Karns dazzles in Royals’ victory against Chicago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nate Karns pitched six innings of onehit ball, striking out four in his final frame, and the Kansas City Royals cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

Karns (1-2) wound up striking out seven with only one walk in his best performance of the season, one that helped Kansas City assure itself at least a split of the four-game series with the finale Thursday afternoon.

Mike Pelfrey (0-2) kept the White Sox in it until the sixth, when he gave up a single, double and triple in succession. Eric Hosmer followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead, a shot to center that came within about 5 feet of giving the Royals a natural team cycle.

Pelfrey allowed three runs and five hits in 51/3innings, and White Sox slugger Jose Abreu homered off the Kansas City bullpen with two outs in the ninth.

There was little indication a pitchers' duel would break out Wednesday night.

Karns had allowed 10 runs and four homers over 102/3 innings in his last two games, losing both of them. That included a 5-2 loss to the White Sox just last week.

Yet he managed to handcuff the hot-hitting White Sox on Wednesday night, giving up a single with two outs in the first inning and little else. Karns dealt with another runner in the fourth thanks to his own error, and a third runner in the sixth when he struck out Yolmer Sanchez with a wild pitch.

Karns wound up striking out four in that inning, fanning Abreu to end it. It was the first time a Royals pitcher struck out four in an inning since Kevin Appier on Sept. 3, 1996.

Meanwhile, Pelfrey had surrendered seven runs over 8 2/3 innings in his first two starts of the year, and that was only marginally better than his performances all of last season.

But the big right-hander bore down against the weak-hitting Royals, giving up a pair of singles and a walk over the first five innings, easily escaping trouble each time.

The Royals finally got to him in the sixth when Mike Moustakas followed Whit Merrifield's one-out single with his double to the gap in right. Lorenzo Cain followed with an RBI triple to the same spot, and Hosmer's fly ball to the wall in center gave Kansas City a comfortable cushion.

The Royals tacked on three more runs off the Chicago bullpen.

YANKEES 8, BLUE JAYS 6 Aaron Judge hit another long drive for his major league-leading 13th home run, singled to start the go-ahead rally and had the first three-hit game of his big league career, helping the New York Yankees rally from an early deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-6 on Wednesday night. Matt Holliday hit his 300th home run, a three-run shot in the first, and pinch-hitter Didi Gregorius drove in the go-ahead run in a three-run seventh inning with a comebacker that could have been an inning-ending double play but instead bounced off the glove of reliever Joe Biagini for an infield single.

RED SOX 4, ORIOLES 2 Hours after Major League Baseball held a conference call to tell the Red Sox and Orioles to stop their festering feud, Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman was ejected in the second inning for hitting a batter and Boston went on to win 4-2 Wednesday night. Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was later tossed, too, soon after being upset by a called strike. On Monday night, the All-Star was the target of racial slurs at Fenway Park, prompting apologies from the Red Sox, the mayor of Boston and the governor of Massachusetts. Gausman was tossed by plate umpire Sam Holbrook after what appeared to be a curveball hit Xander Bogaerts. Catcher Caleb Joseph slammed his mask on the plate and manager Buck Showalter bolted from the dugout to argue. Gausman looked puzzled, at first, and then hollered.

ASTROS 10, RANGERS 1 Marwin Gonzalez homered for the fourth time in his last three games and Carlos Correa had four hits, helping the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 10-1 on Wednesday night. Gonzalez had two hits and smashed a two-run homer off the batter’s eye in center in the sixth inning for a 6-1 lead. He hit two home runs against Texas on Tuesday, including a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth that rallied Houston to an 8-7 win. Correa and Brian McCann sparked a four-run second inning with solo homers off starter Nick Martinez (0-1).