Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer have been so spectacularly successful this season they’re earning the right to be mentioned in the same breath with some of baseball’s greats.

Cabrera hit his 40th home run and had an RBI single to help Scherzer become baseball’s first 18-game winner this season as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 Sunday to win the five-game series.

”Both of them are on a roll that you don’t see very often,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. ”Tigers fans could go years without ever seeing something like that again.”

Cabrera became the third player since 1921 to have at least 40 homers and 120 RBIs while batting .350 or better through 116 games, joining Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, according to STATS.

”That’s nice,” Cabrera said with a touch of awe as he looked at a list of the impressive company he joined.

Scherzer (18-1) gave up two runs on five hits over eight innings. Scherzer and Roger Clemens are the pitchers since 1919 to have 18 wins in their first 19 decisions as starters, STATS said. Clemens did it with the New York Yankees in 2001, when he finished 20-3.

”It’s great because I respect what he was able to do throughout his career and in that season,” Scherzer said. ”But the win-loss record is a little fluky. Every time I go out, the guys are putting up runs for me and are playing great defense so I can’t take credit for being 18-1.”

Royals manager Ned Yost said before the game that intentionally walking Cabrera wasn’t a good option because Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez hit behind him.

After Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a run-scoring single in the third, Yost chose to give Cabrera a free pass in the fifth inning with a runner on third and Fielder followed with an inning-ending groundout. Cabrera has eight homers in 13 games.

The reigning Triple Crown winner leads the majors in batting (.360) and RBIs (120). Cabrera’s home run pulled him within four of Baltimore’s Chris Davis for the big league lead, then Davis hit his 45th later in the day.

”We don’t worry about him,” Cabrera said. ”We focus on what we can do here in Detroit.”

Cabrera connected a day after his leadoff home run in the ninth inning beat Kansas City. The third-place Royals lost three of five this weekend and left Comerica Park, trailing the AL Central-leading Tigers by 8 1/2 games.

”This club is not going away,” Leyland said, referring to the Royals. ”Cleveland is not going away.”

Joaquin Benoit entered in the ninth in a non-save situation and gave up a solo homer to the first batter he faced, Billy Butler, on a 1-2 pitch to let the Royals pull within three runs.

Bruce Chen (5-1) allowed six earned runs – more than he had given up in his last six starts – on eight hits over 5 1-3 innings. Chen didn’t regret either of the two pitches he threw to Cabrera that were hit, watching him pull an outside fastball and a cutter several inches inside and off the plate.

”When he’s on, I don’t think you can throw anything around him,” Chen said.

Austin Jackson led off with a single on Chen’s second pitch and Cabrera followed with a line drive over the left-field wall.

Cabrera became the third player in franchise history to hit 40 homers in consecutive seasons. Hank Greenberg did it during the 1937 and 1938 seasons while Cecil Fielder pulled off the feat in 1990 and 1991.

Cabrera put Detroit up 3-0 in the third with a single, taking advantage of a pitch to hit when Yost chose not to walk him with Torii Hunter on second base.

The Royals had only one hit through three innings and two after six innings. They scored two runs on three hits in the seventh against Scherzer.

— Associated Presss —

Miguel Cabrera’s body is making it difficult for him to run without appearing to be in pain.

Luckily for the Tigers, it’s not keeping the reigning Triple Crown winner from swinging the bat really well.

Cabrera hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the ninth inning, lifting Detroit to a 6-5 win over Kansas City on Saturday night hours after Royals infielder Miguel Tejada was suspended for at least the rest of this season for testing positive for an amphetamine.

”Every at-bat, every game, you want to do something good, because I think people pay for that,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera has been slowed by a strained lower abdomen, injured hip and banged-up left leg. He was healthy enough to take a victory lap and looked relatively comfortable rounding the bases as a sellout crowd of 41,850 cheered.

”When you hit a home run like that, you’re loose, smooth,” he said.

Cabrera leads the major leagues with a .358 batting average and 117 RBIs and trails only Baltimore’s Chris Davis in homers.

Aaron Crow (7-4) threw five pitches, with Cabrera hitting his 3-1 offering for an opposite field homer, his 39th, driving a fastball high and outside just over the right-field wall.

”There’s not three hitters in baseball that could hit that pitch out of the ballpark,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He’s one of them. Take your hat off to him.”

Joaquin Benoit (3-0) gave up only one walk in the ninth for the win.

Prince Fielder hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning and made a good defensive play for the third out of the ninth.

Kansas City tied the game for a third time in the eighth inning when Emilo Bonifacio singled, stole second, advanced on a throwing era by Detroit’s backup catcher and scored on Chris Getz’s RBI single off Jose Veras.

”We couldn’t get the lead,” Yost said.

Detroit starter Doug Fister gave up three runs and 10 hits over 6 1-3 innings. After throwing a season-high 118 pitches, he was replaced by Drew Smyly, who gave up a game-tying homer to Salvador Perez on a 1-2 count with two outs in the seventh.

Kansas City starter Wade Davis allowed four runs on eight hits and lasted just 3 2-3 innings.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland and catcher Brayan Pena were ejected in the fourth inning after a call went against Detroit and helped Kansas City tie the game.

The Tigers were angry because Kansas City’s Alcides Escobar appeared to foul off a pitch with a check swing after the ball hit the dirt. The umpiring crew, though, ruled that it was a wild pitch and that allowed Chris Getz to advance from first to third base.

Leyland was ejected and went on the field a second time, directing a demonstrative rant toward first base umpire Bob Davidson.

After Escobar hit a game-tying double, Pena had more to say about the call and was tossed by plate umpire Mike Muchlinski.

Davidson took the blame for missing the call.

”That’s really on me because I should’ve seen the ball change directions,” Davidson said following the game.

In the home half of the inning, Cabrera put Detroit ahead 4-3 with his 24th double on a hit deep into the right field corner, but barely beat the throw to second base. Cabrera, clearly, would rather play through pain than sit and hope to get healthier.

In the first inning, he hit a grounder to third that Mike Moustakas bobbled into foul territory and still managed to throw Cabrera out.

Kansas City scored two in the third inning on consecutive singles by Alex Gordon and Perez and tied it at 3 in the fourth after the disputed call that led to Leyland and Pena being ejected.

The Royals tied the game for the second time with Perez’s fifth homer in the seventh and Fielder’s line drive over the right-center wall – his 19th homer, and second of the series – put Detroit back ahead by a run.

Tejada will not be back in baseball any time soon, if at all.

He became the third former MVP in a month to be suspended, getting suspended for 105 games. His ban came after Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games – he’s appealing – and Brewers star Ryan Braun got a 65-game penalty that will keep him off the field for the rest of the season.

A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Tejada tested positive for Adderall, a substance the 39-year-old has used to treat attention deficit disorder. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because those details were not made public.

Tejada apologized in a statement released by the players’ association, saying he made a mistake for taking a medication to treat a medical condition while re-applying for an exemption to use it.

— Associated Presss —

James Shields allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings and was part of a combined four-hit shutout in Kansas City’s 3-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night to give the Royals a sweep of a day-night doubleheader.

Kansas City won the first game 2-1 as Danny Duffy took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and pitched a combined two-hitter.

Royals pitching held the Tigers to a run and six hits for the two games.

Eric Hosmer homered in each game.

Shields (8-8) won his fourth game in his past five starts. He walked four and struck out one.

The Tigers threatened against Shields in the second and third innings.

In the second, a walk to Andy Dirks and Brayan Pena’s single gave Detroit runners on first and second with one out.

But Shields got both Ramon Santiago and Jose Iglesias to hit pop-ups to the shortstop to get out of the inning.

The right-hander walked Austin Jackson to lead off the third inning and Torii Hunter singled him to second.

But Shields retired the next three hitters.

Miguel Cabrera was retired on weak roller to Shields between the mound and first base on which the runners moved up to second and third.

But Prince Fielder hit a short fly ball to left fielder Alex Gordon. Despite Jackson’s speed, it wasn’t nearly deep enough for him to score.

Shields then got Victor Martinez to line out to right to end the inning.

Luke Hochevar pitched a perfect eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth, allowing a hit, for his 34th save. He had saves in both games of the doubleheader.

Jose Alvarez (1-3), called up from Triple-A Toledo to make the start, took the loss. He gave up two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out five.

Alvarez’s only big mistakes came in the third with two outs. He walked Jamey Carroll and Hosmer followed with his second home run of the day, that gave the Royals a 2-0 lead. Hosmer blasted Alvarez’s 1-1 pitch deep into the right-field stands for his 14th homer.

Alvarez was replaced by Jeremy Bonderman with two outs in the sixth. Bonderman got the final out of that inning and the first two outs of the seventh before being replaced by Phil Coke and Al Alburquerque.

Carroll’s sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 3-0. It was an unearned run off Bonderman, whose throwing error on an attempted pickoff throw sent Chris Getz from first to third. He scored on the sac fly.

Duffy (1-0) beat Justin Verlander in the opener.

Duffy was called up from Triple-A Omaha to make his second big league start of the season, and didn’t allow a hit until Cabrera’s hard-hit, two out single in the sixth.

”I was glad that they finally got one, honestly, because I just wanted to pitch,” said Duffy, who underwent Tommy John surgery. ”I wanted to protect this arm.”

Kelvin Herrera replaced Duffy in the seventh and retired the side in order. Aaron Crow worked the eighth and allowed Santiago’s pinch-hit home run leading off the inning. Crow got the next three batters.

”Would have liked to have been able to accomplish two things, win and keep the bullpen fresh,” Verlander said. ”Just didn’t happen that way. Felt like I threw the ball well. Just their guys pitched extremely well, which is they’ve done all year.”

Verlander (12-9) allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Kansas City made it 2-0 on consecutive doubles leading off the seventh by Justin Maxwell and Emilio Bonifacio.

— Associated Press —

Prince Fielder went three weeks without a homer, and the Detroit Tigers kept right on rolling.

Now that drought’s over – and Fielder’s team is sitting pretty in the AL Central.

Fielder’s two-run shot in the first inning Thursday night sent the Tigers to a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Andy Dirks added four hits for Detroit, which leads second-place Cleveland by 6 1/2 games in the division.

”Prince produces runs. I don’t care how he does it,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ”Tonight happened to be by way of the home run, but he’s a run producer, always has been. It’s in the book and it’ll be in the book at the end of this year.”

Dirks had two doubles and two singles for the Tigers, who took the opener of this five-game series with third-place Kansas City. The Royals have lost three in a row after a 17-3 stretch that put them in contention for a postseason spot.

Kansas City now trails Detroit by 8 1/2 games in the division. The Royals are 5 1/2 behind Oakland in the race for a wild card.

Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez (11-7) allowed a run and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. Bruce Rondon finished the eighth, and Joaquin Benoit pitched a hitless ninth for his 16th save in 16 chances.

Jeremy Guthrie (12-9) allowed four runs and 13 hits in seven innings.

Fielder went deep for the first time since July 24, belting a towering drive to right-center to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. The Tigers scored two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera.

Dirks, batting leadoff because Austin Jackson had the night off, scored twice. It was the second four-hit game of the season for Dirks, who is from Kansas and went to Wichita State.

”It felt good. It’s hard to explain – it’s just one of those ‘feel’ things,” Dirks said. ”I could feel the path of the bat as I was swinging. My timing was better and everything just clicks. Your legs work with your hands and different things.”

The Tigers won despite an atrocious night on the bases. Dirks led off the Detroit third with a double, and then was caught in a rundown when Hunter grounded to the mound. After Dirks was tagged out, the Royals got a double play because Hunter had turned too far around first.

In the sixth, Brayan Pena took too much of a turn after hitting a single, and he too was caught off the bag.

Kansas City, meanwhile, stole three bases, but the Royals couldn’t break through against Sanchez after scoring a run in the first inning.

”We had a good scouting report today,” Kansas City’s Alex Gordon said. ”When you’re not hitting doubles and home runs, you’ve got to make something happen.”

Gordon’s RBI single made it 1-0, but Dirks singled to start the bottom of the first, and Fielder went deep for his 18th homer of the season.

The Royals had a man on second in the second, a man on third in the fourth and then a man on second again in the fifth. But they were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

After a double by Dirks in the fifth, Detroit had men on second and third with one out. Hunter singled to make it 3-1, and Cabrera’s fly ball to center dropped in front of Jarrod Dyson for another run.

Cabrera, who has been bothered by hip and leg injuries lately, made a nice sliding catch in foul territory near third base on an eighth-inning popup by Gordon.

”He’s obviously playing in some pain,” Leyland said. ”Just a gutty performance, day after day. You know, we’ve got a lot of guys that go out there all the time – and I don’t want to slight Miggy, because he’s been going out there and playing. There’s not too many guys that could do what he’s doing, under the circumstances, but we’ve got a lot of guys that go out there.”

— Associated Press —

Justin Ruggiano picked the scuffed-up ball off the carpet, smiled a toothy smile and proudly held it up for everyone to see in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium.

A souvenir from his first career hit? Nope.

Just his first hit in a while.

Ruggiano snapped a franchise-worst 0-for-42 slump by hitting that ball for a single in the first inning Wednesday, and then added two more hits and drove in a run as the Miami Marlins beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 to wrap up a winning three-game series.

”It became a mental issue. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody in the world,” said Ruggiano, whose last hit came on July 12. ”I’m just glad it’s over with. Now I can get back to doing what I do.”

Ruggiano drove in the Marlins’ first run, but they still trailed 2-1 when Koyie Hill doubled off reliever Tim Collins (2-6) to start the seventh. Christian Yelich then hit a grounder toward third that utility man Elliot Johnson let through his legs to put runners on second and third.

Donovan Solano and Logan Morrison followed with RBI groundouts to give the Marlins the lead.

That was enough for the Marlins bullpen. Dan Jennings (2-3) got through the sixth, A.J. Ramos worked the seventh and eighth, and Steve Cishek handled the ninth for his 26th save.

Cishek struck out Alex Gordon with runners on first and second to end the game.

”This is a resilient group of guys,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. ”They keep coming back and battling, and I think you saw some big hits by guys out there.”

Solano and Morrison each finished with a pair of RBIs for Miami.

”It’s always good to go out there and play well against teams that are making a push for a playoff spot,” Redmond said. ”That’s a good feeling heading home.”

Indeed, the Royals were rolling when the series began. They’d won 17 of 20 after taking the opener to climb into playoff contention, but now limp off to play five games in four days against AL Central-leading Detroit with their first defeat in eight series.

Now, the Marlins have won two straight to finish off a long road trip.

The Royals, blanked 1-0 in 10 innings Tuesday night, got off to a good start when Eric Hosmer doubled in the first inning and eventually scored on a single by Salvador Perez.

The Royals failed to take advantage of the erratic Jacob Turner, though. The Marlins starter walked six without a strikeout in five-plus innings, but Kansas City could only squeeze out one more run against him on a groundout by David Lough in the fourth.

The Marlins got their first run when Ruggiano drove in Adeiney Hechavarria in the top half of the fourth. They were otherwise hamstrung by Royals starter Ervin Santana, who dodged eight hits and two walks over six innings to hand his bullpen the lead.

The Royals’ relievers – with little help from their defense – failed to hold on. Johnson’s error turned the game, Royals manager Ned Yost said, and eventually led to the go-ahead runs.

”In Elliot’s defense, it was cue-ball shot with a lot of English. It had a lot of spin on it, it hit and then boom, it stayed down,” Yost said. ”It changed the whole complexion of the inning.”

For his part, Johnson refused to make any excuses.

”We’re in the middle of the hunt and they’re not going to tolerate that sort of stuff. It seems like an easy play,” Johnson said. ”It wasn’t as easy as it seems, (but) still I should have made it. I’m playing in the big leagues and you’ve got to make those kinds of plays.”

Solano and Morrison tacked on run-scoring singles off Luke Hochevar in the ninth, and Cishek finished up for his 21st straight save, the third-best streak in the majors.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals announced Wednesday that they have acquired veteran infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations or a Player to be Named.  In a corresponding roster move, the Royals have transferred infielder Miguel Tejada to the 60-day Disabled List.

Bonifacio, 28, was traded to the Blue Jays from the Miami Marlins this offseason.  He’s hitting .218 this year with 16 doubles, 3 homers and 12 stolen bases.   The sixth-year utility man has 122 stolen bases in his career in 156 attempts (78%), including a career-best 40 thefts in 2011.  He set career highs in nearly every offensive category in 2011 with the Marlins, batting .296 with 26 doubles, 7 triples, 5 homers and 78 runs scored.  A switch-hitter, Bonifacio has shown his versatility this season, playing all three outfield positions as well as second base and shortstop.

Emilio’s younger brother, Jorge, is an outfield prospect in the Royals’ organization, currently at Double-A with Northwest Arkansas.

Tejada, 39, was hitting .288 for KC this season with 16 doubles, 3 homers and 26 RBI.

— Royals Media Relations —

Marlins prodigy Jose Fernandez simply smiled when he was asked about leaving Tuesday night’s start against Kansas City in the seventh inning with the game still scoreless.

Best not to rankle the skipper by saying something amiss.

Besides, the young right-hander had a good seat to watch Christian Yelich single home the go-ahead run with one out in the 10th inning, giving the Marlins a 1-0 victory.

”I like to pitch and everybody knows it,” Fernandez said. ”I like to compete. I would have loved to stay out there pitching. I was feeling really strong today.”

Fernandez was matched by wily Royals veteran Bruce Chen, each of them allowing just three hits before they turned over the game to their bullpens.

It continued to extra innings before Kansas City reliever Kelvin Herrera (4-6) brushed the jersey of the Marlins’ Jake Marisnick with a pitch in the 10th. Marisnick stole second and then scored on Yelich’s single through the right side of the infield, his third hit of the game.

”Try to get a good pitch to hit and drive Jake in from second,” Yelich said. ”It was hard to score runs for both teams. I knew if we could push one in we’d have a good chance to win.”

Chad Qualls (3-1) earned the win, while Steve Cishek survived a single in the bottom half of the 10th for his 25th save. Cishek has converted 20 in a row, the third-best streak in the majors behind the Braves’ Craig Kimbrel and the Royals’ Greg Holland.

The Royals, who had won 17 of their last 20, were trying to wrap up their eighth consecutive series victory. They’ll try again in the finale on Wednesday afternoon.

”Bruce was phenomenal. Fernandez was everything we had heard he was and seen on video,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It was just an old-fashioned pitching duel.”

Indeed, the game began as a matchup between a 36-year-old, soft-tossing junkballer who began the season in the bullpen and a 21-year-old, flame-throwing phenom who defected from Cuba.

Chen and Fernandez matched each other pitch-for-pitch most of the night.

The Royals left-hander allowed a leadoff single to Yelich but didn’t give up another hit until the fourth. His beguiling 84 mph fastball – the term ”fastball” applied loosely – helped Chen strike out six batters and deal with three walks over his seven innings.

Otherwise, the Marlins spent most of the night popping balls into shallow center field, trudging back to the dugout and wondering why someone who couldn’t throw harder than some Little League pitchers kept baffling them with his dizzying array of floating changeups.

He lowered his ERA to 0.94 since replacing Luis Mendoza in the Royals rotation.

”I think I got a couple hits off Bruce somewhere along the way,” said Marlins manager Mike Redmond, who retired as a player after the 2010 season. ”Hey, a testament to him, he’s still out there making pitches and he shut us down. I hadn’t seen him pitch for a long time, but he did a great job against us tonight, and he’s done a great job for them.”

The problem for the Royals? Fernandez has been even better for the Marlins.

He allowed a single in the first and another in the second, but then retired 13 straight before a leadoff walk in the seventh. The Royals managed to get runners on first and second with two outs before George Kottaras flied out to center to end the inning.

It was the most trouble that Fernandez was in all night.

”He throws everything for strikes,” Kottaras said. ”He’s got all those plus pitches to work with. He was attacking the zone. We were falling behind. He had us at his mercy for a while.”

Fernandez didn’t pick up the win, of course. He had to watch from the bench after Redmond pulled him from the game. But he still managed his sixth straight start without a defeat.

”It’s a baseball game,” he said, smiling again. ”We won.”

— Associated Press —

Wade Davis came off the family emergency leave list and pitched six solid innings, Billy Butler homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Miami Marlins 6-2 on Monday night.

The Royals won for the 17th time in 20 games, while the Marlins are 1-8 in their past nine.

Davis had not pitched since Aug. 2, returning to Florida to be with his family after the death of his stepbrother on Aug. 3.

Davis (6-9) allowed two runs and six hits while striking out three and walking two.

Marlins starter Tom Koehler (3-8) held the Royals hitless until two out in the fourth, when they pieced together four straight hits.

— Associated Press —

James Shields picked up his first home win in more than three months and the Kansas City Royals have won seven consecutive series for the first time in 22 years.

Shields pitched seven strong innings, Alex Gordon homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Sunday.

The Royals improved to 18-5 since the All-Star break, winning every series. The last time they won seven straight series was 1991.

”It’s huge,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”You can’t understate it. The fact of the matter is that’s nice, but it doesn’t mean anything tomorrow.

” It’s big, but you’ve got to keep plugging. I wouldn’t classify it as a statement (series) win. But it’s still the team with the best record came in and we won three out of four. We’re playing great baseball right now. We just have to maintain our focus on that.”

Shields (7-8), who had not won at Kauffman Stadium since an April 30 victory over Tampa Bay, limited the Red Sox to three runs and seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five and walked three.

”I feel like ever since the All-Star break, we’ve been making a statement,” Shields said. ”We’re here to stay and compete. Our bullpen has been phenomenal. Our defense has been great. We’re getting some good timely hitting.”

Gordon hit a 2-2 pitch from John Lackey (7-10) out to right in the third inning for his third homer in five games.

”He went through a little down period about a week ago, but the last week he’s been really swinging the bat really, really well,” Yost said. ”The thing about Alex is when he gets hot, he can carry you for a while.”

Lackey, who is 0-4 in his past five starts, walked David Lough and Eric Hosmer to lead off the first. Gordon’s two-out single scored Lough to tie it at 1.

Shane Victorino scored Boston’s first run when he doubled in the first, stole third and came home on catcher Salvador Perez’s errant pickoff throw.

The Royals scored two runs in the third, with Jarrod Dyson and Lough delivering RBI singles. Dyson’s hit drove home Mike Moustakas, who doubled to start the inning. Dyson stole second and scored on Lough’s flare to shallow right.

After a rocky start, Lackey lasted seven innings, giving up four runs and seven hits and two walks, while striking out five.

”It was a grind early,” Lackey said. ”I wasn’t feeling really great. I had a couple of 3-2 counts and didn’t make my pitch. I was lucky to get the ground ball for the double play in the first and then I found my groove and started to make my pitches.”

”For me to walk two in one inning let alone to lead off the game is hard to believe. I didn’t execute and I lost the game.”

Ryan Lavarnway’s two-out single in the sixth scored Daniel Nava and Stephen Drew, trimming the Kansas City lead to 4-3. Drew went 2 for 4 and is hitting .422 in his season-high, 12-game hitting streak.

Nava is convinced the Royals are a playoff contender.

”Of course,” Nava said. ”Everyone realizes with their offense and pitching it’s just a matter of time before they click.”

Royals relievers Tim Collins, Aaron Crow and Greg Holland, who earned his 32nd save in 34 opportunities, worked two scoreless innings to protect the one-run lead. The bullpen has allowed one run in 20 innings on this homestand.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals announced Sunday that they have acquired veteran infielder Jamey Carroll from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for cash considerations or a Player to be Named later.

He will be placed on the Royals’ 40-man roster and the team will announce a corresponding roster move tomorrow.

Carroll, 39, has been with the Twins the last two years.  He’s batting .230 this season with six doubles, 20 runs scored and a pair of stolen bases in 58 games this season.

A right-handed hitter, Carroll is batting .325 with a .372 on-base percentage against left-handed pitching this year, and batting .295 against southpaws in his career.

He’s a lifetime .274 hitter with 145 doubles, 27 triples and a .351 on-base percentage in 11 Major League seasons with the Expos/Nationals, Rockies, Indians, Dodgers and Twins.

— Royals Media Relations —