 began to emerge from a monthlong funk, allowing two unearned runs and six hits in six innings. The 2015 Cy Young winner had surrendered a combined 17 runs over his last three outings, and had not won since tossing seven scoreless innings against Texas on May 13.Danny Duffy (3-7) had been pitching well of late, but the Royals left-hander allowed seven runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings.Duffy was in trouble from the start. George Springer drew a leadoff walk, Bregman added a single and Altuve ripped a double to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.The Astros tacked on two more runs in the fifth, getting a little help from Mike Moustakas in the process. The Royals third baseman flubbed an easy grounder that led to an unearned run.Kansas City matched the tally in the bottom half, after an error by shortstop Carlos Correa. Ryan Goins, White Merrifield and Moustakas strung together hits to drive in two runs, but Keuchel bounced back to strike out Salvador Perez with the tying run on base.Stassi took all the drama out of things in the sixth, when he swatted Duffy's 1-0 pitch to left field for a 7-2 lead. Bregman added his homer in the ninth.The only consolation for the Royals was that they weren't grand slams. They pitching staff had served up one of them each of the past two games, including Evan Gattis' in the series opener. AND STREAKSRoyals C Drew Butera snapped a 0-for-16 skid with a single in the third inning. LF Alex Gordon ended a 0-for-13 slump with a single in the sixth. ... Houston is now a season-high 22 games over .500.SO LONG, SOLERRoyals OF Jorge Soler will miss at least six weeks after breaking a bone in his left foot during the series opener. Soler will head to the DL but with Triple-A Omaha on the West Coast, a corresponding roster move will not be made until Sunday. Soler was hitting .265 with nine homers and 28 RBIs.TRAINER'S ROOMAstros: Stassi walked off the field with a trainer after a single in the ninth, but the nature of his injury wasn't clear. Brian McCann replaced him.Royals: 1B Lucas Duda will begin a rehab assignment with Omaha on Sunday, manager Ned Yost said. Duda has been out since May 14 with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.UP NEXTThe Royals send RHP Brad Keller (1-2, 2.31 ERA) to the mound in the hopes of avoiding a sweep. The Astros counter with RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (8-3, 3.83 ERA) as they try to keep their streak going.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Astros' Keuchel looks to get on track versus Royals 1h ago• 3 min read KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Four Houston Astros starting pitchers have won at least eight games this season. They are Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers.The lone exception is left-hander Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner. Keuchel, who pitches Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, is 3-8 with a 3.71 ERA in 14 starts this season.Keuchel has allowed 90 hits, including a dozen home runs, and walked 32 while striking out 81 in 82 1/3 innings. He has a 3-1 career record against the Royals in six starts. He had a no-decision against them last year, allowing two hits and one run in seven innings.If Keuchel is the weak link in the Astros' rotation, that is a fearsome five."The Gerrit Cole addition was great and Verlander was a great addition to them last year," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "The thing that is so important is they make these deals in hopes they can get them over the hump with a World Series, and it did."They've got a fantastic rotation. They've got a fantastic group of young talented, athletic players. They're a good team. They're a tough match." The Astros (46-25) reminded the Royals just how good they are with a 7-3 victory on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium. Evan Gattis, who drove in five Houston runs on Tuesday and Wednesday in Oakland, hit a sixth-inning grand slam.The Royals (22-47) took a hit besides in the loss column when starting right fielder Jorge Soler left with a fractured first left metatarsal in the sixth inning. He stumbled out of the blocks while grounding out. It is the same foot Soler fouled a ball off last Friday in Oakland and then did not play again until Tuesday.Yost said he did not know if the injuries are related. He said Soler would be out for an extended period. The Royals will make a roster move Saturday with Soler, who was on crutches in the clubhouse after the loss, headed for the disabled list.Both clubs made roster moves Friday. Astros left-hander Reymin Guduan was placed on the paternity list. They recalled infielder Tyler White from Triple-A Fresno, where he was hitting .338 with a 1.023 OPS in 62 games.The Royals purchased the contract of right-handed reliever Brandon Maurer from Triple-A Omaha. In his past seven outings, he ran off a scoreless streak of 12 2/3 innings while striking out 10 and holding opponents to a .163 batting average with one extra-base hit.The Royals optioned rookie right-hander Jason Adam to Omaha. Adam had allowed six home runs, including a grand slam Wednesday, in 15 1/3 innings.Left-hander Danny Duffy, who is 3-6 with a 3.28 ERA in 14 starts, is the Royals' probable starter Saturday. He is coming off his best start of the season, tossing seven scoreless innings last Saturday in Oakland, allowing three hits and striking out a career high 10.Duffy is 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in eight outings, four of them starts, against the Astros. He owns a 2.08 ERA in his last two starts against the Astros.The Royals will attempt to snap a four-game losing streak. They have dropped 10 of their last 11 and are 10-24 at home. They've scored just 26 runs in 13 games in June, when they are hitting .183.The Astros have the best road record (27-11) in the majors. They have won their last eight road games, three shy of the club record set last year. They have logged at least a dozen hits in five straight games, the second longest streak in franchise history and trailing only a seven-game streak set in 2007.
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