KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The crowd roared as Jason Vargas emerged from the dugout for the ninth inning, the Kansas City Royals trying to hold onto a 3-0 lead over the Oakland Athletics in a matchup of playoff hopefuls.

Five pitches later, the crowd roared even louder.

Vargas finished off his three-hitter with a flourish, breezing through the A’s for his sixth career shutout. It was the second shutout by Kansas City starters in the past week and the third complete game over that stretch, a big reason why the Royals are leading the AL Central.

“That’s what we want to do if we want to keep playing,” said Vargas, who was making just his third start since going on the disabled list for an emergency appendectomy.

Vargas (9-5) retired the final 23 batters he faced, helping the Royals bounce back from having an eight-game winning streak snapped. They maintained their half-game lead over Detroit.

“If it’s the first pitch or sixth pitch, you’ve got to be ready for contact for a pitch to show up in your area,” said Josh Donaldson, who had one of the A’s three hits. “He did a good job of keeping us off balance all night.”

Omar Infante hit a two-run homer and Salvador Perez drove in the other run off Scott Kazmir (13-5), who lost to Kansas City for the second time in 10 days.

Vargas allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings against Oakland in his first start off the disabled list, and two runs over five innings against San Francisco his last time out. But on a mild evening at the K, he looked like the dominant left-hander of earlier this season.

Mixing his pitches and catching the corners, Vargas wiggled out of a jam in the first inning and gave up a single leading off the second before muzzling Oakland the rest of the way.

Vargas needed only 92 pitches over eight innings, so manager Ned Yost sent him out for the ninth rather than turn it over to All-Star closer Greg Holland. Five pitches later, he had his first shutout since last September, when he beat Oakland 3-0 as a member of the Angels.

“He got back to being how he was,” Yost said.

Meanwhile, the Royals were giving Vargas more than enough offense.

After leaving runners on the corners in the first, Kansas City broke through in the third when Nori Aoki cracked a one-out single and Infante sent a 2-0 pitch into the left-field bullpen. It was his sixth homer of the season and his first since June 27.

The Royals left another runner on third in the fourth, but managed to manufacture a run in the fifth. Christian Colon led off with a single, Aoki laid down a sacrifice bunt and Infante managed to beat the throw on an infield single before Perez hit a lazy sacrifice fly to right field.

Kazmir wound up allowing seven hits and a walk over seven innings.

“You just have to keep after it,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “At times, you’re going to get well-pitched games against you and today was one of those. I don’t think our approach was any worse today than it was yesterday. It was counteracted by a guy that pitched a great game.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics’ combination of Jon Lester and Josh Donaldson was too much for the Kansas City Royals.

Lester pitched six strong innings and Donaldson homered twice and drove in four runs as the Athletics won 11-3 Tuesday night, snapping the Royals’ eight-game winning streak.

Lester (13-7) has won all three of his starts since joining the A’s in a trade from Boston in a deadline deal on July 31 that sent All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox. Lester struck out nine and allowed three runs on six hits and two walks.

The timing of the trade was bad for the Royals, having to face Lester twice in 10 days.

“I’d rather face Cespedes four times in a game than face Lester one game,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That’s just me. That’s not taking anything away from Cespedes. He can beat you with one swing of the bat.”

The Royals have won 11 of 13, with both losses coming against Lester — who improved to 9-3 with a 1.84 ERA in 13 career starts against Kansas City.

Donaldson homered in the seventh and eighth off left-hander Bruce Chen for his third multihomer game of the season. He also added an RBI double in the first and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

“It helps when you have contributors up and down the lineup,” Donaldson said. “We believe that it’s going to happen more times than not. We had some balls that were hit hard for outs, and then we had a lot of balls that fell in for us tonight.”

Brandon Moss had four hits, matching his career high, as the A’s finished with a season-high 20 hits.

“He looked like Wade Boggs up there,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (8-10) allowed six runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

“Obviously, we would have loved to gone out there and had a better performance from myself and the pitchers to keep us in the game,” Guthrie said. “We play 162 of these and you take them for what it’s worth. They strung together a bunch of hits and they had a tough pitcher and won the game.”

Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain doubled in the Royals’ three-run fifth.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar pumped his fist. Jarrod Dyson did a backflip. And for the first time in more than a decade, the Kansas City Royals were in first place in mid-August.

Yordano Ventura outpitched Sonny Gray in a matchup of talented young starters Monday night, and Escobar drove in the go-ahead run as Kansas City beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 to take over the AL Central lead from Detroit with its eighth consecutive victory.

“You want to be in first place. Our goal was to get back to first place,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Now our goal is to stay in first place.”

The Royals trailed the Tigers by eight games on July 21, but their 16th win in 19 games wiped away the deficit and gave them the lead at the latest point in a season since 2003.

“We’re playing great,” said Escobar, who drove in a run in the second inning before his two-out single off Gray (12-6) in the seventh gave Kansas City the lead for good.

Ventura lasted through sixth innings before giving way to Kelvin Herrera (3-2), who tossed a spotless seventh. Wade Davis breezed through the eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 35th save, though it didn’t come without a little drama.

Josh Donaldson led off the ninth with a single, the first hit by the Athletics since the second inning, and Brandon Moss drew a walk. But after a brief conference on the mound, Holland got Derek Norris to bounce into a double play and Stephen Vogt to fly out to end the game.

“He has the ability to focus pitch to pitch, which good closers can do,” Yost said. “You get first and second with his stuff, you just have a feeling he’s going to get out of it.”

Kansas City put pressure on right from the start, when Dyson and Omar Infante opened the game with back-to-back singles. Gray might have escaped the jam, though, if right fielder Josh Reddick hadn’t flubbed a routine throw to the infield after Infante’s hit. It allowed Dyson to reach third base easily, and he scored on Salvador Perez’s double-play groundout.

“It’s pretty embarrassing,” Reddick said, “especially since it cost us a run. And we end up losing by one run, so it doesn’t make your feel any better.”

After Escobar made it 2-0 in th second, Oakland answered with some help from Ventura, who worked to overcome command problems most of the night. John Jaso led off with a single, Coco Crisp worked a walk and Donaldson earned another free pass to load the bases with two outs.

Moss hit a full-count pitch up the middle to score both runners and knot the game.

Yost pulled Ventura after a double play got the rookie right-hander through the sixth. And when Gray faltered in the seventh and Kansas City took the lead, one of the stingiest bullpens in baseball made sure the smallest of margins was enough.

“Those three guys at the end are as good as you get,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “They don’t worry about righty-lefty. They feel when they get to the seventh inning with a lead, they feel pretty good about it.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Gordon is eager for another marketing gimmick.

Gordon and Salvador Perez homered, Danny Duffy pitched into the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 7-4 Sunday for their seventh consecutive victory.

The Royals gave out 10,000 Gordon bobbleheads for the series finale against San Francisco. Gordon, who played his college ball at Nebraska, also homered on Husker Night on Saturday.

“We’ve got to think of a promotion for tomorrow to keep it going,” Gordon said.

The big weekend is part of a nice roll for Gordon, who is batting .350 (14 for 40) with three homers and seven RBIs in his last 11 games.

“Gordy is not swinging the bat well because it is Husker day or because it was bobblehead day,” Yost said. “Gordy is swinging the bat well because he is seeing the ball well and putting good swings on it.”

The Royals, who won 10 in a row in June, have put together two winning streaks of seven or more games this season for the first time since 1985, the last time they were in the playoffs.

They moved within one-half game of first-place Detroit in the AL Central. The Tigers lost 6-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays in 19 innings on Sunday.

Gordon hit a two-run shot off Tim Lincecum (9-8) in a four-run first. The inning also included Billy Butler’s run-producing double and Perez scoring on a wild pitch.

“He was all over the board,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Lincecum. “When he threw a strike or threw an off-speed pitch it was up. He regrouped, but it’s tough when you get down four runs.”

Perez homered off Juan Gutierrez with Nori Aoki aboard in a three-run fourth. Aoki reached base four times — two walks and two singles — and stole three bases.

Jarrod Dyson went 3 for 3 and also swiped a career-high three bases.

Duffy (7-10) allowed four runs and three hits in 6 2/3 innings in winning back-to-back starts for the first time this season. He walked two in the seventh and both scored on an Andrew Susac’s double.

“You are really comfortable on the mound,” Duffy said after the four-run first. “The offense just keeps doing their job. It’s been a lot of fun to watch.”

Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, was roughed up for six runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. Lincecum, who is winless since July 11, has a 10.59 ERA in his past four starts, giving up 20 runs and 28 hits in 17 innings.

“You just see how far you can go to give your team a chance to fight back and get in the game,” Lincecum said.

Wade Davis pitched a scoreless eighth and Greg Holland worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth while picking up his American League-leading 34th save in 36 opportunities.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — James Shields turned and gave a salute after striking out Pablo Sandoval to end his four-hitter, the Kansas City Royals’ sixth straight victory, 5-0 over San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.

“I was just saluting the bullpen, man,” Shields said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job for us, saving our behinds all year long. It’s nice to give them a day off. It just a nice little salute to the bullpen, tell them to take a day.”

Alex Gordon homered for the Royals, who have won nine of 10 to move with 1 1-2 games of AL Central-leading Detroit. The Royals, who have not made the playoffs since beating St. Louis in the 1985 World Series, are in second place in the AL wild card standings.

Shields (11-6) gave up three singles in the first four innings. He allowed only two Giants to reach second base. He walked Joe Panik in the fifth and he moved to second on a wild pitch with two outs, but was stranded. Panik doubled in the eighth.

“He’s got good stuff,” said Buster Posey, who went 0-for-4 and struck out once against Shields. “That’s about it. He’s been good for a while.”

It was Shields’ ninth career shutout, his first since Sept. 9, 2012.

Tim Hudson (8-9) gave up the home run to Gordon to lead off the fifth inning on Nebraska Night at Kauffman Stadium. Gordon is a Lincoln, Nebraska, native and was the college player of the year in 2005 as a junior with the Cornhuskers. Was it a coincidence Gordon homered on Nebraska Night?

“I go deep all the time. What are you talking about?” Gordon deadpanned before laughing. “It was a good crowd. It just energized all the players. It added excitement and energy. There was a lot of [Nebraska] red tonight, so that was good to see.”

Hudson yielded three straight hits to start the four-run seventh and was replaced by Jeremy Affeldt. The inning included Mike Moustakas’ run-producing double while Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Jarrod Dyson had RBI-singles.

Hudson was charged with three runs and six hits in six-plus innings. Affeldt, who had held the opposition scoreless in his previous 13 outings, faced four batters and gave up two runs and three hits.

“They’re playing very well,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the Royals. “When you play good teams, you have to play your best ball. Last night we let it get away. Tonight we just ran into a well-pitched game.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Billy Butler is hot at the plate and Kansas City Royals are even hotter.

Butler homered and drove in three runs and right fielder Nori Aoki threw out two runners in the same inning as the Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.

The Royals, who have not been in the playoffs since winning the 1985 World Series, hold a half game lead for the second AL wild card. They have won 13 of 16.

Butler, who is hitting .423 in the past seven games, homered with two out in the first off Madison Bumgarner (13-9). In the past 13 games, Butler has four home runs and 11 RBIs.

“Those are feeling really good,” Butler said. “Bumgarner is one of the best pitchers in the National League and in baseball in general. I just caught one out front. He battled all night, throwing a complete game. We capitalized on a few mistakes and got some runs across.”

Said Bumgarner of Butler’s homer, “It just caught a bit too much of the middle of the plate. He’s a good hitter.”

Butler singled home the go-ahead run in the two-run sixth, which was aided by throwing errors on Giants infielders Michael Morse and Matt Duffy. Alex Gordon had an RBI single.

“Morse had more time than he thought,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You’d just like to get one out there. Duffy knew he came of the bag and was trying to get the out (at first).”

The Giants scored twice in the third on Joaquin Arias’ double and Matt Duffy’s single. Aoki prevented a bigger inning, throwing out Hunter Pence at third and Arias at home.

“You might get two in a game, but never two in an inning,” Aoki said through a translator.

The Giants out hit the Royals 12-7, but self-destructed with three errors and base running blunders.

Bumgarner went the distance, allowing four runs on seven hits, while walking none and striking out five. His road scoreless streak was snapped at 17 innings.

Jason Frasor (3-1), the second of five Royals pitchers, threw a spotless sixth, striking out two. Greg Holland pitched a flawless ninth for his American League-leading 33rd save in 35 opportunities. It was Holland’s 100th career save.

— Associated Press —

PHOENIX (AP) — Through three innings Thursday night, Jeremy Guthrie looked shaky.

After that, he was perfect.

Guthrie retired the final 19 batters in Kansas City’s first complete game of the season, and the Royals beat Arizona 6-2 for a three-game interleague sweep of the Diamondbacks.

Guthrie (8-9) allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked none in his eighth career complete game.

“I think it’s the pitcher’s goal every time is to get as deep as they can,” he said. “I haven’t done that very well, especially the last couple of months. So it’s nice to have a high pitch count out there early but be able to settle in and get through some quick innings.”

As Guthrie finished off one batter after another, manager Ned Yost decided to just ride his starter as far as possible and rest his bullpen.

“We’re getting down to the point of the season where you know you’ve got to try to make sure everybody’s strong,” Yost said. “When you’ve got a pitcher that is throwing as good as he is, you try to take advantage of every pitch that he has in his tank.”

Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer and Alcides Escobar had a two-run single for the Royals, who have won four in a row and 12 of 15 to pull within 2 1/2 games of first-place Detroit in the AL Central. They were eight games out on July 21.

“Obviously we’re playing well and that’s all we can control,” Gordon said. “We haven’t really played Detroit in a while so we’re not really concerned where they’re at right now. We’re just trying to take care of our business and go from there.”

Vidal Nuno (2-8) lasted just four innings for Arizona, allowing five runs and seven hits. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in six starts since he was acquired in a trade with the Yankees that sent Brandon McCarthy to New York.

Kansas City (60-53) moved seven games above .500, matching its season high. It went 5-1 on a trip to Oakland and Arizona and is 33-26 on the road this season.

The Royals have won five consecutive series.

Jake Lamb, called up from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day, got his first major league hit and RBI when he singled in a run for the Diamondbacks in the third inning. Guthrie retired every batter after that.

“We got him in the beginning but later in the game he was throwing more cutters to the lefties,” Arizona’s David Peralta said. “He tried to get it in and jam us. We were trying to make an adjustment. It didn’t work this time for us, it worked for him.”

— Associated Press —

PHOENIX (AP) — Mike Moustakas accounted for all of Kansas City’s runs with a long ball, a liner and a bit of hustle after a diving stop by Arizona second baseman Aaron Hill.

His hustle play was the one that made all the difference.

Moustakas homered and drove in his fourth run by beating a relay throw to first in the ninth inning, helping the Royals beat the Diamondbacks 4-3 Wednesday night to win their fifth straight series.

“He (Hill) made a great play on that and I’m just running down the line to get to first and get that run, which turned out to be pretty big,” Moustakas said.

Kansas City rolled over Arizona in the opener and had just enough offense for Yordana Ventura (9-8) to take the second game.

Moustakas, who was 1 for 13 to start the six-game road trip, hit a two-run homer off Josh Collmenter (8-6) in the third inning and added a run-scoring single off the right-hander in the fourth. He was initially called out on the groundball in the ninth inning, but a review showed his headfirst dive beat the throw, allowing Billy Butler to score for a 4-2 lead.

The Royals needed the extra run, too.

Closer Greg Holland gave up a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly to Mark Trumbo in the bottom half before closing out his 32nd save.

The scrappy victory was the Royals’ sixth in seven games, pulling them within 3 1-2 games of Detroit in the AL Central.

“This was a big win for us with Detroit losing,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Every game is huge.”

The Diamondbacks certainly had their chances, particularly against Ventura.

Miguel Montero had three of Arizona’s 12 hits and Hill had his 1,300th career hit with a run-scoring single in the third inning.

The Diamondbacks just couldn’t come up with the big hits when they needed them, stranding 11 runners while going 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

“It was a game we should have done better, a more productive job of taking care of our opportunities,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said.

The Royals turned the series opener into a laugher, scoring 10 runs on three swings. Nori Aoki hit a grand slam, Butler had a three-run homer among his four hits, and Salvador Perez added a three-run shot in the 12-2 rout.

Kansas City had another long ball early against Collmenter, this one a two-run shot by Moustakas in the second inning, his team-leading 14th of the season. The Royals tacked on another run in the fourth, going up 3-2 on Moustakas’ run-scoring single.

Collmenter was good against everyone except Moustakas, though, allowing one other hit while striking out six in six innings.

“That is the difference: him (Ventura) pitching and getting out of jams and me pitching myself into a jam and not getting out of it,” Collmenter said.

Ventura had at least seven strikeouts in his previous two starts, including a win over Minnesota after allowing a run in seven innings his last outing.

The rookie right-hander kept piling up the Ks against the Diamondbacks, notching eight while working around baserunners nicely. He gave up run-scoring singles to Hill and David Peralta in the third inning, but little else despite struggling with his command on off-speed pitches.

Ventura allowed eight hits.

— Associated Press —

PHOENIX (AP) — Billy Butler had a three-run homer among his four hits, Nori Aoki hit a grand slam and the Kansas City Royals gave Danny Duffy some rare run support by bashing the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-2 on Tuesday night.

Kansas City battered Wade Miley (7-8) from the start, scoring 10 runs off him by the fifth inning. Salvador Perez had the first big blow with a three-run homer in the third inning and Butler added another three-run shot during Kansas City’s eight-run fifth. Aoki capped the big inning with his first career grand slam.

The Royals had 10 of their 15 hits by the fifth inning and had a season-high in runs, allowing Duffy (6-10) to cruise to his first win since June 30.

Perez had three hits.

The Royals have mostly struggled when Duffy has pitched this season, producing 2.34 runs of support, lowest in the majors among pitchers with at least 100 innings. The left-hander had allowed a run or less in 11 of 16 starts, yet was 4-5 in those, including four straight losses.

That changed in a big way against the Diamondbacks and Miley.

Arizona’s left-hander had been sharp over his previous six starts, going 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA, including 6 2/3 scoreless innings his last outing.

The Royals hit Miley hard early, starting with Perez’s 13th homer in the third inning. Butler added his own three-run shot in the fifth and, after a pair of wild pitches by Miley, Aoki put the capper on the big inning with his first career grand slam on the first pitch by reliever Bo Schultz.

Miley allowed nine hits and walked three.

Duffy gave up a run-scoring single to Mark Trumbo in the first inning, but little else in five innings. He allowed three hits and struck out seven to end a five-start winless streak.

— Associated Press —

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — James Shields pitched quite a gem for Kansas City. It certainly helped that Oakland abandoned its usual patient approach at the plate.

Shields pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in nearly a month, and the Royals beat the Athletics 4-2 on Sunday.

“This team was a free-hacking team today, which is not really their game,” Shields said. “They have a bunch of hitters over there that were being aggressive and I was able to execute my pitches early in the count.”

Shields retired his first 15 batters before Josh Reddick hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. Alberto Callaspo then had a one-out single before Sam Fuld lined into a double play.

The 32-year-old Shields (10-6) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked none for the fifth time this season.

“You watch the way that he’s pitching, it’s like, `OK boys, let’s just give him a couple runs and he’ll take it from there,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “A good indicator for him was he was managing his pitch count.”

Shields threw 102 pitches while helping the Royals to their ninth win in 12 games.

“As far as I’m concerned we can match up with anyone, any team, any starting rotation,” Shields said. “As long as we go toe to toe with those guys we’re going to be in every game.”

Reddick homered twice, getting to Shields again in the eighth.

The A’s have the best record in baseball at 67-43, but have sputtered offensively since trading cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes to Boston on Thursday in a deal for ace Jon Lester. They lead the stacked AL West by one game over the Los Angeles Angels, who beat Tampa Bay 7-5 on Sunday.

Oakland was without injured leadoff hitter Coco Crisp, though it hardly mattered the way Shields was pitching.

Shields allowed only three balls out of the infield through the first five innings. One of them was a deep fly to center by Josh Donaldson in the first, the closest Oakland came to getting a man on base before Reddick’s home run.

“We just haven’t been our best offensively here,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Shields was using all his pitches, going to the change, to the cutter, and he had good command.”

Shields got his first win since he beat his former team, Tampa Bay, on July 7. Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his AL-leading 31st save.

Nori Aoki’s RBI single in the fifth gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Omar Infante followed with a two-run double and later scored on a single by Salvador Perez.

All the runs came against Scott Kazmir (12-4).

Reddick has four home runs since coming off the disabled list July 22. It’s the sixth multihomer game of his career and second this season.

— Associated Press —