ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — One pitch, one run. And then it was smooth sailing for Jeremy Guthrie.

Guthrie gave up a leadoff home run by Shin-Soo Choo, but didn’t allow another run over eight innings as the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 Saturday night for their 24th win in 30 games.

Alex Gordon had two hits, including a first-inning homer for his 15th of the season, and made a diving catch in left field for the AL Central leaders.

Guthrie (10-10) won for the fifth time in six starts. After Choo’s homer, he retired 12 straight and gave up only four more hits. He struck out two, walked one and left after the eighth with a 6-1 lead.

“The mistakes I made, we got fortunate,” Guthrie said. “Not too many were hit hard. The biggest thing was I was trying to stay aggressive and keep the pitch count as low as I could and try to get deep.”

Royals manager Ned Yost had no quarrel with the pitch that gave Texas an immediate 1-0 lead.

“The first pitch was actually a pretty good pitch,” Yost said. “It was a fastball that was down. You’re trying to get ahead with the first pitch of the game.”

The Royals broke a 1-all tie by scoring three runs in the fifth inning, capitalizing on the wildness of Nick Tepesch (4-8). He gave up three four-pitch walks and two singles that inning.

Jarrod Dyson drove in three runs, matching a career high, with a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single for the Royals.

Aaron Crow worked the ninth for Kansas City, allowing two runs.

Tepesch allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. With the bases loaded in the fifth, he walked Dyson and allowed a two-run single to Omar Infante on an 0-2 pitch.

“I felt like I was little all over the place all night,” Tepesch said. “I think that inning was just the worst of it.”

Dyson chased Tepesch in the seventh with the two-run single on which Lorenzo Cain slid in with the second run. The safe call was confirmed by video replay following a challenge by Texas manager Ron Washington.

“The more you win, the more you believe,” Dyson said. “It’s like routine to you. So that’s probably why we’re going so good right now.”

— Associated Press —

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yordano Ventura still reverts to being the rookie pitcher he is for the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals.

The hard-throwing right-hander also keeps winning.

Ventura struck out six in six innings for his 10th victory, he walked three and got help from inning-starting homers by Billy Butler and Josh Willingham to beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Friday night.

“There was kind of two Yordanos,” manager Ned Yost said. “There was one that was within himself, and he was banging strikes, staying downhill. And then there was one when he was just throwing out there, raring back, and struggled to keep the ball down.

“All in all, I thought he threw a good ball game for us.”

Greg Holland worked a scoreless ninth for his MLB-leading 40th save in 42 opportunities, becoming the first Royals pitcher since Dan Quisenberry in 1983-84 to have consecutive 40-save seasons. That came after Wade Davis retired all three batters he faced to extend the majors’ longest active scoreless streak to 22 2/3 innings.

Lorenzo Cain had three hits after a 2-for-14 slump for Kansas City, which won for the 23rd time in 29 games. Cain doubled and scored in the seventh for the final Royals run.

Butler led off the second with his eighth homer, tying the game at 1-all. Cain and Alcides Escobar, the bottom two batters in the Royals lineup, had consecutive RBI singles in that inning against Colby Lewis (8-11) to put Kansas City ahead to stay.

Willingham made it 4-1 when he homered in the fourth, his 14th overall and second in 10 games since the Royals acquired him on Aug. 11 from Minnesota, the AL Central’s last-place team.

“Obviously, it’s awesome being in a pennant race, and every game, every at-bat means something,” Willingham said.

Adrian Beltre had two hits and drove in the first Texas run with a groundout in the first.

Lewis pitched exactly one year after right hip resurfacing surgery. The 35-year-old right-hander is the first known major league pitcher to come back after such an operation.

Lewis retired the last eight batters he faced, and his only strikeouts came against the final two. He allowed four runs and six hits without a walk over six innings — four being 1-2-3 frames.

“Early in the game, he just couldn’t get the ball down. But then after that he settled in, and when he left the ballgame we were still in it,” manager Ron Washington said. “He’s been a huge factor (this season). I think when you look at it, it just shows you his professionalism.”

— Associated Press —

DENVER (AP) — Matt McBride hit his first career grand slam and Jorge De La Rosa pitched eight crisp innings, helping the Colorado Rockies cool off the Kansas City Royals with a 5-2 win on Wednesday night.

The loss trims the Royals’ lead to one game over Detroit in the AL Central.

Danny Duffy (8-11) was cruising along with a 2-1 lead until a two-out error by third baseman Christian Colon in the sixth opened the door for a big inning. McBride lined a fastball from Duffy into the left-field bleachers and then zipped around the bases in exhilaration.

It was McBride’s first homer since Sept. 25, 2012, and third of his career. He was called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs the day before.

De La Rosa (13-8) allowed five hits and two run against his former team. He also got the Royals to hit into four double plays, tying a franchise record for most by a single pitcher in a game.

LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 20 chances.

Duffy was in command most of the night as he allowed five hits and five runs, one earned, in seven innings. After getting two quick outs in the sixth, Colon fielded a grounder and threw a one-hopper that first baseman Billy Butler couldn’t scoop. Wilin Rosario singled and Corey Dickerson drew a walk to set the stage for McBride.

Another hard-luck loss for Duffy, who’s the only AL pitcher with a losing record and an ERA under three runs.

This was just the second time De La Rosa faced his old team. He spent two seasons with the Royals before being dealt to Colorado in 2008 for cash considerations.

He was cashing in on his slider and changeup to get out of one jam after another.

De La Rosa’s only mistake was in the second when he grooved a 91-mph fastball that Alex Gordon hit into the right-field bleachers. Erik Kratz brought in another run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth that scored Josh Willingham, who led off the inning with a double.

The Royals finished interleague play with a 15-5 mark.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals and designated hitter Billy Butler are featured on one of this week’s regional covers for Sports Illustrated.

Kansas City is one of the hottest teams in the majors, but also owns baseball’s longest postseason drought, a nearly 30-year wait for a team that has two winning seasons in the past 12 years.

Kansas City is no doubt the surprise of this season, as the team is sitting in first place with less than 40 games to go in the regular season.   According to the report in SI, the Royals can credit their once-dormant offense and steady pitching staff for the turnaround.

The team’s ERA is fourth in the American League, and since August, they have more hits than anyone, have scored more runs and have hit .284 as a team, also tops in the majors.

DENVER (AP) — Omar Infante had three doubles and drove in four runs to help the streaking Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 7-4 on Tuesday night.

James Shields pitched six solid innings to get the win for the Royals, who have now won 21 of 26 after getting to Colorado rookie Tyler Matzek in the seventh.

Matzek (2-9) came into Tuesday with a 9.60 ERA in August but was having his best outing since blanking Pittsburgh over seven innings on July 26 when he ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh. Matzek got the first two outs before allowing a pinch-hit single to Josh Willingham and walking Nori Aoki.

Adam Ottavino came on and gave up consecutive doubles to Infante and Salvador Perez to give the Royals a 4-2 lead.

The Royals scored three more runs in the eighth off Colorado’s bullpen. Infante had a two-run double with the bases loaded.

It was the second time in his career he has had three doubles in a game. The last time, May 27, 2004, came against the Royals when he was playing for Detroit.

That made a winner of Shields (12-6), who allowed two runs on nine hits and struck out six. He wasn’t sharp, allowing base runners in every inning but his last and struck out Drew Stubbs with the bases loaded to end the fourth.

Drew Stubbs and Nolan Arenado each had three hits and a home run for Colorado.

Arenado went deep in the fifth to give Colorado a 2-1 lead and Stubbs hit a two-run homer in the ninth, when the Rockies mounted a rally. Greg Holland came on and threw one pitch to record his 39th save in 40 chances.

Justin Morneau, back in the lineup after missing two games with a stiff neck, gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with a double-play grounder in the first.

Kansas City tied it in the fourth on Lorenzo Cain’s RBI double to.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Erik Kratz homered twice after replacing an ailing Salvador Perez, and Jason Vargas pitched seven strong innings to lead the first-place Kansas City Royals to a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

Vargas (10-5) allowed one run on four this and struck out three, but had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 17 when Oswaldo Arcia hit a solo homer in the seventh. Perez had two hits and two RBIs before leaving in the seventh because of discomfort in his right knee, helping the Royals win for the 21st time in 26 games.

Kansas City extended its lead over the idle Detroit Tigers in the AL Central to two games.

Trevor May (0-2) gave up three runs on seven hits and walked four in 4 2/3 innings for the Twins.

When Perez left, Kratz came in as a pinch hitter and drove a pitch just over the wall in left field for a 4-0 lead. He added a solo shot to center in the ninth for his first multihomer game.

Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer off Aaron Crow in the ninth inning, but Greg Holland came on for his 38th save in 40 tries. Josh Willingham had three hits and Alex Gordon and Billy Butler each had two for the Royals, who have won eight straight series for the first time since 1991.

May made his major league debut on Aug. 9, and it was a rough one. He walked seven batters in two innings and gave up four runs. He breezed through four innings of his home debut, but walked the bases loaded in the fifth.

Perez followed with a two-run single and Butler added an RBI single to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.

That was enough for Vargas, who has dominated the Twins this season. He retired 10 in a row from the second through sixth while his offense built him a cushion.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Kansas City Royals scored seven runs in the second inning. Then they really started hitting the ball.

Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games.

Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate in the big second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals then started hitting the ball out of the park after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth.

Gordon sent one drive into a flower bed in right-center. Perez lined one into the left-field seats, and Willingham’s homer traveled an estimated 433 feet into the third deck in left field.

“Those tack on runs are huge,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle. This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (9-10) returned to the mound after the delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs by Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas.

Oswaldo Arcia also went deep for Minnesota, hitting a two-run drive off Jason Frasor in the eighth for his 11th homer.

But Kansas City’s post-rain delay power surge helped it remain in control despite the Twins showing some power of their own.

“You gotta fight for 27 outs,” Perez said. “We continued to play hard. We needed to keep hitting it until the game was over.”

In his second start with Minnesota since coming over in a trade from Oakland, Tommy Milone (6-4) allowed seven runs in a career-low 1 1/3 innings.

“Awful. The first inning was good, the second one was pretty awful,” Milone said. “Couldn’t get a good feel, try not to walk guys, left the ball over the plate. It was pretty tough.”

The first pitch was delayed 34 minutes in anticipation of a rain shower that never happened. The rain did arrive as the second inning started and got worse until umpires called the players off the field with one out in the bottom of the fourth.

After managing just one run in Saturday night’s 4-1 loss, the Royals scored 10 or more for just the third time since June 17.

“With the weather and everything, we were pretty good,” Perez said. “We fought through it.”

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kurt Suzuki rarely makes errors or hits home runs. He did both on Saturday night, and the homer made up for a bad throw that could have cost Minnesota another game.

The All-Star catcher went 2 for 3 with a solo homer and made an impressive slide into home plate that helped lift the Twins over first-place the Kansas City Royals, 4-1.

Suzuki redeemed himself for an errant throw in the fourth that allowed Nori Aoki to score after stealing third and give Kansas City a 1-0 lead. The mistake came with his starting pitcher, Phil Hughes, looking dominant and locked in a duel with hard-throwing rookie Yordano Ventura.

“The hardest part is Phil was throwing so good and for me to do something like that, that’s what really got me a little bit,” Suzuki said.

It was his fourth error of the season.

“It was pretty brutal,” Suzuki said. “It was just one of those things where you get your body moving too quick and I lost the ball probably about right before my arm started coming forward. I said, `This is not good.”

It looked as if that run would be all the Royals needed to win their fourth straight. Ventura had dominated Minnesota’s lineup with his power for most of the night, consistently hitting into the upper-90s.

Hughes (13-8) allowed one run, seven hits and struck out six over 7 1/3 to outlast the young righty.

“You just don’t want to be the guy that breaks first,” Hughes said. “Obviously in a situation like that, I knew that one run might not be good enough and I had to at least keep it there.”

Ventura (9-9) threw six innings of one-hit ball before the Twins broke through in the seventh. With runners on second and third, Ventura threw a 99-mph fastball that shattered Danny Santana’s bat — but Santana reached base when Billy Butler tried to throw out Suzuki at home. The throw was in time, but the tag by catcher Salvador Perez was off, and Suzuki scored.

Brian Dozier followed with his 25th double of the season to score pinch-runner Eduardo Escobar. Kennys Vargas chased Ventura two batters later with a sacrifice fly to score Santana.

“You got to put up more runs than one,” Butler said. “That’s not the way it is every night, but that’s the way it is tonight.”

Hughes has won three in a row after losing three straight starts. He also has allowed only three runs this month. Casey Fien pitched to two batters in the eighth and Glen Perkins pitched the ninth for this 31st save in 34 chances.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Josh Willingham returned to Target Field and hit a bases-clearing double in Kansas City’s five-run fourth inning, and the surging Royals hung on to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Friday night.

Danny Dufy (8-10) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings to win his third straight start. Kansas City has won 11 of 12 and sits atop the AL Central.

Oswaldo Arcia hit an RBI double in the ninth and pinch-hitter Chris Parmelee drove him in with a groundout to cut the Royals’ lead to 6-5. But Greg Holland struck out Danny Santana for his 37th save in 39 chances.

After Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the third, the first six Royals hitters reached base to start the fourth off Ricky Nolasco (5-8).

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals didn’t let Jarrod Dyson’s defensive miscue slow them down on Thursday.

Dyson drove in the tying run in a five-run seventh, while Nori Aoki and Billy Butler each drove in two runs and the surging Kansas City Royals rallied to defeat the Oakland Athletics 7-3.

The Royals have won 18 of 22 to move 12 games above .500 for the first time since July 20, 2003.

Dyson lost Josh Reddick’s fly ball in the sun in the sixth that gave Oakland two runs.

“I feel pretty good after redeeming myself,” Dyson said. “I lost the ball in the sun, so I had to make up for it, pick the team up and pick myself up. It was redeem myself or walk off the field. Which one?”

The Royals took the season series, winning five of seven against the Athletics, who have the best record in the majors.

“We feel pretty good ourselves,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I think every (starting) pitcher we faced on this homestand has been an All-Star and to take six out of seven is pretty good. I’m happy with where we’re at.”

Aoki’s two-run triple put the Royals ahead 5-3. Butler’s single scored Aoki and Alcides Escobar. Dyson fouled off four consecutive pitches before hitting an RBI single to right for the first run of the inning.

Right-hander Jeff Samardzija (3-2) took the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

“It happened quick,” Melvin said of Samardzjia’s giving up two hits in the seventh.

“Pitch-count wise, he was great. He had good life on his splitter and his fastball was great.”

He left with a 3-2 lead, but Ryan Cook failed to hold it, facing three batters and all scored. Cook’s streak of 21 consecutive scoreless innings ended.

“They’re capitalizing on mistakes right now,” Cook said. “That’s what a good ballclub does. I think we do that. They’re a good ballclub that’s also hot.”

Aaron Crow (6-1), the third of six Kansas City pitchers, picked up the victory, retiring the only batter he faced.

Starter James Shields gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings and has a 1.94 ERA in his past eight starts. Greg Holland earned the final two outs for his 36th save in 38 opportunities.

The A’s scored two runs in the sixth when Dyson lost Josh Reddick’s high fly in the sun for a triple, which scored Stephen Vogt.

“I felt real bad cause we had the lead and they came back and snatched the lead from us,” Dyson said.

Alberto Callaspo drove in two Oakland runs with a single and a sacrifice fly.

— Associated Press —