MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Brian Dozier hit his 25th home run of the season and the 100th of his career, leading Tyler Duffey and the Minnesota Twins over the Kansas City Royals 5-3 Saturday night and ending a four-game losing streak.

Dozier has 17 homers since June 25, most in the majors over that span. He also doubled and scored twice. Robbie Grossman added three hits, including a home run.

For the second time this season, the Twins homered three times off Royals starter Dillon Gee (4-6).

Eddie Rosario’s two-run shot in the fifth inning put the Twins ahead 4-1. Dozier followed him with a towering drive deep into the second deck in left.

Duffey (8-8) won for the third time in three starts this month. He allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out six.

Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless eighth and Brandon Kintzler allowed an unearned run in the ninth but held on for his 11th save in 12 chances.

The Twins took the lead quickly, as Dozier led off the first inning with a double and scored on Grossman’s bad-hop single that skipped off first baseman Eric Hosmer’s shoulder and into right field.

Cheslor Cuthbert tied the game in the third inning with his 10th home run of the season.

Grossman hit a leadoff home run in the fifth to put the Twins on top for good.

Gee gave up five earned runs on 11 hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings.

BULLPEN SHUFFLE

The Twins switched lefties in their bullpen on Saturday, calling up Ryan O’Rourke from Triple-A Rochester and designating Andrew Albers for assignment. O’Rourke had a 4.91 ERA in eight appearances with the Twins earlier this season. Albers made one appearance for the Twins this season, giving up five runs in six innings of relief in the second game of a doubleheader against Houston on Thursday.

UP NEXT

LHP Hector Santiago will try to earn his first victory for the Twins on Sunday. Santiago (10-6), acquired from the Angels in a four-player trade on Aug. 1, has allowed eight earned runs in 10 1/3 innings in his first two starts for Minnesota, both losses. He’ll face RHP Edinson Volquez (8-10), who is 0-2 with three no-decisions since July 9.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy pitched his first complete game to win his eighth straight decision, Cheslor Cuthbert had two hits and drove in a run and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Thursday night.

Duffy (9-1) limited the White Sox to seven singles, struck out six and walked none. The left-hander has not lost since June 6 and has a 1.73 ERA in his past five starts. Duffy threw 98 pitches, 71 for strikes.

Cuthbert tripled home Jarrod Dyson in the sixth and is second among AL rookies with 93 hits, 24 multihit games and a .303 batting average. Dyson was initially called out trying to steal second, but the Royals appealed and the call was overturned.

Cuthbert then scored the go-ahead run on Eric Hosmer’s single off Carson Fulmer (0-2). Fulmer has an 8.47 ERA in eight relief appearances.

Chicago’s Jason Coats, recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Charlotte, singled home Tim Anderson with two outs in the second for his first big league RBI.

White Sox right-hander Miguel Gonzalez exited after 21 pitches with a right groin strain. After Salvador Perez fouled off a full-count pitch leading off the second, White Sox manager Robin Ventura and trainer Herm Schneider came to the mound and led Gonzalez off.

MORALES DROPS APPEAL

Royals DH Kendrys Morales served his one-game suspension after dropping his appeal. Morales was punished by Major League Baseball for returning to the field Aug. 2 in Tampa Bay in the ninth inning after being ejected.

TO BE DETERMINED

The Royals have not decided who will start Saturday against the Twins. RHP Dillon Gee was scheduled for that evening but threw 32 pitches in two innings Wednesday in a 14-inning victory over the White Sox. While manager Ned Yost said Gee is “still in the mix” to start, that it is “more murky” after having to use him Wednesday.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Ventura said he is sticking with David Robertson as his closer, although he blew saves in the first two games of this series and six this season. “At some point it’s going to turn for me and hopefully I’ll get on a roll,” Robertson said. “Right now I’ve definitely been doing a poor job out there and I need to pick it up.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Wade Davis (flexor strain) threw 75 feet off a flat surface. “He’s getting close, probably in the next day or so,” Yost said of throwing off the mound.

UP NEXT

White Sox: LHP Carlos Rodon (2-8, 4.49) seeks his first road victory since April 13 at Miami. The Marlins will counter with RHP Andrew Cashner (4-8, 4.96).

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura (7-9, 4.64), who beat Toronto on Sunday for his first win since June 17, will start Friday at Minnesota. The Twins will start RHP Kyle Gibson (4-6, 4.86).

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain’s two-out single in the 14th inning scored Christian Colon from second base and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Colon opened the inning with a single and Paulo Orlando sacrificed him to second. Cain laced a single to center to score Colon, ending the 4-hour, 34-minute game, the longest by the Royals this season.

Dillon Gee (4-5), the eighth Kansas City pitcher, struck out three in two perfect innings to pick up the victory. Matt Albers (2-5) was charged with the loss.

Jarrod Dyson led off the 13th inning with a triple, but the Royals failed to get him home. Dan Jennings struck out the next three batters: Drew Butera, Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar.

Tim Anderson delivered a run-producing single with two outs in the 11th to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead, but closer David Robertson failed to hold it.

Anderson, who had struck out four times, hit a soft liner over the head of first baseman Eric Hosmer to score Todd Frazier, who led off the inning with a single off Chien-Ming Wang.

Robertson, who has blown saves in the first two games of the series, walked Hosmer to lead off the bottom of the 11th. Jarrod Dyson sacrificed him to second and Salvador Perez’s double scored Hosmer.

White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana limited the Royals to four hits and one run over 7 1/3 innings.

He was pulled after Paulo Orlando’s double in the eighth inning. Nate Jones replaced him and on his first pitch yielded a run-producing double to Cheslor Cuthbert. It was Jones’ seventh blown save of the season.

Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy, who has a 0.93 ERA in his past three starts, held the White Sox to one run and six hits over 6 1/3 innings. Kennedy is 0-3 with five no-decisions since a June 26 victory over Houston.

The Royals have scored a total of nine runs while Kennedy was on the mound in his past eight starts.

J.D. Shuck, who hit .083 over his previous eight games, homered on a 2-0 pitch in the third, the only run Kennedy allowed.

Orlando had two outfield assists. He threw out Omar Narvaez at the plate in the seventh when he attempted to score from second on

Shuck’s single to center. In the ninth, pinch-runner Carlos Sanchez tried to take second on Tyler Saladino’s fly out to deep right-center, but Orlando threw him out.

QUICK EJECTION

White Sox pitching Don Cooper was ejected by plate umpire Pat Hoberg five pitches into the bottom of the first inning for arguing balls and strikes.

HAWK ABSENT

Ken Harrelson, who is in his 32nd season in the White Sox television booth, will miss all six games of this Kansas City and Miami road trip due to illness.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: INF Brett Lawrie (strained left hamstring) has resumed swinging a bat. “He looks much better from where he was,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “It’s another step in the right direction for him, but, we don’t know exactly how that’s going to go.”

Royals: LHP Mike Minor, who has not pitched in the majors since Sept. 23, 2014, with the Braves and had surgery in 2015 to repair a torn labrum, is rehabbing with Triple-A Omaha. He likely will not rejoin the Royals until September, when the hope is could make some starts.

UP NEXT

White Sox: RHP Miguel Gonzalez is 0-1 with a 3.65 ERA in two starts this season against the Royals.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is 4-0 with a 3.67 ERA in nine home starts this season.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Todd Frazier hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning and Justin Morneau had four hits to lift the Chicago White Sox over the Kansas City Royals 7-5 on Tuesday night.

Frazier is tied for the major league lead with 31 homers, and this one came on the first pitch from Kelvin Herrera (1-4) after a single by Jose Abreu and a double by Morneau.

David Robertson (3-2) blew a save in the ninth when Alcides Escobar’s two-out single scored pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson.

Dan Jennings struck out Eric Hosmer to end the game, logging his first career save.

White Sox All-Star left-hander Chris Sale is 0-3 in five starts since a July 2 victory over Houston. He gave up three runs and seven hits in the first 2 1/3 innings but did not allow a hit after that. He threw 115 pitches in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one.

After Edinson Volquez retired the first two hitters in the fifth, the White Sox used five straight singles to score three runs and lead 4-3. Melky Cabrera, Abreu and Morneau each drove in a run.

Paulo Orlando, batting leadoff for the first time this season, started the first with a double and scored on Cheslor Cuthbert’s single.

Hosmer’s single in the third scored Cuthbert and Lorenzo Cain, giving the Royals a 3-1 advantage. Sale retired the next 13 batters before walking Raul Mondesi in the seventh.

Volquez allowed four runs, 10 hits and a walk over six innings.

The Royals scored an unearned run in the 10th when Cuthbert doubled, took third on an error and scored on Cain’s groundout.

ABREU’S REUNION

Abreu, who is from Cuba, visited his 5-year-old son Dariel on the off-day Monday in Miami in his first time on United States soil. “I couldn’t say anything. I just started crying,” Abreu said. Dariel, who is staying with grandparents in Florida, will see his father play in the majors for the first time this weekend when the White Sox play at the Marlins.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: OF-DH Avisail Garcia was placed on the disabled list with a sprained right knee. OF Jason Coats was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.

Royals: LHP Mike Minor (recovering from 2015 labrum surgery) threw 4 1/3 innings Sunday on a rehab start for Triple-A Omaha, allowing three hits and one run against Colorado Springs. Royals general manager Dayton Moore attended Minor’s start. “He was very impressed with his fastball command and had a very good changeup with a lot of life,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Moore’s scouting report.

UP NEXT

White Sox: LHP Jose Quintana is 1-8 with a 4.28 ERA in 20 career starts against the Royals.

Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy has allowed one earned run and seven hits while striking out 15 in 13 innings in his past two starts.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Yordano Ventura was not at his best, but good enough to end a personal losing drought.

Ventura pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Kendrys Morales hit a grand slam, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 Sunday.

“As far as stuff-wise and command, it obviously wasn’t one of his best games, but his mental toughness was great,” Royals catcher Drew Butera said. “That’s what we need out of him. Somedays you’re not going to have your best stuff. He came out and battled. He didn’t get too flustered on the mound and stayed within himself.”

Ventura (7-9), who was 0-5 in seven starts since a June 17 victory over the Detroit Tigers, limited the Blue Jays to one run and five singles in 6 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out four.

The Blue Jays had four hits and two walks in the first four innings, but wound up stranding eight men and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position.

“I was fighting the whole game,” Ventura said with catching coach Pedro Grifol as his interpreter. “I didn’t feel comfortable with my mechanics early, but the goal was to keep us in the ball game until we could score some runs and we did.”

Morales’ third career grand slam and his first since July 30, 2012, while with the Los Angeles Angels came off left-hander Brett Cecil with two out in the eighth to break the game open. Raul Mondesi, Alcides Escobar and Cheslor Cuthbert led off the inning with singles. It appeared Toronto might escape unharmed after Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer struck out, but Morales hit Cecil’s first pitch out to straight-away center.

“I went up to the plate with an aggressive mindset and he threw a fastball and I was able to make good hard contact,” Morales said through a translator. “It was a high fastball, mask high and I was able to catch it out front.”

Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (8-5) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. He threw 95 pitches before being replaced by Scott Feldman.

Drew Butera and Mondesi delivered run-producing singles in the second. Butera cracked his bat on his hit to bring home Alex Gordon, while Mondesi’s bunt single scored Paulo Orlando, who logged his fourth straight multi-hit game.

“They’re a dynamic team with their speed,” Stroman said. “They don’t have to beat you with homers. They’re looking to move the ball, move guys. Very fast and they put the ball in play.

Escobar homered — only his second of the season — to lead off the fifth.

Ventura was pulled after walking Darwin Barney and giving up a single to Devon Travis with two out in the seventh. Peter Moylan replaced Ventura and struck out Jose Bautista, but not before a wild pitch allowed Barney to score.

“Today was a little frustrating,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “It’s always tough to play here. They’re world champs. They’re that for a reason and they held us in check. We really haven’t been swinging that good since the beginning of the last homestand. We’ve been in kind of a rut, so we’re due to explode.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: CF Kevin Pillar jammed his left thumb sliding into second base Saturday and not in the lineup as a precaution.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP R.A. Dickey, who is second in the AL with 12 losses, will start against the Rays in the opener of a six-game homestand. Tampa Bay will start RHP Jake Odorizzi.

Royals: After a day off Monday, Edinson Volquez will start Tuesday against the White Sox. Volquez has a 9.82 ERA in losing his past two starts.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy didn’t pitch quite as well as he did in his previous start — that would’ve been hard to match. He did plenty, though, to stop Aaron Sanchez and the Blue Jays.

Duffy and the Kansas City Royals ended a 10-game winning streak by Sanchez, topping Toronto 4-2 Saturday night.

Duffy (8-1) struck out a team-record 16 and permitted just one hit over eight innings at Tampa Bay in his last start. He won his seventh straight decision, holding the Blue Jays to two runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings.

“I think the last start was probably the best start of my career,” Duffy said. “On days like that, I had everything working. Today not so much. Today, I didn’t have what I had the last time out, but I had enough. It wasn’t as good as the last one, but it was good enough.”

Sanchez (11-2) hadn’t lost since April 22 against Oakland. He allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings.

Sanchez still leads the AL with a 2.85 ERA.

The Blue Jays opted earlier this week to go with a six-man rotation instead of putting the 24-year-old Sanchez in the bullpen to limit his innings.

“It’s not like I thought he was out there distracted or rattled or anything,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “They just beat him. Nobody’s invincible.”

Devon Travis led off the game with a home run for the second straight night. He also had an RBI single in the fifth after Kevin Pillar doubled.

“It was a minor frustration, leaving a changeup up after I’ve been so good with my changeup this entire season,” Duffy said of Travis’ leadoff homer. “It was frustrating, but you don’t let it affect the next hitter and I didn’t, just kind of moved on.”

Eric Hosmer hit a two-out, two-run single in a three-run fifth that made it 3-2.

“We had four hits that inning and three of them were infield hits,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Hos came through. It was a big two-out hit.”

Sanchez pitched only 102 innings last year, including 9 2/3 in the minors on a rehab assignment after a shoulder injury. The All-Star righty has thrown 145 1/3 innings this season.

Alcides Escobar’s infield single scored Kansas City’s first run.

Raul Mondesi had an RBI triple in the sixth for his first extra-base hit in his 11th game in the majors.

The Royals scored more than three runs in a game for the first time in 10 games.

Kelvin Herrera picked up his fourth save in six chances, working a perfect ninth.

LEADING OFF

Travis became the first Blue Jays player to hit a leadoff home run in back-to-back game since Jose Cruz Jr. on April 22-23, 2000, against the Yankees. Mookie Betts of the Red Sox was the last to accomplish that feat in the majors, doing it last month.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Mike Minor (recovery from labrum surgery) is slated to throw five or six innings, up to 80 pitches, in a Sunday rehab start for Triple-A Omaha. In his prior two rehab starts, he has allowed no earned runs and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Marcus Stroman, who struck out a career-best 13 Astros on Monday, starts the series finale.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura is looking for his first victory since June 17. He is 0-5 with a 5.40 ERA in his past seven starts.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Devon Travis has multiple hits in nine of his past 17 games. This one was different.

Travis hit his second homer of the game in the ninth inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays over the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Friday night.

Travis led off the game with a home run, then ripped a 1-2 pitch from Kelvin Herrera (1-3) into the Royals’ bullpen for his first career multihomer game.

“He’s on a nice little roll right now,” Blue Jays manager Josh Gibbons said. “He can turn around anybody’s fastball, so, he hit two home runs and it’s tough to hit them in this park, you’ve got to earn them. Anyway, he clutched up late.”

Travis hit Herrera’s 97 mph fastball that was high and out of the zone.

“I don’t know how the guy hit that ball,” Herrera said. “I was shocked.”

Travis is not sure how he hit it that far either.

“I kind of blacked out,” Travis said. “I’m going to go look at the tape. I just tried to open my eyes as wide as I can against him. He’s hard enough to see, a hundred (mph fastball) as it is. I’m just thankful everything worked out.”

Left-hander Brett Cecil (1-6) pitched a spotless eighth for the victory.

Francisco Liriano made his first start with the Blue Jays after being acquired in a trade Monday with Pittsburgh and yielded three runs, seven hits and two walks while striking out three. Liriano had allowed 11 runs, 14 hits — including four home runs — and eight walks in 8 1/3 innings while losing his final two starts with the Pirates.

Joaquin Benoit worked the ninth for his first save since Sept. 3 while with the San Diego Padres. Closer Roberto Osuna was unavailable after pitching the previous two days and in three of the past four.

Right-hander Dillon Gee held the Blue Jays to three runs and four hits over six innings. He gave up a leadoff homer to Travis, then worked his way into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the first.

“They’re a great lineup,” Gee said. “I was just trying to give us a chance to win. I was able to do that. I didn’t feel great tonight. It was a battle for sure.”

The Royals have scored three or fewer runs in nine consecutive games, a club record for offensive futility.

“It’s a broken record,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We just have to find a way to put some runs on the board.”

Gee walked Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion in the third and both scored. Michael Saunders’ double scored Donaldson, and Encarnacion came home on Troy Tulowitzki’s groundout, giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 advantage.

The Royals tied it in the fifth on Paulo Orlando’s leadoff home run and Lorenzo Cain’s run-producing triple with two outs.

PILLAR RESTS

Kevin Pillar, who has started 105 games in center field for the Blue Jays, was not in the lineup after striking out eight times in his last 25 at-bats. He was used in the ninth as a defensive replacement.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Kris Medlen (rotator cuff inflammation) threw a bullpen session and could begin a minor league rehab assignment soon. … LHP Jason Vargas, who has not pitched since July 21, 2015 and needed reconstructive elbow surgery, will make his first rehab start Saturday in the Arizona League. He is scheduled to pitch two innings.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez has not lost since April 22 to Oakland and makes his first August start after going 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in July. He held the Royals to three hits and one run over eight innings in a victory July 4.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy struck out a franchise-record 16 Rays in his start Monday and lost his no-hit bid on Desmond Jennings’ double in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Brad Miller took a punch to the gut on Monday when told he was losing his starting shortstop role and being moved primarily to first base.

On Thursday, he delivered the knockout blow in a victory.

Miller hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2.

“I just go out there and play,” Miller said. “It’s all I can really do. Try and get after it. I think I’ve shown them all year how valuable I am, but at the end of the day, I have to go out and play. That’s all that matters.”

Tampa Bay acquired Matt Duffy on Monday in a four-player deal that sent left-hander Matt Moore to San Francisco. Duffy will take over at short when he returns next week from a strained left Achilles tendon.

Miller connected on his 19th homer off Joakim Soria (4-5), who gave up three of the Rays’ overall four hits during his one inning.

“We’re lucky to have him, and it doesn’t matter where plays,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “We know his bat plays.”

Kansas City dropped to 40-2 when ahead after seven innings.

“In my view, it was a good pitch . it was down in the zone,” Soria said. “He hit it out, so it wasn’t a good pitch.”

Brad Boxberger (1-0) worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth before Alex Colome got his 26th save despite giving up two hits during the ninth. Drew Smyly allowed two runs, five hits, one walk and struck out 10 in seven innings.

Ian Kennedy gave up one hit, walked four and had nine strikeouts in six-plus innings for the Royals. Alex Gordon hit his eighth home.

Tampa Bay won the final two games to split the four-game series. The Rays are 8-25 against Kansas City since the start of the 2012 season.

Gordon had not homered or driven in a run in his previous 72 at-bats against left-handers this season before hitting a two-run drive off Smyly that put Kansas City ahead 2-0 in the fourth.

Smyly has given up 23 homers, including six to left-handed hitters. He didn’t allow a homer to a lefty last season.

Kennedy entered tied with teammate Chris Young and Toronto knuckleballer R.A. Dickey with a major league-high 26 homers allowed but hasn’t given up a long ball in three consecutive starts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rays: RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) will make his fourth rehab start Friday night with Double-A Montgomery.

MLB SANCTIONS

Royals DH Kendrys Morales received a one-game suspension and a fine for his actions following a ninth inning ejection, which included returning to the field, in Tuesday night’s game. Morales appealed the ruling and started.

FUTURE IN BLUE?

Major League Baseball will hold a one-day free umpiring clinic for all ages at Tropicana Field on Aug. 20. Baseball officials, including MLB umpire supervisor Charlie Reliford, will also be looking for scholarship candidates to attend a one-day pro mini-camp in December. Umpire Carlos Torres, who worked the Royals-Rays series, is a one-time camp participant that received an umpiring school scholarship.

MOVING DAY

Tampa Bay claimed C Bobby Wilson off waivers from Texas and optioned C Curt Casali to Triple-A Durham.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Dillon Gee (3-5) will face recently acquired Toronto LHP Francisco Liriano, who went 6-11 with Pittsburgh.

Rays: Rookie LHP Blake Snell (3-4) will go against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana (4-9) in the opener of a three-game series Friday between the AL’s two worst teams.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jake Odorizzi had his third consecutive scoreless start, Steven Souza Jr. homered for the first time in two months and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 12-0 on Wednesday night.

Brad Miller and Kevin Kiermaier also homered for the Rays, who are 7-25 against the Royals since the start of the 2012 season.

Odorizzi (6-5) allowed two singles, walked two and had six strikeouts in six innings. The right-hander has not given up a run in 20 2/3 innings over the three-start stretch.

Enny Romero and Ryan Garton completed a two-hitter.

After Evan Longoria had a sacrifice fly, Souza put the Rays up 4-0 on his three-run shot off Edinson Volquez (8-10) in the first. Souza had gone 109 at-bats without a homer after going deep June 4 against Minnesota’s Ervin Santana.

Miller made it 5-0 during the third on his 18th homer.

Volquez gave up eight runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings.

Kiermaier, who entered hitting .163 with two RBI in 16 games since coming back from a fractured left hand, hit a three-run drive off Chien-Ming Wang in a five-run sixth to put the Rays ahead 11-0.

MOVING DAY

Royals: OF Billy Burns, acquired from Oakland Friday, was recalled from Triple-A Omaha and RHP Brooks Pounders was optioned to the Pacific Coast League club.

Rays: INF-OF Richie Shaffer was recalled from Triple-A Durham and UTL Taylor Motter was optioned the International League club.

DUFFY’S DAY

SS Matt Duffy, acquired Monday in a four-player deal that sent LHP Matt Moore to San Francisco, could be a week away from returning from a strained left Achilles’ tendon. “Just getting back up to speed and making sure that I’m 100 percent confident in this thing going forward,” Duffy said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Burns will probably start Thursday because manager Ned Yost does not want Lorenzo Cain to play a fourth straight game on the artificial turf at Tropicana Field. Cain returned from a left hamstring strain Friday.

Rays: RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to go three innings in a rehab start Thursday night with Class A Charlotte.

UP NEXT

Royals RHP Ian Kennedy (6-9) will face Rays LHP Drew Smyly (3-11) Thursday. Kennedy (26) and Smyly (22) are among the major-league leaders in home runs allowed.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning that carried the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

Perez’s 16th homer came off Xavier Cedeno (3-3) after a single by Eric Hosmer. It lifted the Royals to their 12th win in their last 13 games against Tampa Bay.

Chris Young (3-8) got the win in relief, and Kelvin Herrera pitched the ninth for his third save.

The Rays scored twice in the fifth off starter Yordano Ventura without hitting the ball to the outfield. Logan Forsythe walked and later scored on Kevin Kiermaier’s bunt single. After Brad Miller’s infield single, Desmond Jennings scored Kiermaier with a groundout to shortstop.

Forsythe had three hits for the Rays, who left 11 on base and went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

Ventura pitched five innings, giving up two runs, six hits and four walks.

Rays starter Matt Andriese pitched four innings in his first start since June 25, giving up one run on three hits while striking out three. Andriese returned to the rotation following Monday’s trade of Matt Moore to the San Francisco Giants.

Perez has 20 RBI in his last 20 games and a 14-game hitting streak against Tampa Bay.

DISAPPOINTED LONGO

Tampa Bay slugger Evan Longoria said it was disappointing to see Moore, INF Steve Pearce and OF Brandon Guyer traded in separate deals Monday that netted SS Matt Duffy from San Francisco and five prospects.

“You see three guys like those three guys leave sometimes it’s a little tough to stomach,” Longoria said. “We’ll move forward and hopefully the guys we got in return will be the players that we expect.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Luke Hochevar had season-ending surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome. The Royals expect him to be recovered by spring training. … LHP Mike Minor, coming back from left shoulder surgery, struck out five and allowed two hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings in his second rehab start for Triple-A Omaha.

Rays: OF Mikie Mahtook (fractured left hand) went 1 for 3 with a walk in his first rehab game with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Rays. … Touted shortstop prospect Daniel Robertson has been placed on the disabled list with Triple-A Durham.

UP NEXT

Edinson Volquez (8-9) will make his team-leading 23rd start for the Royals on Wednesday night against Jake Odorizzi (5-5), who is working on a steak of 14 2/3 scoreless innings for the Rays.

— Associated Press —