BOSTON (AP) — Mookie Betts belted three solo homers and J.D. Martinez also went deep, powering the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.It was the fourth three-homer game for the 25-year-old Betts, snapping a tie with Hall of Famer Ted Williams for most three-homer games in franchise history.AL East-leading Boston won for the third time in four games after losing 7-6 in 13 innings on Tuesday night.Cheslor Cuthbert homered for Kansas City, and Drew Butera had a two-run double. Danny Duffy (0-4) was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings.Drew Pomeranz (1-1) worked six innings for the win and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save.YANKEES 4, ASTROS 0HOUSTON (AP) — Luis Severino pitched a five-hitter and struck out 10 for his first career complete game while Giancarlo Stanton homered twice and drove in all four runs for New York.The Yankees have beaten Houston by the exact same 4-0 score for tow straight days.Severino... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Mookie Betts belted three solo homers and J.D. Martinez also went deep, powering the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.It was the fourth three-homer game for the 25-year-old Betts, snapping a tie with Hall of Famer Ted Williams for most three-homer games in franchise history.AL East-leading Boston won for the third time in four games after losing 7-6 in 13 innings on Tuesday night.Cheslor Cuthbert homered for Kansas City, and Drew Butera had a two-run double. Danny Duffy (0-4) was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings.Drew Pomeranz (1-1) worked six innings for the win and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save.INDIANS 12, RANGERS 4CLEVELAND (AP) — Edwin Encarnacion homered three times and drove in six runs, helping the Indians to the runaway win.Encarnacion hit a three-homer in the first, a two-run shot in the second and a solo drive in the eighth. The designated hitter leads the team with nine... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Mookie Betts belted three solo homers and J.D. Martinez also went deep, powering the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.It was the fourth three-homer game for the 25-year-old Betts, snapping a tie with Hall of Famer Ted Williams for most three-homer games in franchise history.AL East-leading Boston won for the third time in four games after losing 7-6 in 13 innings on Tuesday night.Cheslor Cuthbert homered for Kansas City, and Drew Butera had a two-run double. Danny Duffy (0-4) was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings.Drew Pomeranz (1-1) worked six innings for the win and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save.INDIANS 12, RANGERS 4CLEVELAND (AP) — Edwin Encarnacion homered three times and drove in six runs, helping the Indians to the runaway win.Encarnacion hit a three-homer in the first, a two-run shot in the second and a solo drive in the eighth. The designated hitter leads the team with nine... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez carried his own suitcase up the stairs when he arrived home from a stint at Triple-A Omaha, never once thinking about how perilous the trek was the last time he tried it.The Royals' All-Star catcher was toting his bags up the stairs after returning from spring training last month when he slipped awkwardly on a step. He wound up straining ligaments in his left knee and has spent nearly a month on the disabled list.Perez was activated along with outfielder Alex Gordon before Tuesday night's game against the Brewers. Perez was behind the plate and batting cleanup while Gordon was in left field and hitting seventh."I'm excited to be back on the field. It's time to go," Perez said. "They asked how I was feeling. I'm feeling great. You know me. I like to play hard. I like to compete. I like to help my team win."The Royals have had a hard time with that lately. They were just 5-15 heading into their game against Milwaukee, all of those games with fill-ins... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Lucas Duda homered off Trevor Bauer for the game's only run and Ian Kennedy pitched six shutout innings, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday in frigid, football-like weather conditions.Duda's shot in the seventh off Bauer (0-1) was one of only three hits by Kansas City and a rare highlight as the teams survived nine innings with the temperature hovering around freezing.Kennedy (1-0) allowed four hits, walked none and struck out eight. The right-hander was only in trouble once, but worked out of the sixth-inning jam. Blaine Boyer and Justin Grimm pitched an inning apiece before closer Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect ninth for his second save.The temperature was 34 at gametime, one degree above the coldest start to a game in the 25-year history of Progressive Field. Players on both teams bundled up, with several wearing hoods under their caps to try and stay warm.Bauer matched Kennedy and then some, giving up just three hits... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Opening day is supposed to be a time when smiles come easy, when managers and players look to the long and daunting grind ahead with a profound sense of hope and optimism.Royals skipper Ned Yost wasn't having any of it.He'd lost All-Star catcher Salvador Perez for up to six weeks because of a freak knee injury. One of the key pieces in his bullpen, Nate Karns, is headed to the disabled list with elbow inflammation. And two of the club's top prospects expected to help sooner than later, infielder Adalberto Mondesi and outfielder Bubba Starling, are likewise headed to the disabled list.The Royals were also forced to designate for assignment erstwhile top prospect Kyle Zimmer, a hard-throwing pitcher whose troubling injury history has prevented him from realizing his potential.Throw in the fact that Yost prefers to get into the day-to-day grind, rather than sit through the pomp and circumstance of opening day, and he was in a particular grim mood Thursday."You kind... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Talk about carrying some baggage into the season.Kansas City will be without Salvador Perez for up to six weeks after the star catcher sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee while carrying a suitcase up some stairs in his home.The injury occurred Tuesday night, when the Royals returned to Kansas City from spring training. The five-time All-Star heard a "pop" and immediately called Royals trainer Nick Kenney, who advised Perez to ice the knee and come in for an MRI exam Wednesday.The exam revealed a Grade 2 sprain with a minor tear of the ligament.No surgery is required, and recovery can be as little as four weeks. But the freak injury leaves the Royals without one of their top hitters when they open against the White Sox on Thursday."Hopefully," Royals manager Ned Yost said, "it's shorter than longer."Perez was wearing a bulky black brace on his knee when he arrived at Kauffman Stadium for the club's final preseason workout Wednesday. Later, he... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Talk about carrying some baggage into the season.Kansas City will be without Salvador Perez for up to six week after the star catcher sprained the medial collateral in his left knee while carrying a suitcase up some stairs in his home.The injury occurred Tuesday night, when the Royals returned to Kansas City from spring training. The five-time All-Star heard a "pop" and immediately called Royals trainer Nick Kenney, who advised Perez to ice the knee and come in for an MRI exam on Wednesday.The exam revealed a Grade 2 sprain with a minor tear of the ligament.No surgery is required, and recovery can be as little as four weeks. But the freak injury leaves the Royals without one of their top hitters when they open against the White Sox on Thursday."Hopefully," Royals manager Ned Yost said, "it's shorter than longer."Perez was wearing a bulky black brace on his knee when he arrived at Kauffman Stadium for the club's final preseason workout Wednesday. Later, he told reporters... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals catcher Salvador Perez will miss up to six weeks after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee when he missed a step while carrying a suitcase up stairs in his home.The injury occurred Tuesday night, when the club returned to Kansas City from spring training. The five-time All-Star heard a "pop" and immediately called Royals trainer Nick Kenney, who advised Perez to ice the knee and come in for an MRI exam on Wednesday.The exam revealed a Grade 2 sprain with a minor tear of the ligament.No surgery is required, and recovery can be as little as four weeks. The injury leaves the Royals without one of their top hitters when they open the season against the White Sox on Thursday.Drew Butera and Cam Gallagher are expected to share catching duties in Perez's place.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals came to camp Sunday and finally knew for sure: Eric Hosmer was gone.The move was not unexpected, but they had been dreading this day.Hosmer agreed to an eight-year, $144 million contract with the San Diego Padres this weekend, leaving the Royals with a big void at first base and in the clubhouse."I had a pretty good sense about four days ago that it probably wasn't going to work out here," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. "You still hold out hope. We began to develop a mindset that he is probably going in a different direction."The 28-year-old Hosmer hit a career-best .318 last year with 25 home runs. He is a four-time Gold Glove winner and was the MVP of the 2016 All-Star Game, which was played in San Diego. Hosmer helped the Royals to back-to-back World Series appearances, and they won it all in 2015."Eric Hosmer was a huge part of that," Moore said. "We're forever grateful for his leadership, what he meant and does mean to this organization.... [More]

C Drew Butera hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth inning of a 10-8 loss to Oakland on Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum. Butera launched RHP Santiago Casilla's 1-0 pitch down the left field line and into the seats. Butera's homer came one night after rookie C Cam Gallagher hit a grand slam in the Royals' 6-2 win against the A's. The Royals are without No. 1 catcher Salvador Perez, who is on the disabled list with a strained right intercostal. Butera went 4-for-5 and scored two runs Sunday in a 14-6 win against the White Sox.

C Drew Butera went 4-for-5 in the ninth spot Sunday against the White Sox for a career-high four hits. He's batting .270.

C Drew Butera is a veteran, filling in in the past whenever All-Star C Salvador Perez needed a day off or filling in whenever he was injured. Butera, however, was charged with two passed balls in the 8-7 loss in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday to Seattle. Butera was in the lineup Monday against the Cardinals and committed a throwing error on a pickoff throw. "I see Drew catching today (Monday)," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "I'm not setting anything further than today. We'll go day-to-day with it. I'm not going to sit here and say these guys are going to catch X amount of games. He's catching today. That's my mindset. We'll see who catches tomorrow."

C Drew Butera will do the majority of the catching during injured C Salvador Perez's absence. Butera, 33, entered Sunday hitting .250 with two homers nine RBIs in 45 games.

C Drew Butera matched his career high with three hits. It is the sixth three-hit game of his career. His previous one was May 14, 2017, against the Orioles.

C Drew Butera said he was fine after getting hit in the fourth inning by a swing from Yankees RF Aaron Judge. Butera said it hit him near the funny bone area of his elbow, which had a small mark on it.

C Drew Butera got his first RBIs of the season Monday, first on a solo home run and then on an RBI single. He is a Rays killer, hitting .538 since 2015 against them and .409 since 2012.

C Drew Butera had his first two-hit game of the season Saturday against the Rangers. Butera was the only Royals player with more than one hit. He was a late addition to the lineup after C Salvador Perez was scratched with a stiff neck.

C Drew Butera contributed a run-producing single in the eighth. It was his fourth career triple and his first since May 31, 2014, against the Pirates while with the Dodgers. Butera is 23-for-67, .343 at Kauffman Stadium.

C Drew Butera hit his third homer of the year, which matched his career high. He also hit three home runs with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. His homer Sunday was his first since June 3.