Elliot Johnson has some fond memories of his years with the Rays. None might have been sweeter than his return to Tampa Bay with the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

Johnson had a three three-run homer for his second hit of an eight-run sixth inning, leading the surging Royals to a 10-1 victory over the Rays.

”It’s hard to describe the first time back,” he said. ”I wish everyone would get a chance to understand what it’s like and it’s really hard even to put into words.”

Traded to Kansas City by the Rays in February, Johnson led off the big inning with a single and chased Jeremy Hellickson (4-3) with his second homer of the season, both coming off Hellickson.

Johnson got his third hit of the game in the eighth inning and is 6 for 11 with four RBIs against his former team while batting .202 with three RBIs against every other team.

”When they came into our place, I had a good series there,” Johnson said. ”I wasn’t really playing that well, and Ned (Yost) gave me some opportunities to play against them. I picked it up and today played well again. It’s good to get them anyway you can, but it feels good to get them against them, of course. (Former Rays pitcher James) Shields said the same thing; he wishes he could pitch here.”

”He gets fired up playing against these guys and he really helped us out today,” said Eric Hosmer, who homered off Jake Odorizzi in the seventh.

Ervin Santana (5-5) gave up five hits and an unearned run in 7 2-3 innings.

The Royals, who have won eight of nine, set a franchise record by holding an opponent to three runs or fewer in a 12th straight game.

”Everything is going our way right now so we have to keep that up,” Santana said.

Hellickson lost for the first time since April 25, giving up eight runs on 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings. He retired 15 of the 16 Royals he faced in the first five innings.

”He was locating his fastball and his changeup really kept us off stride,” said Kansas City bench coach Chino Cadiha, who was acting manger while Yost attended his daughter’s wedding in Georgia. ”I guess we figured it out in the sixth, and here we go.”

Johnson led off the sixth inning of a scoreless game with his first hit. After Alcides Escobar’s double, Alex Gordon drove in the first run with Kansas City’s third straight hit. Three more singles and an RBI double by Miguel Tejada preceded Johnson’s homer to give the Royals an 8-0 lead. In all the Royals sent 11 men to the plate in the inning.

”I just fell behind to Elliot, the first batter of the inning, and just couldn’t stop it after that,” Hellickson said. ”I’m pretty frustrated. It wasn’t a fun game. Eight runs, it’s unacceptable.”

It was the Royals’ biggest inning of the season, exceeding the seven runs they scored in the third inning at Los Angeles on May 15.

Gordon had two hits in raising his road batting average to .381, compared to .231 at home.

Matt Joyce had two hits for the Rays, who have lost four of five.

— Associated Press —

After striking out his first three times, Lorenzo Cain came through in the ninth inning for the Kansas City Royals.

Cain hit a tying, two-run homer off Jose Valverde with two outs in the ninth and Eric Hosmer had a winning RBI single in the 10th, helping the Royals rally for a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Cain struck out three times against Detroit ace Justin Verlander, who pitched seven scoreless innings.

”It was a crazy game from having the hat trick to being able to get a ball out of here was huge,” Cain said. ”I was glad I was able to get a good pitch and get it over the fence for us to tie the game up.”

Drew Smyly pitched a one-hit eighth, then allowed a leadoff single in the ninth to Hosmer and was replaced by Valverde. He retired Santiago Perez on a flyout and struck out Billy Butler as Hosmer stole second – becoming the first Kansas City runner in scoring position.

Cain fouled off three pitches, then sent an 85 mph offering over the wall in left-center. Valverde blew a save for the third time in 12 chances.

Cain was not sure it was going to clear the fence.

”I put it on the barrel, but after that it was either wind or carry,” Cain said. ”I thought it was in the gap. I was just blowing for it to go out for me and it did.”

Verlander did not allow a batter past first base, giving up three singles, striking out eight and walking two in a 117-pitch outing, his second-highest total this season.

”It was a tough outing, Verlander being Verlander as usual, dominating,” Cain said. ”I say continue to battle, got a pitch up, put a nice easy swing on it and it got over the fence.”

Verlander has a 15-2 record with a 2.56 ERA in 25 starts against the Royals.

”It hurts,” Verlander said. ”You’ve got two outs and two strikes, and when the ball leaves the yard, it’s not a good feeling. It only tied the game, so we immediately need to change our mindset to OK, let’s win it. To lose it that way, it’s a tough pill to swallow.

”Losing period stinks. When you lose one that’s so close to a win makes it that much more difficult.”

Greg Holland (2-1) pitched a perfect 10th, striking out Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera and retiring Prince Fielder on a lineout, and Miguel Tejada singled off Phil Coke (0-4) leading off the bottom half.

Tejada advanced to third on Alcides Escobar’s sacrifice and Alex Gordon’s groundout to first, and Hosmer singled to center.

”That was a great win,” Hosmer said. ”We’re down to our last strike with the closer on the mound. That’s just the character of this team. We’re not going to give up until the last out is made.

”Cain had a day like he did, the first couple of at-bats, strikes out. The way he comes up in the last inning with two strikes, it’s battling right there.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland’s post-game press conference was brief, lasting 97 seconds.

”Verlander showed why he’s the horse today,” Leyland said. ”He was terrific, absolutely terrific. He stepped up today. That’s the way he’s been the seven years I’ve been here.”

But the Tigers’ bullpen remains an Achilles’ heel with a 4-12 record and eight blown saves.

”He (Valverde) got two quick outs and then he hung a splitter,” Leyland said. ”He left it out over the plate. It didn’t split and the kid hit it out. The key was the ninth inning. We got two quick outs and two strikes and the guy hit it out.”

James Shields, acquired from Tampa Bay in a December trade, allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings for the Royals. He is 0-4 in eight starts since beating the Rays on April 30 despite a 2.64 ERA in that span.

Detroit built its lead on Fielder’s RBI single in the first and consecutive doubles by Matt Tuiasosopo and Brayan Pena in the fifth. Pena, who played the four previous years with Kansas City, has three doubles, two homer and 10 RBIs in his past 16 games.

Royals right fielder David Lough robbed Cabrera of a run-producing extra-base hit in the third when he made a diving catch of his liner to the gap with Hunter on first. Lough received a standing ovation from the Kauffman Stadium crowd of 24,564, while Shields tipped his cap and waited for Lough in front of the Royals dugout to congratulate him.

”If you rate it a 15 on a 10 (scale), that’s how I would rate his catch,” Shields said. ”It’s a very crucial part of the game. That’s going to be up there for catch of the year as far as I’m concerned.”

— Associated Press —

Max Scherzer won his ninth straight decision, and the Detroit Tigers beat Kansas City 3-2 to snap the Royals’ six-game winning streak on Tuesday night.

Scherzer became the first Tigers starter to begin the season 9-0 since Vern Kennedy in 1938 by pitching seven sharp innings.

He limited the Royals to three hits and two runs, while striking out six and walking two.

Aaron Crow (2-2), who was a college teammate of Scherzer’s at Missouri, took the loss after pitching out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh.

Crow hit Miguel Cabrera with a pitch to start the eighth. Cabrera advanced to third on Prince Fielder’s single to right on a full count and scored on Victor Martinez’s sacrifice fly to left. That was the first run allowed by the Kansas City bullpen in 21 innings.

Jose Valverde struggled in the ninth inning for his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Salvador Perez led off with a single and Elliot Johnson ran for him and stole second on the first pitch.

Valverde struck out Billy Butler looking on a full-count pitch. Butler was ejected by plate umpire Jordan Baker for arguing the call. Valverde then retired Lorenzo Cain on an infield popup and David Lough on a grounder to preserve the victory.

Wade Davis, who is 1-5 in his past 10 starts, departed in eh seventh after giving up Omar Infante’s third hit. Davis permitted two runs on eight hits, while striking out five and walking one.

Tim Collins replaced Davis and allowed an 0-2 single to pinch hitter Avisail Garcia and walked Matt Tuiasosopo on five pitches to load the bases.

Crow was summoned to face Torii Hunter and struck him out on four pitches to end the inning.

Don Kelly’s single in the second scored Martinez with the first Detroit run. Infante scored on Andy Dirks’ fielder’s choice ground out in the fifth.

Lough homered, his first in the majors, off Scherzer (9-0) to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Alcides Escobar singled home Mike Moustakas with the second run of the inning to tie the score at 2-all.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie pitched impressively into the seventh inning, Salvador Perez hit a two-run triple and the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 Monday night for their sixth straight victory.

Guthrie (7-3) limited the Tigers to a two-run homer by Miguel Cabrera in 6 1-3 innings in helping the Royals to extend their longest winning streak since they won seven straight in September 2011. He gave up six hits and walked three.

Aaron Crow replaced Guthrie after he gave up a single to Avisail Garcia and he hit Andy Dirks with an 0-2 pitch. Crow retired Torii Hunter on a fly to shallow right and struck out Cabrera to end the threat.

Cabrera, who tops the American League with 90 hits and 69 RBIs, hit his 18th home run in the second after Hunter doubled.

Perez’s one-out triple in the third scored Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer after they each singled. Lorenzo Cain’s two-out infield single scored Perez with the go-ahead run.

Doug Fister (5-4), who is 0-3 in five starts since a victory May 14 over Houston, went the distance. He allowed three runs on nine hits.

Greg Holland worked a flawless ninth for his 13th save in 15 opportunities.

The Royals are 7-2 in June after losing 20 of 28 games in May. The pitching staff has a 1.44 ERA in June.

The Royals improved to 8-3 since George Brett was named the interim hitting coach on May 30.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals announced Monday the club has signed first-round draft choice Hunter Dozier, the eighth overall pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.

The 21-year old Dozier, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound shortstop from Stephen F. Austin University, batted .396 with 17 home runs and 52 RBI this season. He led the Southland Conference in batting average, slugging percentage (.755), doubles (25) and home runs, earning Louisville Slugger First Team All-America honors.
He was a two-time All-Southland Conference selection, becoming the first shortstop in school history to earn that distinction, and was an All-South Central Region selection last year, when he hit .357 with 22 doubles, 10 homers and 37 RBI.

— Royals Media Relations —

Luis Mendoza finally figured out what he needs to do to succeed at home.

Mendoza pitched four-hit ball in matching zeros with Lucas Harrell for seven innings Sunday before Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer each had run-scoring singles off reliever Hector Ambriz in the eighth to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros for their fifth straight win.

Mendoza was winless with an 8.05 ERA in his first four home starts this season but was at ease on the mound Sunday.

”Mendy threw a tremendous game,” Hosmer said. ”He really had his sinker working and was pounding strikes and playing great defense behind him. Moose (Mike Moustakas) made a lot of great plays behind him.”

The Royals’ bullpen has not allowed a run in 17 2-3 innings in the past six games. Royals manager Ned Yost had no doubt Kansas City had the upper hand if the outcome would be determined by the relievers.

”Mendy was throwing great and still was at 90 pitches, but was fixing to come around for the fourth time to the top of that order,” Yost said. ”And I’m sitting there thinking I’ve got (Aaron) Crow, (Greg) Holland, (Kelvin) Herrera, (Tim) Collins, Hoch (Luke Hochevar) and (J.C.) Gutierrez, who threw two easy innings last night, plus Bruce Chen. I’m fully stocked. It doesn’t matter how long this game goes, I’ve got enough pitching to wait it out.”

Crow (2-1) worked a scoreless eighth to earn a victory that gave the Royals their longest winning streak since taking seven in a row form Sept. 10-17, 2011.

With one out in the eighth, Chris Getz singled and stole second off reliever Amrbiz (1-3). Gordon, who was 1 for 18 on this homestand, singled to center for the first run. Gordon moved to third on center fielder Trevor Crowe’s errant throw home and scored on Hosmer’s single.

Greg Holland pitched a spotless ninth for his 12th save in 14 opportunities.

Harrell, who has won only once since April 29, was held the Royals to two singles in seven scoreless innings.

”He was outstanding,” Astros manager Bo Porter said. ”Even early on when he walked a couple of guys he made good pitches to get out of innings. He did a tremendous job going seven innings against a pretty good-hitting lineup.”

The Astros got only one runner past first base in the first six innings. Ronny Cedeno doubled to start the third and advanced to third base on a groundout, but was stranded there.

Mendoza, who entered 0-2 with an 8.05 ERA in four home starts, retired 12 in a row after Cedeno’s double.

Harrell, who had won only one of his previous seven starts, retired 13 in a row from the second inning until Perez’s single in the sixth. But he was quickly erased when Billy Butler grounded into a double play.

Perez also singled in the first, when the Royals loaded the bases with two outs on walks to Butler and Mike Moustakas walked in the first to load the bases with two outs. Harrell got out of the jam by retiring David Lough with a fielder’s choice grounder.

Harrell allowed just one runner – Jeff Francoeur, who walked to leadoff the second – after the first inning. Harrell threw 51 pitches – only 26 strikes – in the first two innings, but needed just 48 pitches for the next five innings.

”I was more aggressive,” Harrell said after the first two innings. ”I started pounding the zone and using my sinker more to get ahead. And then I threw some really good curveballs.”

The Astros opened the seventh with singles from Carlos Pena and J.D. Martinez, but failed to score.

— Associated Press —

Ervin Santana plans to give the ball from his 100th career win to his mother.

It’s a gift that’s been a long time coming.

Santana pitched seven snappy innings in his seventh attempt to reach the milestone, and the Royals finally gave him enough support in a 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night that also gave Kansas City its fourth consecutive win.

”It’s a dream come true. I’m just very excited for it,” Santana said of the win. ”It’s a long process, a lot of bad outings and a lot of good outings. It feels good to get there.”

Santana (4-5) entered the game with the worst run support among qualifying pitchers in the American League, a big reason why he already had six fruitless tries to win his 100th game.

He finally made thanks to a seemingly endless series of singles and doubles off the Astros’ Erik Bedard (1-3), who failed to make it through the fifth inning.

”Santana pitched good. He was throwing strikes, getting people off balance and getting outs,” Bedard said. ”On the contrary, when I pitched they got hits and scored runs.”

Santana allowed five hits in seven innings, striking out six without a walk. The only damage he allowed came on an RBI single by Jose Altuve and a solo homer by Chris Carter.

”He was commanding his fastball extremely well, good slider he kept down and on the outside of the plate. Good speed on his breaking ball. But command more than anything else,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He just looked dominant at times.”

Kansas City had been averaging 2.68 runs per nine innings in games Santana started, and it hadn’t scored more than four runs for him before Saturday night.

But the offense has been coming alive in the nine games since Hall of Famer George Brett took over as interim hitting coach. The Royals have put up at least four runs in each of their four wins, and that’s no negligible feat: They improved to 20-5 when scoring at least four times.

The result of the Royals’ recently improved production has been just their third four-game winning streak of the year and their first since April 30-May 5.

It didn’t take long for them to strike Saturday night, either.

David Lough led off the game with a single and motored into second when centerfielder Brandon Barnes bobbled the ball. Lough scored on a base hit by Salvador Perez, and he in turn came around on a double by Hosmer that was helped into the left-field corner by some gusting wind.

The Royals added three more in the fourth when Bedard put the first five batters on base. The runs came on an RBI single by Miguel Tejada, a runs-scoring double by Jeff Francoeur and a bases-loaded, double-play groundout by Lough that made it 5-0.

Kansas City tacked on another in the fifth when Hosmer worked a two-out walk and Lorenzo Cain hit a two-out pitch into the gap in right, knocking Bedard from the game.

It was a forgettable 200th career start for the left-hander, who gave up six runs in 4 2-3 innings. It certainly bore little resemblance to his last time out, when Bedard allowed just one run over seven innings in a win over the Angels.

”I think Erik, even though he battled, there were some plays that probably should have been made that were not made,” Astros manager Bo Porter said. ”Make no excuse about it, he battled.”

Santana had no such trouble against the light-hitting Astros, who only had one hit over the first five innings and didn’t push a run across until there were two out in the sixth.

Carter’s homer came in the seventh inning.

Otherwise, Santana was in control all night. He struck out at least one in each of the first five innings, and picked up his first victory since beating Cleveland on April 27.

”Most of us just found out tonight. A hundred wins, that’s unbelievable, man,” Hosmer said. ”This is a tough league. If you get to 100 wins, that means you’ve had a long career.”

— Associated Press —

Billy Butler drove in Eric Hosmer with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 4-2 on Friday night for their third straight win.

Kelvin Herrera (3-4) worked a perfect eighth inning in relief of James Shields, and Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his 11th save and second during the Royals’ modest winning streak.

Shields engaged in quite the pitchers’ duel with the Astros’ Jordan Lyles, but the game came down to the bullpens. Houston brought in Wesley Wright (0-2) in the eighth and Hosmer greeted him with a single, and then Butler doubled off Josh Fields for the go-ahead run.

David Lough’s RBI double moments later created a cushion for the Royals, who also got a two-run homer from Salvador Perez earlier in the game to help them win three straight for the first time since May 1-5 – a stretch interrupted twice by weather postponements.

Trevor Crowe and Jason Castro drove in the only runs for Houston, which had won six straight on the road, its best run since July 18-22, 2005.

Shields allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base in each of the first four innings, and again in the seventh, but for the most part the Royals’ ace kept limiting the damage.

He left Brandon Barnes standing on third base in the first inning, and induced double-play grounders off the bat of Marwin Gonzalez to end the second and fourth. Shields finally allowed a run when Crowe followed up another leadoff single by Barnes with a triple in the third.

Even then, Shields escaped more trouble by striking out the next three batters.

Lyles matched the former All-Star pitch for pitch, the young right-hander cruising through the first inning before setting the Royals down in order in the second and third.

Kansas City finally got to him in the fourth when Hosmer ricocheted a single off Lyles and Perez sent a pitch sailing over the bullpen in left field for a two-run homer.

Lyles buckled down, though, and the Astros eventually pulled even.

It happened in the seventh after Gonzalez led off with a single. Shields retired the next two batters before Castro’s double to right field knotted the game 2-all.

That left both starting pitchers to watch things play out from the dugout.

Shields allowed nine hits and three walks in seven innings but failed to win for the seventh straight start. He hasn’t picked up a win since April 30 against Tampa Bay, even though he’s only allowed more than two earned runs once over that span.

Lyles, coming off consecutive wins for the first time in his career, gave up six hits and a walk in his seven innings. He’s allowed two earned runs or fewer in five straight outings.

— Associated Press —

It started with a double by Alex Gordon, gained momentum on a single by Eric Hosmer and another double by Billy Butler, and then was capped off by a two-run shot from Lorenzo Cain.

It was a four-run eighth inning by the Kansas City Royals.

It was the kind of outburst that hasn’t happened often.

In this case, it carried the Royals to a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night and to back-to-back wins for the first time since May 4-5. But the big inning also represented as many runs as the scuffling Kansas City offense had produced in any of its last 14 games.

”We’re getting better. We’re starting to come out of it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”The offense looks like it’s starting to turn the corner a little bit.”

The Royals began the season 17-10 before winning six of their next 28 games, their collapse lowlighted by a franchise-record 11-game home skid that ended Wednesday night.

Now they’re on a winning streak, modest though it may be.

”We’ve always felt confidence. We had a bad May. That’s all I can say,” Butler said. ”We had a bad May, but our confidence has never been wavering. You saw it tonight. We got down 3-0 and battled back and kind of exploded there in the eighth.”

The Royals hadn’t scored seven runs in a game since beating the Astros on May 21.

Wade Davis allowed three unearned runs before the Royals bullpen took control. Luke Hochevar, Tim Collins (2-1) and Greg Holland combined for four scoreless innings to wrap up the win.

”You can see a little more chemistry and contagious hitting-type things like tonight, and a little bit yesterday, chipping away and chipping away,” Davis said. ”We’re not going to wake up and be the best in baseball, but we just have to keep chipping away.”

All of the Royals’ runs in the eighth came off Jared Burton (0-3), who allowed Hosmer’s go-ahead single and an RBI double by Butler before serving up Cain’s homer to left field.

”It’s not magic, guys. You either execute or you get executed. This one hurts,” Burton said. ”We got off to an early lead. It’s a tough one to lose. We needed this series.”

Instead, the Royals won their first since taking two of three from the Angels in mid-May.

”At the end we kind of let it get away,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Things began well enough for Minnesota when Jamey Carroll led off the game with a grounder that third baseman Mike Moustakas fielded cleanly and then threw over Hosmer’s head at first base for an error. Carroll ended up on second, and eventually reached third on a groundout.

The errors were only beginning for Kansas City.

Josh Willingham proceeded to strike out on a wild pitch that not only allowed him to reach base but also allowed Carroll to score. Two batters later, Ryan Doumit went deep for the second time in the series to give the Twins a 3-0 lead – all on one hit.

”That first inning had some weird stuff happen,” Davis said. ”I just kept telling myself, ‘Keep it right there,’ especially when we scored the two runs. It gave me extra motivation to bear down.”

The two runs came in the second on a single by Chris Getz, and the Royals finally tied the game in the sixth when Hosmer doubled and Salvador Perez drove him home with a single.

That kept both starting pitchers from factoring in the decision.

The Twins’ Mike Pelfrey, whom the Royals tagged for six runs in two innings in April, went a season-best 6 1-3 on Thursday night. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk.

Davis needed 107 pitches to get through five innings for Kansas City, thanks in part to his shaky defense. He allowed four hits and three walks, but all three runs off him were unearned.

It was the first time he hadn’t allowed an earned run in a start since April 17.

”That’s kind of the way it’s been for Wade. He finds ways to bend a little bit but never breaks, or seldom breaks, but always gets his pitch count up high,” Yost said. ”He gets himself into trouble and pitches himself out of it, and he did that again tonight.”

— Associated Press —