Royals shut out Giants, creep up on Tigers’ lead
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — James Shields threw a four-hitter and Alex Gordon homered as the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 5-0 on Saturday night.
The Royals have won nine of 10 to move with 1½ 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.
It was Shields’ ninth career shutout, his first since Sept. 9, 2012.
Tim Hudson (8-9) gave up a home run to Gordon to lead off the fifth inning on Nebraska Night at Kauffman Stadium. Gordon is a Lincoln, Neb., native and was the college player of the year in 2005 as a junior with the Cornhuskers.
Hudson yielded three consecutive 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 3 runs and 6 hits in 6-plus innings. Affeldt, who had held the opposition scoreless in his previous 13 outings, faced 4 batters and gave up 2 runs and 3 hits.
ORIOLES 10, CARDINALS 3 Caleb Joseph homered in his fifth consecutive game, Nelson Cruz hit his 30th and Delmon Young went deep as host Baltimore beat John Lackey and St. Louis. All three
Saturday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 2, Philadelphia 1 (11) San Diego 2, Pittsburgh 1 Milwaukee 4, LA Dodgers 1 Miami 4, Cincinnati 3 Arizona 14, Colorado 4 Washington at Atlanta, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland 3, NY Yankees 0 Toronto 3, Detroit 2 (10) Houston 8, Texas 3 Oakland 9, Minnesota 4 Chicago White Sox 2, Seattle 1 (10) Boston at LA Angels, (n)
INTERLEAGUE Baltimore 10, St. Louis 3 Tampa Bay 4, Chicago Cubs 0 Kansas City 5, San Francisco 0 home runs came with a man on against Lackey (1-1), making his second start since coming from Boston in a July 31 trade.
RAYS 4, CUBS 0 Jake Odorizzi struck out nine in six scoreless innings and combined with two relievers on a five-hitter to lead visiting Tampa Bay to a victory over Chicago. AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 3, YANKEES 0 Corey Kluber pitched four-hit ball for six innings and Jose Ramirez hit his first career home run as Cleveland ended a four-game skid with a victory over host New York.
BLUE JAYS 3, TIGERS 2 (10) Nolan Reimold hit a game-winning double in the 10th inning and Toronto rallied past visiting Detroit, spoiling Max Scherzer’s bid to become the first 14-game winner in the American League.
ASTROS 8, RANGERS 3 Jon Singleton drove in three runs, and host Houston handled Yu Darvish again in a victory over Texas to stretch the streak against their in-state rival to seven victories in a row. Darvish (10-7) allowed 9 hits and 6 runs — 5 earned — in 4-plus innings.
ATHLETICS 9, TWINS 4 Derek Norris hit a three-run home run, Stephen Vogt added a two-run shot, and host Oakland won its 12th consecutive game against Minnesota.
WHITE SOX 2, MARINERS 1 (10) Conor Gillespie’s RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning helped Chicago to a victory over host Seattle. Former Mariner Hector Noesi worked 71/ innings
3 for the White Sox, allowing 1 unearned run and 5 hits with 4 strikeouts and a walk. NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 4, DODGERS 1 Mike Fiers held Los Angeles to three hits in his first big league start in more than a year, and Khris Davis and Carlos Gomez homered to give host Milwaukee a victory.
PADRES 2, PIRATES 1 Eric Stults got his first road victory of the season, going 61/ innings
3 as visiting San Diego beat Pittsburgh. Stults (513) gave up 1 run and 7 hits, struck out 6 and walked none.
MARLINS 4, REDS 3 Brad Penny rejoined Miami for the first time in 10 years and pitched five solid innings to get a victory over slumping host Cincinnati.
METS 2, PHILLIES 1 (11) Lucas Duda singled home the go-ahead run with one out in the 11th inning to lead visiting New York to a victory over Philadelphia. It was New York’s 11th victory over the Phillies in the last 12 games in Philadelphia.
DIAMONDBACKS 14, ROCKIES 4 David Peralta hit a grand slam in Arizona’s nine-run eighth inning, Mark Trumbo homered and drove in four runs, and host Arizona routed Colorado.