Moustakas helps Royals clinch first series victory

ROYALS 4, TIGERS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike Moustakas helped the Kansas City Royals win a series for the first time in 11 tries this season.

Moustakas drove in three runs with a double and sacrifice fly, and the Royals beat Detroit 4-2 on Sunday to take three of four from the Tigers.

Kansas City had lost nine previous series this year and split one.

“We’ve been going out and grinding and playing good baseball,” Moustakas said. “Obviously things haven't really been going our way. Lately we've been playing great ball. Things are starting to fall for us. Our staff has been doing phenomenal and our defense is always there. If we keep doing those things, we’re going to keep getting better.”

Kansas City has won six of its last nine games, leaving the Royals at 11-23.

Jakob Junis (4-2) improved to 3-0 against the Tigers this year and matched his career high with eight strikeouts. He allowed two runs and eight hits in seven-plus innings.

“The slider was working,” Junis said. “I had a lot of strikeouts and strikeouts in big situations. Strikeouts are always good.”

Kelvin Herrera retired pinch-hitter Nicholas Castellanos on a game-ending flyout with a man on for his seventh save in eight chances, ending a game that took just 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Matthew Boyd (1-3) gave up four runs and six hits in seven innings, dropping to 2-6 against Kansas City.

The Royals wore the uniforms of the Kansas City Monarchs and the Tigers of the Detroit Stars as the clubs saluted the Negro Leagues. The Negro Leagues Mu- seum is in Kansas City. YANKEES 7, INDIANS 4

Rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres became the youngest Yankees player to hit a walk-off homer, a three-run shot in the ninth inning that gave New York a win over Cleveland for its 15th victory in 16 games. At 21 years and 144 days, Torres bettered Mickey Mantle, who was 21 years and 185 days when he hit three-run, ninth-inning drive off Boston’s Ellis Kinder in a 6-3 win on April 23, 1953.

BLUE JAYS 2, RAYS 1

Kevin Pillar scored the tiebreaking run on Alex Colome’s wild pitch in the ninth to help lift Toronto over Tampa Bay. Toronto stopped a three-game losing streak. TWINS 5, WHITE SOX 3

James Shields pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Minnesota rallied late for a victory over the Chicago White Sox. RED SOX 6, RANGERS 1 Chris Sale struck out a season-high 12 for Boston, who beat Texas to maintain its AL East lead. Sale (3-1), who also lowered his ERA to 2.02, allowed one run on four hits over seven innings.

ATHLETICS 2, ORIOLES 1

Andrew Triggs allowed two hits over seven innings, Khris Davis and Matt Olson drove in runs and Oakland rallied to beat Baltimore and extend the Orioles’ losing streak to six games.

ANGELS 8, MARINERS 2

Shohei Ohtani returned from a sprained ankle and took a shutout into the seventh inning while outpitching Felix Hernandez, Mike Trout hit his 12th home run and the Los Angeles Angels beat Seattle. Ohtani (3-1) made his first start on the mound since April 24. The two-way Japanese star looked to be completely in rhythm and showed no effects, striking out six.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ROCKIES 3, METS 2

Ian Desmond hit a pair of solo homers, including a tiebreaking drive in the eighth inning that sent Colorado over the sagging New York Mets for its season-high fifth straight win.

GIANTS 4, BRAVES 3

Andrew Suarez outpitched Mike Soroka in a rookie matchup, and San Francisco survived Atlanta’s ninth-inning rally for a win on and the Giants’ first series sweep of the Braves in four years. Giants starters have a 2.55 ERA in 17 road games after Suarez (1-1) allowed only one unearned run and seven hits and one walk in 51/3 innings for his first win.

NATIONALS 5, PHILLIES 4 Max Scherzer

struck out 15 in only 61/3 innings, and Washington then rallied for two runs in the ninth to beat Philadelpia. Scherzer, who has won the last two NL Cy Youngs, fanned seven batters in a row at one stretch and got 12 consecutive outs via strikeout from the second to the sixth inning. He gave up a run on five hits and two walks.

PIRATES 9, BREWERS 0

Chad Kuhl and Richard Rodrguez combined on a two-hitter, leading Pittsburgh over Milwaukee. Kuhl is 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA in six starts against the Brewers, and the Pirates are unbeaten in those games. Adam Frazier, Jordy Mercer and Josh Bell hit solo homers for the Pirates.

DODGERS 3, PADRES 0

Eric Hosmer hit a go-ahead, two-run homer for the second straight day, rookie Eric Lauer got his first major league win and San Diego beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to take two of three in Major League Baseball’s first regular-season series in Mexico since 1999.

MARLINS 8, REDS 5

Starlin Castro drove in three runs for the second straight game, Cameron Maybin added two hits and two RBIs and Miami won their fourth straight series, holding on for a win over Cincinnati.

INTERLEAGUE

DIAMONDBACKS 3, ASTROS 1

Matt Koch outpitched Justin Verlander to become the first pitcher to beat MVPs in consecutive starts in at least 71 years, lifting Arizona over Houston.