Mike Moustakas and the Kansas City Royals out-slugged the Minnesota Twins.

ROYALS 11, TWINS 8

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike Moustakas homered, doubled and drove in four runs in the first two innings, Jorge Soler went 4-for-5 with a home run, but the Kansas City Royals nearly blew a nine-run lead before holding on for a 11-8 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Moustakas' double in the first scored Jon Jay and Alcides Escobar.

Moustakas' 12th homer was a towering two- run shot that just made it into the front row of the right-field seats and barely fair.

According to Statcast, it had a 46-degree launch angle, the highest in the majors this season, and carried 339 feet.

The Royals sent 11 men to the plate in a seven-run second. Soler nearly had a two-run homer in the inning, but after a review it was changed to a run-producing double. The second inning also included Ryan Goins' two-run triple.

Every Royals starter had scored in the first two innings for a 9-0 lead, but it almost was not enough.

The Twins chipped away at the Royals' lead, including bases-empty home runs by Brian Dozier and Ehrie Adrianza in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.

Miguel Sano hit a two-run double in a four-run Twins' sixth and scored on Eduardo Escobar's twoout single, cutting the Royals' lead to 9-8.

Sano had a RBI single in the third and has hit in 17 consecutive games with 30 RBIs in that span.

Hunter Dozier led off the Kansas City seventh with his first career home run. Soler homered in the eighth for his fourth hit, matching his career high.

Kevin McCarthy (4-2), the fifth of seven Kansas City pitchers, retired all four batters he faced and earned the victory.

INDIANS 9, WHITE SOX 1 Corey Kluber pitched six shutout innings and reached eight victories before any AL pitcher as the Cleveland Indians rolled to their fifth straight win, topping the sagging Chicago White Sox. Spotted a ninerun

cushion after four innings, Kluber (8-2) had little trouble with baseball’s worst team. The defending AL Cy Young Award winner allowed three hits, struck out 10 and improved to 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA in four starts against Central Division teams this season.

YANKEES 5, ASTROS 3 Luis Severino struck out 11 in seven overpowering innings, beating longtime Yankees nemesis Dallas Keuchel for the second time this year as New York topped the Houston Astros. Gary Sanchez snapped an 0-for19 slump with a two-run single and the Yankees took two of three from the reigning World Series champions this week to win the season series 5-2. Houston defeated New York in the 2017 AL Championship Series, with the home team winning all seven games. RED SOX 6, BLUE JAYS 4 J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer over the Green Monster, and the Red Sox completed a threegame series sweep. Martinez tied for the major league lead with his 18th homer, snapping a 2-2 tie in the sixth. Eduardo Nunez hit a solo homer and an RBI double for Boston, which has won nine of 11 and has the best record in the major leagues at 39-17.

NATIONAL LEAGUE BREWERS 3, CARDINALS 2 Alex Reyes

pitched four scoreless innings for St. Louis in his return from Tommy John surgery, but Orlando Arcia hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Milwaukee’s two-run seventh Making his first major league appearance since Sept. 29, 2016, Reyes allowed three hits, struck out two and walked two. With two out and runners on first and second, Arcia stopped a 0-for-15 slide with a base hit against Sam Tuivailala (1-1).

METS 4, BRAVES 1 Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez each drove in two runs, Jason Vargas pitched five scoreless innings and the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves. It was a much-needed reprieve for the Mets, who had lost seven of nine and are 16-25 since starting the season 11-1. Vargas (2-3) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one intentional walk with two strikeouts.

PIRATES 2, CUBS 1 Joe Musgrove pitched seven strong innings and his hard slide led to both teams emptying their benches in another tense moment in the series between NL Central rivals, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a victory over the Chicago Cubs. Musgrove (2-0) helped end the Pirates’ four-game losing streak by overcoming a shaky first inning to allow one run on seven hits and four walks. He also had five strikeouts, five days after pitching seven scoreless innings against the St. Louis Cardinals to win his Pirates’ debut.