AMERICAN LEAGUE

Royals 3, Athletics 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alcides Escobar pumped his fist. Jarrod Dyson did a backflip. And for the first time in more than a decade, the Kansas City Royals were in first place in mid-August.

Yordano Ventura outpitched Sonny Gray in a matchup of talented young starters Monday night, and Escobar drove in the go-ahead run as Kansas City beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 to take over the AL Central lead from Detroit with its eighth consecutive victory.

"You want to be in first place," Royals Manager Ned Yost said. "Our goal was to get back to first place. Now our goal is to stay in first place."

The Royals trailed the Tigers by eight games on July 21, but their 16th victories in 19 games wiped away the deficit and gave them the lead at the latest point in a season since 2003.

"We're playing great," said Escobar, who drove in a run in the second inning before his two-out single off Gray (12-6) in the seventh gave Kansas City the lead for good.

Ventura lasted through sixth innings before giving way to Kelvin Herrera (3-2), who tossed a spotless seventh. Wade Davis breezed through the eighth and Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 35th save.

"Those three guys at the end are as good as you get," A's manager Bob Melvin said of the Royals' bullpen. "They don't worry about righty-lefty. They feel when they get to the seventh inning with a lead, they feel pretty good about it."

There was some drama in the ninth.

Josh Donaldson led off with a single, the first hit by the Athletics since the second inning, and Brandon Moss drew a walk. But after a brief conference on the mound, Holland got Derek Norris to bounce into a double play and Stephen Vogt to fly out to end the game.

"He has the ability to focus pitch to pitch, which good closers can do," Yost said. "You get first and second with his stuff, you just have a feeling he's going to get out of it."

RAYS 7, RANGERS 0 Drew Smyly (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) allowed three hits in his first victory since the David Price trade, Matt Joyce had a two-run single and visiting Tampa Bay beat Texas. Smyly (7-10) struck out nine in a career-high 7 2/3 innings to beat the Rangers for the second time this season. The left-hander hasn't allowed Texas an earned run in three appearances, including a relief outing when he was still with Detroit. Smyly struck out the final batter he faced, Shin-Soo Choo, for the second out with runners at second and third in the eighth.

ORIOLES 11, YANKEES 3 Chris Davis hit a two-run home run after replacing an injured Manny Machado, and AL East-leading Baltimore beat visiting New York to drop the Yankees to a season-high seven games out of first place.

TWINS 4, ASTROS 2 Joe Mauer had two hits in his return from the disabled list, including a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning, to help visiting Minnesota beat Houston. Mauer, who doubled in the third inning, extended his hitting streak to 13 games in his first game since missing 34 with a strained muscle on his right side.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 6, CARDINALS 5 Giancarlo Stanton hit two home runs and made a diving catch in right field to help host Miami beat St. Louis. Stanton's 13th multiple-home run game established a franchise career record and he tied Hanley Ramirez for second place on the club's all-time home run list with 148. Stanton hit a two-run home run in the first and another in the third, with nobody on, to give him 31 on the season.

METS 5, PHILLIES 3 Slumping Anthony Recker hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run, Jonathon Niese pitched seven sharp innings and visiting New York beat Philadelphia.

DODGERS 6, BRAVES 2 Kevin Correia (6-13) won in his debut with the Dodgers, outpitching All-Star Julio Teheran (10-9) and leading visiting Los Angeles over slumping Atlanta.

BREWERS 3, CUBS 1 Yovani Gallardo pitched seven innings and Khris Davis had a tiebreaking RBI double to lead visiting Milwaukee to a victory over Chicago.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 11, TIGERS 6 Travis Snider hit two home runs, and Starling Marte drove in three runs as host Pittsburgh coasted to a victory over Detroit, knocking the Tigers out of first place in the American League Central.

Sports on 08/12/2014