CHICAGO (AP) — The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox each lost Saturday without playing a game.

Four members of the Royals and three from the White Sox were punished for their roles in a series-opening brawl in Chicago, and six of the players drew suspensions. Major League Baseball placed the blame for the fighting squarely on both teams.

Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura was handed a seven-game suspension, fellow starter Edinson Volquez given five games and outfielder Lorenzo Cain and reliever Kelvin Herrera got two games apiece.

White Sox pitchers Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija were suspended five games each, while catcher Tyler Flowers escaped suspension but joined the others in getting an undisclosed fine.

All the players who received suspensions are appealing, which means they will be able to play in Sunday’s series finale.

The game scheduled for Saturday was rained out.

“Everybody had some elements of their behavior over the course of that incident on both sides that they wish they handled differently,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said during a conference call Saturday. “Respect the fact that our players stood up and took responsibility for their actions and expressed remorse over those things they wish had been handled better.

“It is something that happens from time to time,” Hahn added. “It’s part of the game.”

It’s a costly part of the game, though. Along with the suspensions, Hahn said reliever Matt Albers fractured a finger on his throwing hand in the melee and will go on the disabled list.

Meanwhile, Herrera is already awaiting an appeal on a five-game suspension that was handed down after he threw a pitch behind Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie during a series last weekend.

Ventura was fined for hitting Lawrie with a 99 mph fastball during the same series. “We understand that Major League Baseball has to do what they think is fair in situations like this,” Royals manager Ned Yost said in a team statement.

“Now, we just have to wait for the appeals process to play out.” Tensions between the Royals and White Sox had been building since the opening series of the season, when the teams combined to hit six batters. Two more were plunked early Thursday night when Ventura hit Jose Abreu in the fourth inning and Sale hit Mike Moustakas in the fifth.

The simmering anger finally boiled over in the seventh, when Ventura snagged a grounder from Chicago outfielder Adam Eaton and the two exchanged words before Eaton was thrown out at first. Eaton had to be restrained from Ventura, who was ejected from his second straight start.

“It was a messy situation,” Ventura said through a translator. Players from both dugouts and bullpens then ran onto the field. Volquez whiffed throwing a haymaker, and several other players threw punches in a fight that lasted several minutes. “There are real negative repercussions of this,” Hahn said.”

After he was thrown from the game, Sale went to the Royals clubhouse and was seen pounding on the door.

While nothing more transpired, Hahn said he spoke to his star pitcher about it Friday. “It was a private conversation,” Hahn said. “We certainly understand where Chris was coming from in terms of the emotion involved in the moment and what he was hoping to accomplish, and at the same time realizing that perhaps there was a better way to handle these things going forward.”

Five players ultimately were ejected from Thursday night’s game, which the Royals won in 13 innings.

Among them was Cain, who has been hit by pitches four times this season. Moustakas and teammate Alex Gordon have been hit an AL-leading five times apiece, and the Royals have been hit 17 times as a team — tied with Texas for the league lead entering the day. “This game’s emotional and it seems to follow them around,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura, who famously charged the mound and was pummeled by the Rangers’ Nolan Ryan during a game in 1993.

“Everybody gets emotional and reacts to things and that’s what happened.”

The Royals are starting to earn a fighting reputation. Along with their two series with the White Sox and a tense three-game set in Oakland, Ventura got into a heated argument with Angels slugger Mike Trout during a series in Los Angeles. While acknowledging that the Royals must do a better job of containing their emotions, Yost insisted that his club has rarely been the instigator in a string of testy situations.

“Hopefully it’s all behind us,” he said Thursday night, “and we can move forward.”

The teams played eight innings Friday night without incident, but the rest of the game was postponed due to rain with the score 2-2. It was supposed to resume Saturday, but more rain in Chicago means that it will now resume Sunday with the Royals batting in the top of the ninth. John Danks is scheduled to start for the White Sox in the second game Sunday, while fellow left-hander Jason Vargas is expected to go for the Royals. No makeup date was announced for Saturday’s game.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — No fighting in this one. Just a lot of rain.

One night after a benches-clearing brawl led to five ejections, the Royals and White Sox were tied at 2 when Friday’s game was suspended by rain heading into the ninth inning.

Managers Robin Ventura of the White Sox and Ned Yost of the Royals huddled with the umpires after the eighth, and then crew chief Tim Welke waved the players off the field.

The game was suspended after a 40-minute delay. It will be resumed on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. CT with the Royals batting in the top of the ninth. Saturday’s originally scheduled game will begin when the suspended contest is over.

But the forecast also looks bad for Saturday, raising the question about when they might be able to resume play. The contingency plan is to play the rest of Friday’s game on Sunday afternoon if Saturday is washed out.

Yost will have the heart of his tough bullpen intact when the game finally does resume.

“Kelvin (Herrera) or Wade (Davis) with the lead. It just depends on what happens in the top of the ninth,” Yost said.

The first-pitch temperature was 44 degrees, and there were periods of rain throughout the night, intensifying in the sixth inning. Kansas City’s infielders shielded themselves in the dugout during two pitching changes in the sixth.

The grounds crew worked on the field after every half-inning, but the rain never let up and the field was becoming unplayable when it was called.

Former White Sox farmhand Paulo Orlando had three hits for the Royals, who are 12-4 on the season.

Chicago had a scare in the third when White Sox starter Jose Quintana caught Alcides Escobar off first base. Quintana threw to Jose Abreu, who appeared to have Escobar in a rundown.

Abreu ran down Escobar and put the tag on for an out while Escobar was diving into second. Abreu got tangled with Escobar’s leg and fell on his right side. Abreu was on the ground for a minute before getting up and taking smell salts from a team trainer.

He stayed in the game and had two hits.

“He landed on either the foot or the base on his ribs so it kind of knocked the wind out of him and it was cold,” Ventura said. “I thought it was his wrist or something like that but it was cold when I got out there and so there was a lot of stuff going on. Once he got over that, you could tell he was fine.”

Orlando doubled and scored on Escobar’s single in the third. He also had a tiebreaking RBI single in the fifth.

The White Sox got on the board in the fourth. Alexei Ramirez reached second on Escobar’s two-base throwing error and eventually scored on Tyler Flowers’ groundout.

Chicago’s Adam Eaton tripled and scored on Melky Cabrera’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Quintana allowed seven hits in seven innings, bouncing back from a rough outing in his previous start. The left-hander was tagged for nine runs and 10 hits in four-plus innings of 9-1 loss at Detroit on Sunday.

Royals starter Danny Duffy pitched 5 1/3 innings and was charged with an unearned run and six hits.

“It felt good, felt like I was locating for the most part,” Duffy said. “It was kind of slippery out there, but we ended up making it work. I was getting down through my pitches enough to really be effective.”

UP NEXT

Royals: Edinson Volquez will try to continue his strong start in Saturday’s game versus the White Sox. In his first three starts with the Royals, Volquez is 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA.

White Sox: John Danks is 7-1 with a 2.63 ERA in his career against the Royals.

FINNEGAN RETURNS

Before the game, the Royals recalled left-handed reliever Brandon Finnegan from Double-A Northwest Arkansas and optioned infielder Orlando Calizte to Triple-A Omaha.

Finnegan was the 17th overall pick in last year’s draft. He had a 1.29 ERA in seven regular-season appearances with the Royals in 2014, and then went 1-1 with a 10.50 ERA in seven postseason games.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — A benches-clearing fight led to five ejections several innings before Eric Hosmer hit the go-ahead double in the 13th to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

With two outs, Hosmer’s hit off Chicago’s Jake Petricka (0-1) brought in Jarrod Dyson. Wade Davis then pitched a scoreless 13th for his fourth save, giving Franklin Morales (2-0) the victory.

Kansas City won for the fourth time in five games in a game in which tempers flared.

In the seventh, Yordano Ventura snagged a grounder from Chicago outfielder Adam Eaton and they appeared to exchange words before Ventura threw to first to end the inning. Eaton had to be restrained from Ventura, who was ejected from a second straight start.

Players from both dugouts and bullpens ran onto the field and punches were thrown during a fight that lasted a couple of minutes.

The play was the culmination of tensions that seemed to rise during the game and carry over from their season-opening series earlier this month when the teams combined to hit six batters. In the bottom of the fourth, Ventura hit Jose Abreu. In the top of the fifth, Chris Sale hit Mike Moustakas.

Ventura was thrown out after the fight. On Saturday, after he allowed a three-run homer to the Athletics’ Josh Reddick, he hit Brett Lawrie and was ejected.

The four others tossed Thursday were Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Edinson Volquez, along with Chicago’s Sale and pitcher Jeff Samardzija.

For Ventura, it was his fourth consecutive start that ended abruptly. Besides the ejections, on opening day against the White Sox he left with a thumb cramp. He was replaced April 12 against the Los Angeles Angels because of a right calf cramp.

Kansas City has been in a fighting mood for a week now.

In that three-game series against Oakland last weekend, the Royals and A’s cleared their benches each day. Nearly as many people were hit by pitches as hit home runs. And five players and coaches were ultimately thrown out of the finale Sunday, when things boiled over.

Among those tossed was reliever Kelvin Herrera, who threw a fastball behind the head of Lawrie, then pointed to his own head in a threatening manner. Herrera was suspended five games for it pending an appeal, a punishment that could have easily been stiffer.

Before the fight, Ventura pitched seven innings and allowed two runs while striking out eight. He also survived a scare in the third when Micah Johnson beat him to first base and accidentally kicked the pitcher’s right leg, though after a couple precautionary tosses the hard-throwing righty stayed in the game.

Sale only gave up two first-inning runs and lasted seven innings and allowed nine hits.

Chicago only had seven hits.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: INF Omar Infante (left groin) was not in the lineup. He left Sunday’s game after suffering the injury and hasn’t appeared since, though manager Ned Yost said “he’s getting to the point where he’s getting ready to play.” . Yost said RHP Greg Holland (right pectoral muscle) will be evaluated Saturday. . RHP Luke Hochevar (right elbow) threw a scoreless inning during a rehab assignment at Triple-A Omaha.

White Sox: Petricka (right forearm) made his debut Wednesday and said he felt “great” before Thursday’s game. “Normal soreness. That’s a great feeling,” Petricka said.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Danny Duffy (1-0, 5.51) faces White Sox LHP Jose Quintana (1-1, 8.40). Duffy is 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA at U.S. Cellular Field, while Quintana is 0-6 with a 4.66 ERA all-time against Kansas City.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Pelfrey pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up his first victory since 2013 as the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0 Wednesday night.

Joe Mauer reached base four times with two hits and two walks and scored a run.

Pelfrey’s last victory was Sept. 23, 2013, against Detroit. He went 0-3 in five starts last year before undergoing season-ending elbow surgery on June 10.

Pelfrey (1-0) gave up five singles, walked two, hit two batters and struck out four. It was his longest outing since he went seven innings against Texas on Aug. 31, 2013.

Glen Perkins got the last three outs for his third save

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (0-1) gave up all three runs and six hits with a career high-tying six walks in five innings.

The Twins scored all their runs in the first on three hits, two walks and a hit batter. Oswaldo Arcia was hit by Guthrie with the bases loaded to bring home Brian Dozier. Kennys Vargas and Dozier singled in the other two runs. Guthrie induced Kurt Suzuki to ground into a double play with the bases loaded to end the inning and prevent further damage.

The Twins loaded the bases in the second on Torii Hunter’s double and walks to Joe Mauer and Dozier. However, Hunter was out trying to steal home to end the inning.

Guthrie did not allow a run after the first, but he was never sharp, throwing only 50 percent strikes in 98 pitches.

Yohan Pino replaced Guthrie and threw three scoreless innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: LHP Brian Duensing (right intercostal strain) started soft tossing Wednesday.

Royals: 2B Omar Infante (strained left groin) missed his third straight game. Manager Ned Yost said Infante could have played, but did not want to push him.

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Phil Hughes (0-3, 5.30 ERA) starts against the Mariners on Friday.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura (2-1, 4.80 ERA), fined Tuesday for hitting Oakland’s Brett Lawrie Sunday, starts Thursday against the Chicago White Sox.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ned Yost stuck by Mike Moustakas when just about everyone else had given up on him, dutifully penciling him into the Royals’ starting lineup at third base despite all of his slumps.

Finally, the Kansas City manager is feeling vindicated.

Moustakas hit an early two-run homer, then drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the eighth inning, as the Royals rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Tuesday night.

“You almost want to stand up on this table and yell, `I told you so!” Yost said, flashing a wry grin. “But I’m not. I’m not an I-told-you-so kind of guy.”

The Royals trailed 5-3 in the sixth when Christian Colon started their comeback with an RBI double. Colon added a run-scoring groundout off Casey Fien (0-1) in the eighth to knot the game, and Moustakas fileted a single to left off Glen Perkins to take the lead.

It was the kind of opposite-field hit that Moustakas struggled to deliver a year ago.

“Just looking for a fastball. He was throwing a bunch of fastballs,” Moustakas said of Perkins, the Twins’ left-handed closer. “I was able to fight that one to left field.”

Chris Young (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jason Vargas, and Wade Davis breezed through the Twins in the ninth for his third save of the season.

Davis has been closing games with All-Star reliever Greg Holland on the disabled list.

Joe Mauer drove in a run in the second for Minnesota, and Trevor Plouffe, Oswaldo Arcia, Kurt Suzuki and Shane Robinson had run-scoring singles in the sixth inning.

Alex Gordon also went deep for the Royals (11-3), who have taken the first two games of the three-game set after losing their only series of the season in Minnesota last week.

The Royals are off to their best start since 2003, and have won eight of their first nine at home. They also improved to 16-5 in their last 21 against the Twins at Kauffman Stadium.

Minnesota dropped to 1-7 on the road this season.

Gordon’s solo shot to right staked the Royals to the lead in the second inning, but the Twins quickly answered in the fourth off Vargas with three consecutive singles.

Kansas City pulled back ahead in the fifth. Colon led off with a single, and Moustakas just managed to coax a fly ball over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.

Dancing with trouble throughout the night, Vargas finally got bogged down in the sixth inning. The left-hander got the first two outs thanks in part to catching Mauer in a run-down between third and home, but then gave up consecutive two-out RBI singles.

Royals manager Ned Yost lifted him for reliever Jason Frasor, and he gave up two more two-out singles — none of the four were particularly hard-hit — that gave Minnesota a 5-3 lead.

Colon drove in a run with a two-out double in the bottom half to start the Kansas City rally, but Twins reliever Blaine Boyer managed to retire Alcides Escobar to leave the tying run on third.

Kansas City also left the bases loaded in the third and a runner on second in the fifth, but managed to come through when the game was on the line in the final innings.

“A loss always hurts,” Fien said. “When I don’t my job that’s what happens.”

STARTING TROUBLE

Vargas allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk, while Twins counterpart Tommy Milone gave up four runs on five hits and four walks. Both lasted 5 2/3 innings. “Walks in general are just no good,” Milone said. “It seems usually to bite you in the butt.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: Suzuki started at catcher despite taking a hard foul ball off his shin courtesy of Arcia while standing in the on-deck circle during Monday night’s game.

Royals: 2B Omar Infante (groin strain) took grounders and hit soft toss before the game, and Yost said he could have been used in an emergency situation.

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Mike Pelfrey (0-0) is 0-2 with a 9.49 ERA against the Royals.

Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (1-0) has won his last four regular-season decisions.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Major League Baseball suspended Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera five games and fined him and pitcher Yordano Ventura on Tuesday after both targeted Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie during a testy series over the weekend.

Herrera was tossed in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game after throwing behind Lawrie, the second time he had thrown inside to him. Ventura was ejected on Saturday when he hit Lawrie with a 99 mph fastball above the left elbow immediately after Josh Reddick’s home run.
Kelvin Herrera has been suspended five games for throwing behind Oakland’s Brett Lawrie. AP Photo/Ed Zurga

Herrera was to start his suspension Tuesday night against Minnesota, however he is appealing the punishment, according to multiple reports.

“Nobody likes going through what we went through this weekend, nobody,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Nobody likes it, but it happens.”

The incidents came after Lawrie’s hard, late slide into Alcides Escobar covering second base Friday night left the Kansas City shortstop with a sprained left knee. Escobar and several of his teammates called it a “dirty slide” and unnecessary given the situation.

Lawrie said he texted an apology to a phone number for Escobar he got from Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. Escobar denied receiving the text.

The incident on Friday night triggered both benches and bullpens to empty, though no punches were thrown. And it led to a tense series between teams that met in last year’s AL wild-card game, which the Royals won in come-from-behind fashion in 12 innings.

The benches cleared again Saturday after Ventura’s pitch, and for a third time Sunday, when the teams began playing a dangerous game of dodgeball involving 90-plus heat.

The Athletics’ Scott Kazmir started things off by hitting Lorenzo Cain. Both teams were issued warnings by plate umpire Greg Gibson, and Yost came out to argue. He was immediately tossed from the game along with pitching coach Dave Eiland.

Things settled down until the eighth, when Herrera threw inside to Lawrie. Moments later, he sent a 100 mph fastball behind Lawrie’s shoulders and was quickly ejected. Bench coach Don Wakamatsu and Escobar, who had been in the dugout, also were tossed.

“I don’t mean to hurt anybody,” Herrera said. “Just trying to throw inside, but a bad grip on that fastball. It started raining pretty good. And they just tossed me out.”

Herrera did point to his head as he left — what he called a “think about it” warning.

“That’s what got me hot,” Lawrie said. “That’s what got me mad. You can’t throw at my head and then say, ‘Next time I face you, it’s in the head. He needs to pay for that.”

The Royals were already on edge when the series began after a number of their players had been hit by pitches earlier this season. Among them was outfielder Alex Rios, who landed on the disabled list with a broken finger after getting hit by Twins rookie J.R. Graham.

Kansas City players were hit 14 times in the team’s first 13 games.

“At first I thought it was more of a fluke. Now I’m starting to think the other way a little bit,” Yost said. “Hopefully it’ll slow down a little here.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edinson Volquez is quickly proving his breakthrough season of a year ago was no fluke.

The Royals right-hander held down the Twins for seven innings Monday night, and Kansas City’s opportunistic offense took advantage of a series of Minnesota miscues in a 7-1 victory.

“It feels good because the way I’m pitching, I’m carrying over everything,” said Volquez, who went 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA for Pittsburgh. “Just trying to do what I did last year.”

Royals manager Ned Yost said that pitching coach Dave Eiland has been working on mechanics with Volquez (2-1) that have allowed him to pitch even better than he did with the Pirates. He only allowed five hits and a walk while striking out five against Minnesota.

“We’ve been talking about him since he first got here,” Yost said. “We felt last year was a big year for him. He really turned the corner with his mechanics on some things.”

Alcides Escobar returned from a sprained knee to score a run Monday night, and Kendrys Morales and Paulo Orlando drove in a pair each as the Royals finally figured out Kyle Gibson.

Their nemesis gave up four runs in five-plus innings after beating the Royals the first four times he faced them. Gibson (1-2) was dominant last week in a 3-1 victory at Target Field.

“Gibby didn’t have his best command, four walks and a couple of wild pitches,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He was struggling with his feel for off-speed pitches. His last start he had a good slider and changeup. Tonight he had to battle with his fastball.

“He didn’t give up a lot of hits, but had a lot of base runners with the base on balls.”

Gibson also didn’t have the kind of defense that Kansas City has behind him.

After first baseman Eric Hosmer threw the ball away trying to start a double play in the second inning — helping to contribute to Minnesota’s only run — he was on the receiving end of a double-play relay to end the threat. Alex Gordon also made a diving catch in left field, and Mike Moustakas made a couple of difficult plays at third base look routine.

The Royals left the bases loaded against Gibson in the second, but they evened the score in the third. Escobar doubled to lead off the inning, went to third on Moustakas’s groundout, then trotted home easily when Gibson’s pitch in the dirt got away from catcher Kurt Suzuki.

The score remained deadlocked until the sixth, when the Twins’ Oswaldo Arcia dropped a slicing liner from Moustakas in left field. Hosmer worked a full-count walk, and Morales hit a double down the left-field line to give Kansas City its first lead of the game.

Hosmer scored moments later on a wild pitch by reliever Blaine Boyer, and Perez added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 through six innings.

Morales added an insurance run in the eighth when the Twins lost track of a pop fly in shallow right field, and Orlando’s two-run triple moments later put things out of reach.

Kelvin Herrera breezed through the eighth inning in relief of Volquez, and former Phillies closer Ryan Madson handled the ninth inning to wrap up the win.

“We’ve had a few of those games where they’ve had shape for a while and then things kind of broke down for us,” Molitor said. “We missed the play in left and we can’t contain them at the end to give ourselves a chance.”

TRIPLE TROUBLE

Orlando has been a solid fill-in for OF Alex Rios, who continues to recover from a broken finger. His triple against Minnesota was his fifth in 26 at-bats.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: RHP Ricky Nolasco (right elbow inflammation) is scheduled to make a rehab start Saturday for Class A Cedar Rapids. He threw off a mound Sunday with no problems.

Royals: 2B Omar Infante was feeling better after straining his left groin Sunday. Manager Ned Yost said the positive news put a hold on any plans to place him on the DL.

UP NEXT

Twins: LHP Tommy Milone (2-0) went 5 1/3 innings to beat the Royals last Thursday.

Royals: LHP Jason Vargas (1-1) allowed 10 hits and five runs in three innings against the Twins last Thursday. It was his shortest start since 2011.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Josh Reddick rounded the bases after his three-run homer, celebrated in Oakland’s dugout for just a moment, and then climbed to the top step and waited.

He knew exactly what was coming next.

Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura promptly plunked A’s third baseman Brett Lawrie with what appeared to be a retaliatory pitch for an incident the previous night, and Reddick and the rest of his teammates spilled onto the field in what could have turned into an ugly melee.

Cooler heads prevailed. So did the A’s, who went on to beat Kansas City 5-0 Saturday night.

“We knew it was coming,” Reddick said of the pitch that got Ventura ejected in the fourth inning. “It’s bush league. There’s no need for it.”

Stephen Vogt and former Royals designated hitter Billy Butler also drove in a run for Oakland during the five-run fourth inning, and Jesse Hahn (1-1) scattered three hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings before leaving with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.

Jesse Chavez then picked him up with 3 2/3 innings for the save, completing the fifth shutout by Oakland in its first 12 games. The A’s have outscored their opponents 47-1 in six victories.

“Never get tired of shutouts,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.

Tempers were still hot from the series opener Friday night, when Lawrie slid hard and late into second base and wiped out Alcides Escobar. The Royals shortstop sprained his left knee in the collision, and said before Saturday night’s game he thought the slide was dirty.

Ventura waited until he was pounded in the fourth before exacting some revenge.

After serving up Reddick’s homer to right field, the hard-throwing youngster plunked Lawrie in the left elbow. Plate umpire Jim Joyce immediately tossed Ventura from the game, and the rest of the umpire crew moved quickly to prevent a more heated confrontation between the teams.

Lawrie calmly walked to first base and waited for the furor to die down.

“I didn’t want to have any problems,” said Lawrie, who apologized to Escobar in a text that apparently was not well received. “You can’t control what happens on the other side.”

When asked whether Ventura expected to be suspended, fellow pitcher Jeremy Guthrie — serving as a translator — replied: “I don’t think we need to answer that.”

The five-run fourth by Oakland and Ventura’s ejection only made a miserable day worse for Kansas City. All-Star closer Greg Holland was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to the game with a strained right pectoral muscle that has been bothering him for the last week.

Holland already has four saves, and has not allowed a hit in four scoreless innings.

Yohan Pino was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take Holland’s place on the roster. He threw 4 2/3 innings of three-hit ball after Ventura was tossed from the game.

“I thought Pino threw the ball great,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He came in the fourth inning and got us through the eighth and gave us a nice chance to preserve the bullpen.”

ACE DEPATURES

Ventura still has not left a game in what would be considered standard fare. He was forced out of his first start of the season with a cramp in his right thumb, and left his next start with a cramp in his right calf.

“Up until the ejection was able to stay in the game without having problems with the cramping,” he said. “Those were the two things that were important for me.”

BUTLER STREAKING

Kansas City might end up regretting its decision to decline a $12.5 million option on Butler for this season. His run-scoring single in the fourth extended his hit streak to 12 games, the first A’s player with that long of a streak to begin their career with the organization.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: RHP Jarrod Parker (Tommy John surgery) threw 33 pitches in an extended spring game Saturday. He plans to go four innings his next time out, possibly in a minor league game.

Royals: Escobar remains day to day. Orlando Calixte was recalled from Omaha and OF Reymond Fuentes optioned to the same club to provide infield depth while Escobar is out.

UP NEXT

Athletics: LHP Scott Kazmir (2-0) has struck out eight or more batters in each of his first two starts. He allowed one run over six innings in a win Monday in Houston.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (1-0) is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his career against Oakland.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals and A’s picked up right where they left off.

In their first meeting since last September’s dramatic wild-card game, Paulo Orlando delivered a go-ahead triple in the eighth inning Friday night to help Kansas City to a 6-4 win over Oakland in another back-and-forth affair.

Omar Infante also drove in a pair of runs for the Royals, whose 12-inning victory over the Athletics last year ultimately spurred them all the way to Game 7 of the World Series.

Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis (2-0) each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of the Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie, and Greg Holland breezed through the ninth for his fourth save.

Dan Otero (0-1) gave up both runs in the eighth inning for Oakland.

Stephen Vogt hit a pair of solo homers, and Ike Davis also went deep for the A’s, whose team bears little resemblance to the one that lost that playoff game at Kauffman Stadium last year. For one thing, their designated hitter these days is Billy Butler, who was playing for the Royals back then.

Butler went 1 for 4, extending his hitting streak to 10 games to start the season.

The A’s jumped in front on Brett Lawrie’s sacrifice bunt in the second inning, and Kansas City pulled ahead with five straight two-out singles in the third.

Oakland quickly answered when Davis homered on the first pitch he saw in the fourth, and Vogt tied it at 3 with his first homer just two pitches later.

Kansas City went in front again in the sixth on Infante’s single, but Royals manager Ned Yost elected to leave Guthrie in rather than go to Herrera at that point. Vogt made him pay with a drive to right for his first career multihomer game.

Later in the inning, Lawrie was on first base when Josh Reddick lined a pitch off Herrera toward third, where Mike Moustakas fielded it. He flipped to Alcides Escobar covering second, but Lawrie’s late slide over the bag caused a collision that left Escobar crumpled on the dirt.

He was helped off the field without putting any weight on his left leg, while Lawrie had to be escorted by his teammates through a horde of angry Royals and back to the Oakland dugout.

The Royals said Escobar is day to day with a sprained knee.

DISTRIBUTING HARDWARE

Butler received his AL championship ring before the game. Royals C Salvador Perez, 1B Eric Hosmer and LF Alex Gordon received their Gold Glove awards. Gordon also received a Platinum Glove given to the American League’s best defensive player.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: RHP Jarrod Parker (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to throw three innings in extended spring training Saturday. On Monday, LHP Sean Nolin (sports hernia surgery) will throw two innings, and RHP A.J. Griffin will throw one inning.

Royals: Escobar was replaced in the lineup by Christian Colon, who is likely to start at shortstop Saturday. Escobar had started the club’s first nine games.

UP NEXT

Athletics: RHP Jesse Hahn faces the Royals for the first time in his career.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura makes his third start of the season. He left his first two with cramps, first to his right thumb and then to his right calf.

— Associated Press —