I’ve played on a lot of opening days — I don’t even remember all of them — but this one was special,” Gonzalez said. “I was looking for a pitch that I could elevate, and I got one. I rounded first and all I saw was the whole team coming at me.”

Joe Nathan — another new face on Detroit’s roster — pitched a scoreless ninth. Nathan (1-0) signed with the Tigers to become their closer, but he’ll have to wait a bit longer for a save opportunity.

Holland didn’t have a save chance either after converting 47 of 50 last year. Instead, the right-hander came into a difficult situation in the ninth and couldn’t get out of it. Wade Davis (0-1) yielded a one-out walk to Alex Avila and a single to Nick Castellanos before Holland allowed the single to Gonzalez.

“I get paid to get people out, and I didn’t do it today,” Holland said. “We’re not here to fight and compete. We’re here to win.”

Detroit’s Tyler Collins made his major league debut as a pinch runner for Avila — and ended up scoring the winning run.

Salvador Perez had four hits for Kansas City.

Although there were still a few patches of snow in the Detroit area Monday morning, the game was played under a sunny sky with temperatures in the 50s. With its recently re-sodded field, Comerica Park looked sharp.

But the Tigers, coming off three straight AL Central titles, were sloppy at first.

Right fielder Torii Hunter dropped a routine flyball in the second, and although Verlander pitched out of that jam, he couldn’t escape the fourth. Salvador Perez tied it at 1 with a one-out RBI double off Verlander, and Lorenzo Cain slapped an RBI single through the hole into left field to put Kansas City ahead. After a two-out walk, Gonzalez bobbled Norichika Aoki’s slow grounder for an error that loaded the bases.

Verlander then walked Omar Infante, forcing in Kansas City’s third run of the inning.

Verlander had surgery in January after injuring his groin, but he pitched 20 scoreless innings during spring training. He allowed three runs — two earned — and six hits in six innings Monday, walking three and striking out two.

That was enough for a no-decision. Verlander was making his seventh straight start on opening day, and he’s only 1-1 in those games.

“I never seem to find a win on opening day, but the bullpen shut them down and we got one anyway. That’s all that matters,” Verlander said. “Every opening day is special, but this one meant a little more, because I had to really work and grind to get here for this one after the surgery.”

With Kansas City ahead 3-1 in the seventh, Austin Jackson hit a one-out triple and Avila drew a walk. Aaron Crow replaced starter James Shields and struck out Castellanos, but the third strike was a wild pitch that allowed Jackson to score. Gonzalez followed with a triple to the gap in left-center.

Shields gave up three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings.

— Associated Press —