Hammel picks up first win as Royals best Indians

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jason Hammel allowed three hits over six innings for his first win with Kansas City, Eric Hosmer sent a two-run homer splashing into the fountains behind the fence in right-center field and the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 3-1 Friday night.

Hammel (1-3) struck out six and walked two, ending a six-start winless streak dating to Sept. 19, when he defeated Cincinnati for the Chicago Cubs. Hammel, who left the World Series champions as a free agent to sign a $16 million, two-year deal with Kansas City, failed to get out of the fourth inning in his previous two starts.

Rookie Scott Alexander, Joakim Soria and Kevin Herrera combined for one-hit relief. Alexander induced three straight groundouts in the seventh, Soria struck out Brandon Guyer, Roberto Perez and Carlos Santana in the eighth, and Herrera allowed Edwin Encarnacion’s twoout double in the ninth before retiring Jose Ramirez on a groundout for his fourth save in five chances.

Encarnacion homered in the fourth — he has four home runs in 21 at-bats against Hammel.

Hosmer, who had three hits, homered in the fifth off Danny Salazar (2-3) with a drive that would have traveled 458 feet unimpeded, according to Major League Baseball’s Statcast. Whit Merrifield had singled leading off.

Alcides Escobar added an RBI double in the sixth off Nick Goody,

Salazar (2-3) gave up two runs and eight hits in 4 2 /3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.

TWINS 4, RED SOX 3 Joe Mauer hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Mauer’s first career walk-off home run landed in the bullpen in left-center field and backed a strong start from Phil Hughes in the Twins’ fifth win in six games. Hughes gave up one run and six hits in 62/3 innings while struck out four in his deepest outing of the season for the Twins.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CARDINALS 10, BRAVES 0 Tommy Pham doubled and hit a two-run homer after his recall from the minors, Matt Carpenter also hit a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame injuries to two starting outfielders to beat the Atlanta Braves 10-0 on Friday night. Lance Lynn (4-1) allowed four hits in six innings, and has given up just two runs while winning four straight starts. Aledmys Diaz had three hits and three RBIs, including a two-run double in the Cardinals’ four-run third and a run-scoring single in the sixth.

INTERLEAGUE

YANKEES 3, CUBS 2 Brett Gardner lined a slider from Hector Rondon into the right-field bleachers with two outs in the ninth inning for a three-run homer that lifted the New York Yankees over the World Series champion Chicago Cubs 3-2 in a dramatic series opener Friday. Home runs by Kris Bryant in the first and Kyle Schwarber in the sixth off Michael Pineda staked the Cubs to a 2-0 lead on a 45-degree afternoon with the wind blowing in. Chase Headley singled with one out in the ninth off Rondon (0-1), pitching after Wade Davis appeared in the previous three games. Jacoby Ellsbury, in his first appearance since injuring an elbow Monday, pinch hit with two outs and walked after a 2-1 pitch at the knees was called a ball by umpire Ryan Blakney.