James Shields watched Lorenzo Cain race back to the wall in left-center field, leap in the air and snatch Trevor Plouffe’s drive away just before it landed in the bullpen.

The Kansas City right-hander thrust his arms in the air, Royals relievers erupted in jubilation and Cain bounded back toward the dugout with no worries about a groin injury that had kept him on the bench earlier this week.

It’s been a long, long time since the Royals were winning like this, and they’re enjoying every minute of it.

The Royals won their ninth straight game, stretching their longest winning streak in more than a decade by beating Minnesota 7-2 Thursday behind Billy Butler’s hitting and Cain’s highlight reel catch in center field.

The Royals last won nine straight when they opened the 2003 season at 9-0. The last time Kansas City won more in a row was a 10-game string in 1994, STATS said. After completing the three-game sweep of the Twins, they have opened a road trip 6-0 for the first time since 1980, when they went to the World Series.

”We’ve got great energy, youthful energy on our club,” Royals manager Ned Yost said, sitting in his office just a few feet away from a raucous clubhouse celebration. ”Our guys, they love winning. They get into it.”

Butler had two hits and drove in two runs. Justin Maxwell had a hit and an RBI a day after being acquired in a trade with Houston.

Shields (6-7) gave up two runs on five hits and five walks in six innings for the Royals, who swept the three-game series and are showing potential to be a factor late in the season.

Scott Diamond (5-10) gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings. Justin Morneau homered and doubled, but the Twins couldn’t take advantage of a sluggish start from Shields.

Shields needed 116 pitches to get through six innings. But against a Twins offense that doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t hit with runners in scoring position and doesn’t steal bases, he was never really in trouble.

Plouffe misplayed a potential double-play ball at third base to load the bases in the second inning, and Mike Moustakas and Maxwell drove runs in to get the Royals on the board. Eric Hosmer added a sacrifice fly in the third inning for a 3-0 lead.

Morneau, who hit .175 with four homers and five RBIs in all of July, went deep to straightaway center field to make it 3-2 in the third.

Shields was laboring in the fifth and the Royals were clinging to a 5-2 lead when Plouffe sent a sky-high fly ball toward the bullpen in left-center field. After a long run, Cain leaped at the wall and snatched the ball just before it was about to go over the fence, taking away what would have been a two-run homer.

”He’s been doing that all season long,” Shields said. ”You’ve got to tip your cap to Lorenzo. He was off the last couple days. To come back and do that is phenomenal.”

Cain exchanged a high-five with Miguel Tejada and shouted ”Let’s go!” as he ran back to the dugout, and Butler followed with a two-run single in the top of the sixth for some breathing room.

”I was pumped up,” Cain said. ”I robbed a home run. That was exciting. It got the team excited and in that same inning we got the bats going. It was a big momentum boost.”

It’s been that kind of fun for the Royals of late, but they sure could use some cooperation from the Tigers and Indians in the AL Central.

Despite running off the longest active winning streak in the majors, they have made up little ground in the division. The Tigers had won nine of their last 10 heading into the day and Cleveland was 8-2 in that span to keep Kansas City at a comfortable distance.

”We’re playing some really good baseball and we believe in ourselves right now,” Shields said. ”Going into this last two months, this is kind of the baseball we need to play.”

— Associated Press —

Alex Gordon hit a two-out triple in the seventh inning and then scored the go-ahead run for Kansas City on an error by Minnesota, and the Royals won their eighth straight game with a 4-3 victory over the Twins on Wednesday night.

The Royals are above .500 at the end of July for the first time since 2003. At 53-51, they are two games over the break-even mark for the first time since May 17. They remained seven games behind Detroit in the AL Central race and 4 1/2 games back of second-place Cleveland, the current holder of the second wild card spot.

Jeremy Guthrie (11-7) won his third start in a row with his seventh consecutive appearance of at least six innings.

Pedro Florimon homered in the fifth for the Twins, but he struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth. Then in the seventh, with Gordon on third, the shortstop shuffled to his left to get his body behind a grounder up the middle hit by Eric Hosmer. Florimon failed to pick up the ball, though, as his momentum carried him past it. Gordon scored, and so did Hosmer one batter later on Billy Butler’s single off reliever Caleb Thielbar (1-1).

Aaron Hicks took a bad angle toward Gordon’s drive off the center field wall, and the ball ricocheted past him to let Gordon get another base.

Guthrie improved to 7-3 in his career against the Twins, including 3-1 this season. He surrendered six hits, two runs and two walks in six innings while striking out five. The Twins started the sixth with three straight singles and tied the game on Chris Herrmann’s one-out walk. But Hicks popped out to second base, and Florimon fanned on three pitches.

The Royals, who have the league’s second-best team ERA, have relied on their rotation for this midsummer surge. The starters have allowed 11 earned runs in 72 innings over the last eight games.

Ryan Doumit and Trevor Plouffe greeted Kelvin Herrera in the eighth inning with doubles, slicing the lead to 4-3. Hicks added a one-out infield single. But Aaron Crow came in to strike out the last two batters.

Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his 28th save in 30 tries. Joe Mauer took second base on a one-out single and a throwing error by shortstop Alcides Escobar, but Justin Morneau and Ryan Doumit struck out to end the game.

The Royals are 9-3 against the Twins this season and 26-19 against the division.

Twins starter Kevin Correia gave up 10 hits over six innings, but he struck out three without a walk and somehow limited the damage to two runs on an RBI single by Miguel Tejada and a sacrifice fly by Butler.

Tejada was thrown out at home on a comebacker to the mound, Hosmer was thrown out at third on the sacrifice fly and Butler grounded into a double play. David Lough was caught stealing, too.

The streak helped the Royals keep their roster intact after the non-waiver trade deadline. They even added some depth, acquiring Justin Maxwell from Houston to bring in a speedy right-handed batter who can play all three outfield spots.

The Twins didn’t trade anyone off their major league roster, either, to the temporary relief of Morneau, the cornerstone first baseman who hasn’t been the same since the concussion that ended his 2010 season. Morneau, though, noted the remaining possibility he could be dealt in August by clearing waivers. He’s in the final year of his contract.

Despite being out of the playoff chase for a third straight season, the Twins weren’t able to persuade a contender to give up a prospect or two for one of their veterans. Correia and fellow starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey were among the top candidates to be moved, along with Morneau, Doumit and a few relievers. But all general manager Terry Ryan ended up doing was dealing minor league catcher Drew Butera to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I told Pelfrey that he was supposed to be part of the Dodger trade, but they have a time limit on their games,” manager Ron Gardenhire quipped before the game. “Trying to loosen the tension in here, and he laughed so that was good and we can move forward from there.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals acquired outfielder Justin Maxwell on Wednesday from the Houston Astros in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Kyle Smith prior to the 3 p.m. CDT non-waiver trade deadline.

Maxwell, 29, was batting .241 in 40 games for the Astros this season with 10 doubles, 2 triples and 2 home runs and 21 runs scored.  The right-handed hitting outfielder is batting .302 with a .488 slugging percentage against left-handed pitching this year.

He hit 18 homers and drove in 53 runs in 124 games with the Astros in 2012, which included a .272 batting average, .387 on-base percentage and .505 slugging percentage against southpaws.

He’s in his fifth Major League season and has with 33 doubles, 29 homers and a .419 slugging percentage in 286 games with the Washington Nationals (2007, 2009-10) and the Astros (2012-13).

He’s also swiped 24 bases in 31 attempts in his career. Maxwell was a fourth-round selection by the Nationals in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Maryland.

He was traded to the Yankees during the offseason in 2011 and claimed off waivers by the Astros early in the 2012 season.

Smith, 20, was the Royals’ fourth-round selection in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft. He was 5-4 this season with a 2.85 ERA in 19 starts at Class A Wilmington.

— Royals Media Relations —

Mike Moustakas homered twice and drove in four runs to back another strong start from Ervin Santana, and the surging Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2 Tuesday night.

Santana (7-6) gave up two runs on four hits and struck out eight in seven innings and Eric Hosmer had three hits and an RBI for the Royals, who have won seven in a row and nine of 11 coming out of the All-Star break. At 52-51, they are over .500 for the first time since May 18.

Mike Pelfrey (4-9) gave up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in four innings for the Twins. Joe Mauer had two hits and an RBI after missing the last week for the birth of his twin girls.

— Associated Press —

It’s down to the last couple days of July, and the Kansas City Royals have an equal amount of wins and losses.

It’s a small step, but it’s somewhere to start.

Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Sunday for their sixth consecutive victory.

”This is a lot of fun,” Gordon said. ”We have a lot of guys that are playing well and picking each other up and just a good team right now.”

Kansas City (51-51) matched its longest winning streak of the season and got back to .500 for the first time since it beat Cleveland 2-1 on June 17 to improve to 34-34.

It’s the best record for the Royals this late in the year since they finished the 2003 season with an 83-79 mark, according to STATS.

”To get here was big,” manager Ned Yost said. ”Now we got to get past it and just stay focused day to day.”

With no outs and Jarrod Dyson on third in the 12th, the White Sox brought their infield in, but it didn’t matter one bit.

Gordon drove a 2-2 pitch from Donnie Veal (1-1) over the wall in center for his first homer since July 7 and No. 10 on the year.

Gordon went 1 for 6 and is batting .121 (4 for 33) over his past eight games, but it hardly mattered to him after coming up with the clutch swing.

”One hit’s fine with me as long as it wins the game,” the All-Star outfielder said.

Aaron Crow (7-3) tossed a scoreless inning to get the win and Greg Holland finished for his 27th save in 29 chances. Holland has converted each of his past 20 opportunities.

The White Sox had a chance to win the game in the 10th, but Dyson threw out pinch runner Blake Tekotte at the plate to end the inning. Tekotte was trying to score from second on Alejandro De Aza’s sharp single to center field.

Adam Dunn homered for last-place Chicago, which closed out a 3-7 homestand with its ninth loss in 12 games overall. Paul Konerko also had an RBI single.

The White Sox had three runs and 21 hits in the series sweep.

”I think pitching-wise, our guys gave us every opportunity,” manager Robin Ventura said. ”We just didn’t come up with much. That’s frustrating and all that stuff going with it. Just has to be better if you’re going to win games.”

David Lough, who made a terrific catch in the ninth inning of Kansas City’s 1-0 victory on Saturday night, helped the Royals get off to a fast start in the series finale. He singled in Alcides Escobar with two out in the first, then walked and scored on Miguel Tejada’s double in the fourth.

Dunn responded in the sixth, driving a 1-1 pitch from Bruce Chen over the wall in center to tie it at 2. It was Dunn’s 25th homer of the season and No. 431 for his career, tying Cal Ripken for 43rd on the all-time list.

Dunn also helped set up Chicago’s first run with a two-out walk in the first that moved Alex Rios into scoring position. Konerko followed with a run-scoring single into left field.

Chen allowed three hits, struck out five and walked two in six innings. The crafty left-hander is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three starts since joining the rotation.

”It’s one of those things. You want to help the team in any way you can,” said Chen, who is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA in 22 appearances on the year, ”and I’m glad that I was able to help this team and we got the victory today.”

White Sox left-hander Hector Santiago struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings. He allowed five hits and walked four.

”Yeah, it’s just been the story the whole year,” Santiago said. ”Try to keep us in the game and keep it close enough where we have a chance and for the most part that’s what we did.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas City manager Ned Yost thought it was a hit. Greg Holland was preparing for a tie game. David Lough had other ideas.

Lough made a terrific diving catch to rob Jeff Keppinger of a tying RBI single in the ninth inning, helping Wade Davis and the Royals beat Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox 1-0 Saturday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

Lough’s grab in right was part of a terrific defensive performance for Kansas City. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain and shortstop Alcides Escobar also chipped in with two nice plays apiece.

”We play great defense every night,” manager Ned Yost said. ”I mean it was a great play by David Lough, but we play solid, solid good defense every single night for the most part.”

Davis (5-9) allowed four hits – all singles – and walked three in a season-high 7 1-3 innings. The right-hander, who came over with James Shields in Kansas City’s big offseason trade with Tampa Bay, was 0-4 with a 10.91 ERA in his previous four starts.

”I got ahead of a lot more guys tonight,” Davis said. ”I got some early swings to help me get deeper in the ballgame, too, and defense was pretty good today.”

Louis Coleman came in after Alejandro De Aza’s single in the eighth and got Alexei Ramirez to ground into a double play. Holland then worked a shaky ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances.

The White Sox had runners on the corners with one out when Lough scrambled in to grab Keppinger’s liner. Alex Rios did not tag up on the play, and pinch hitter Conor Gillaspie struck out to end the game.

”No-doubles (defense), so I was a little deeper than what I normally would be on Keppinger,” Lough said. ”He kind of hit it pretty hard out there, thought I had a chance at it so I went for it and I was able to make the catch.”

It was another hard-luck loss for Sale (6-10), who allowed seven hits and struck out seven in his fourth career complete game. The All-Star left-hander is 1-8 with a 2.84 ERA in his last 10 starts.

”Just keep grinding. Stay on top and keep your head up,” Sale said. ”Things will turn around.”

Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer had two hits apiece for the Royals, who have won seven of nine overall. Butler went 2 for 3 with a walk and is batting .450 (18 for 40) in his last 11 games.

Hosmer and Butler started the sixth with consecutive singles. Hosmer advanced to third on Salvador Perez’s fly ball to deep center and came home when Cain doubled down the third-base line.

Cain’s hit put runners on second and third with one out, but Sale retired Lough on a harmless comebacker and struck out Miguel Tejada to end the inning.

”He pitched great tonight,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”There’s no question about it. You can’t be perfect, but he’s pretty dang close.”

The White Sox threatened in the bottom half, putting runners on the corners with two out. Paul Konerko then hit a drive to center, forcing Cain to make a nice running catch.

Davis waited on the dirt outside of the dugout to congratulate Cain as he hustled in from the outfield, but he was only getting started. Cain made an even better catch for the first out of the seventh, crashing into the wall while taking a hit away from Keppinger.

The second play prompted a few of the Royals to wave their hats toward center while Cain got himself together for the next pitch. He came out in the eighth due to tightness in his left groin, but the Royals said it was precautionary.

”He’s got a little bit of a groin strain, why we took him out,” Yost said. ”He’s day to day. Probably rest him tomorrow because we’ve got an off day on Monday, grab him two days right there.”

It was more than just Cain on a nice defensive night for both teams.

Escobar ranged up the middle and made a spinning throw to retire Keppinger in the second. Then he got Josh Phegley with another strong throw in the fifth after his grounder deflected off the glove of third baseman Tejada.

Second baseman Gordon Beckham and shortstop Ramirez each had a defensive gem for the White Sox. Beckham nearly misplayed Tejada’s second-inning popup, but recovered in time to make a tumbling grab in short center field. Ramirez made a diving stop on Perez’s grounder up the middle in the fourth, and then managed to shovel the ball to Beckham at second for the forceout.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie pitched six solid innings and Billy Butler homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-1 on Thursday.

The Royals, who limped into the All-Star break with five consecutive defeats, went 5-2 on the homestand against the Orioles and AL Central Division-leading Detroit Tigers.

Guthrie (10-7), who won 47 games in five seasons with the Orioles, allowed six hits over six innings. He gave up one run, while striking out five and walking one.

Guthrie went 3-1 in July and his 10 victories are one shy of his season high, set in 2010 with the Orioles.

The Royals had 10 hits, including two each by rookie David Lough and Jarrod Dyson. Lough drove in a pair of runs with singles in the first and fifth innings. Alex Gordon also had two RBIs with a triple in the fifth and a sacrifice fly in the second.

Butler homered, his ninth of the season, in the seventh inning off Francisco Rodriguez, who was making his Orioles’ debut after being acquired in a trade Tuesday with Milwaukee.

Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez (8-4) lasted just 4 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the season and snapping his streak of eight straight quality starts. Gonzalez, who lost for only the second time since May 21, allowing a season-high six runs and eight hits, one walk and a hit batter, while striking out none.

The Royals scored three runs in the first two innings, all with two out. Salvador Perez and Lough contributed RBI singles in the first. Gordon’s fly to center in the second scored Chris Getz, who had doubled and moved to third on Dyson’s bunt single.

The Royals’ three-run fifth included Dyson scoring on Gordon’s triple, while Eric Hosmer and Lough added RBI singles.

Henry Urrutia tripled with two out in the fifth and scored on Brian Roberts’ double for the Orioles’ run.

Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters singled in his first two at-bats for his fifth consecutive multi-hit game and extended his hitting streak to seven games.

— Associated Press —

George Brett took over as the Kansas City Royals’ interim hitting coach with the rudderless team mired in an eight-game skid. He leaves with them showing signs of life.

The Hall of Famer announced Thursday that he was stepping down from his on-field job and returning to the Royals’ front office, where he’s served as vice president of baseball operations since retiring as a player following the 1993 season.

“George did an incredible job,” general manager Dayton Moore said in a statement. “His expertise as a baseball man and his passion to win will have an everlasting effect on our team. I’m thrilled that he will be more involved in all aspects of baseball operations.”

Brett has helped out at spring training for years, but his stint as the interim hitting coach was the first time in 20 years he’d put on his familiar No. 5 jersey for games that counted.

The Royals were hitting just .261 when he assumed the job along with Pedro Grifol, who will stay on as the permanent hitting coach. The team was averaging four runs a game and ranked near the bottom of the American League in just about every statistical offensive category.

They were 21-29 and in danger of falling out of contention by June.

Well, the team’s batting average has actually fallen to .255 since Brett and Grifol took over, but the offense is no longer stagnant. Young cornerstones such as Eric Hosmer have started to hit – he had two homers in Wednesday night’s win over Baltimore – and there’s a sense that the Royals could still be clinging to playoff contention entering August.

With the July 31 trade deadline approaching, they were 47-51 and eight games behind Detroit in the AL Central heading into Thursday night’s series finale against the Orioles.

“My lifelong passion after playing was not to be a hitting coach, but Dayton asked me if I would consider it, and I did, but only on the promise that it would be on an interim basis,” Brett said in a statement. “There is a ton of talent here and doing this for almost two months has prepared me to be a better adviser to Dayton and his staff.”

Still, Brett took to his job with relish after finally agreeing to a monthlong tryout that ultimately lasted eight weeks. He arrived at the ballpark early and was easy to spot in the cages before games, overseeing early batting practice with the young players.

He said at the time of his hiring May 30 that he always found the game easier to do than say – that is, he found it natural to play and difficult to instruct. But the guys in the clubhouse almost universally praised him for the job he’d done, particularly on the mental side, where he helped an uptight bunch of Royals start playing like they were kids again.

“This has been an unbelievable experience for me,” Brett said, “and now I’m energized to contribute more to this organization as I return to my non-uniformed role.”

While Brett was fixing that part of the Royals, Grifol was doing the behind-the-scenes work on players’ mechanics, poring over video and tinkering with their swings.

The 43-year-old began his first season with the Royals as the hitting coach of the Surprise Royals. Before that, he was a manager for Class-A High Desert in the Seattle organization, and had worked as an area scout, manager and minor league director over the past 13 seasons.

Now, Grifol has the chance to make a name for himself as the permanent hitting coach.

— Associated Press —

Eric Hosmer hit two home runs and Alcides Escobar drove in the winning run in the ninth to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

David Lough singled and scored the game-ending run when Escobar doubled off the fence in left center with one out in the ninth.

Hosmer homered in the first and his two-run home run in the eighth tied the score at 3. It was Hosmer’s third multi-homer game and his second this season.

Darren O’Day (5-1) took the loss, while Luke Hochevar (3-1), picked up the victory after working a scoreless ninth.

Wei-Yin Chen, who went on the disabled list May 13 with a right oblique strain before returning July 10, departed after Hosmer’s second home run with Lorenzo Cain aboard with one out in the eighth.

Chen gave up a home run to Hosmer on a full-count pitch in the first inning. Chen had not permitted a home run in his previous four starts.

Chen retired the next 12 hitters after Hosmer’s first home run until Escobar’s single in the fifth.

A bevy of scouts were in attendance to watch Royals right-hander Ervin Santana. He can be a free agent after this season and it has been reported he would be dealt before the July 31 trading deadline without a player having to clear waivers.

Santana gave up three runs, only one earned, on seven hits in eight innings to lower his ERA to 3.06, which ranks eighth in the American League.

Matt Wieters homered in the fourth off Santana with two out after Adam Jones reached on an error by first baseman Hosmer.

The Orioles added a run in the eighth to take a 3-1 lead. Brian Roberts and Nate McLouth led off with singles. After Manny Machado bunted them over, Santana walked Nick Markakis intentionally to load the bases. Roberts scored on Jones’ fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop.

— Associated Press —