MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Eduardo Escobar had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh to support Jose Berrios’ strong outing as the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Monday night.

Escobar plated Joe Mauer with a seventh-inning single as Minnesota took advantage of Kansas City’s struggling bullpen to win its fifth straight game.

Berrios (9-7), elected to his first All-Star game a day earlier, allowed one run on six hits in seven innings. He struck out eight while throwing a season-high 111 pitches.

Fernando Rodney allowed a walk and hit in the ninth but secured his 20th save.

Tim Hill (1-3) surrendered both runs and got just one out in relief after starter Danny Duffy’s six scoreless innings. The Royals started the game with a league-worst 5.29 relief ERA.

Duffy and Berrios nearly matched each other in a through seven innings as both teams couldn’t convert scoring chances.

The Royals were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded five runners against Berrios. Minnesota was 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base against Duffy, who has a 3.07 ERA over his past nine starts after a slow start to his season.

The Twins had a runner reach third in three of Duffy’s six innings and failed to drive him in.

Berrios was named Minnesota’s representative for the All-Star game and demonstrated his credentials on Tuesday mixing in his low-90s fastball with a sweeping curve.

Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the third for the only run against Berrios.

YOST EJECTED

Kansas City manager Ned Yost was ejected in the fourth after Lucas Duda was called out on strikes by home plate umpire Will Little. Duda checked his swing, but apparently struck out on a called strike that appeared high and out of the zone.

It was Yost’s 43rd career ejection and the first of this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: RHP Ervin Santana (60-day disabled list, finger surgery) is scheduled to start Tuesday for Double-A Chattanooga as he tries to work his way back to the Minnesota rotation. Manager Paul Molitor said Santana is likely to move his rehab to Triple-A Rochester for one start before the All-Star break and the team will decide on his future depending on the two starts.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy (1-8, 5.11 ERA) will be activated from the disabled list to start Tuesday evening’s game in Minnesota. Kennedy has been out since June 29 with a left oblique strain. He has gone 15 starts without a win, the longest active winless streak in the majors.

Twins: RHP Aaron Slegers (1-0, 2.38) will make his second start and third appearance of the season on Tuesday. He earned his first major league win on July 5 with one run allowed in six innings against Baltimore.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – If the Boston Red Sox keep getting this kind of pitching and hitting, their first 100-win season in more than seven decades seems a lock.

Rick Porcello matched his victory total from last year, pitching seven effective innings, Andrew Benintendi had four hits and scored twice, and the Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-4 on Sunday.

The Red Sox hit .385, 45 for 111, and had 68 base runners in sweeping the three-game series. Boston has won six straight and 13 of 16 and own the best record in the majors at 62-29.

“One through nine, they’re all great hitters,” loser Heath Fillmyer (0-1) said after his first big-league start. “That’s probably why they’re in the position they are this year.”

The Red Sox haven’t won 100 games since 1946.

Porcello (11-3), who was 11-17 in 2017, allowed three runs on nine hits before leaving after 111 pitches. He struck out nine, matching his season high, and walked one. Craig Kimbrel got the final two outs for his 27th save in 29 chances.

Benintendi extended his on-base streak to 10 straight – six hits and four walks – before striking out in the eighth.

“I thought I was patient up there,” Benintendi said. “I was trying to get pitches I could handle and was able to do that.”

Drew Butera singled and Whit Merrifield doubled to lead off the Kansas City seventh, but Porcello stranded them by striking out Jorge Bonifacio and Mike Moustakas and retiring Lucas Duda on a fly ball.

“I went out there with the thought of taking him out,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after Merrifield’s hit. “I think with the lead and the conviction he told me, ‘I got it,’ we went hitter by hitter and he got them.”

Porcello persuaded Cora to let him get out of the jam.

“I just tried to make my best case for staying in,” Porcello said. “I felt like I was throwing the ball well. They got runners at second and third with nobody out and I felt like I could get out of it and limit the damage. I felt like it was my mess to clean up. Guys in the bullpen have been getting a lot of work lately and that was my job. Our offense did a great job of putting runs up and that should’ve been a shutdown inning. I wanted it and he gave it to me.”

Eduardo Nunez drove in two Boston runs with singles in the fourth and seventh. Mitch Moreland walked with the base loaded in the fifth and singled in a run in the seventh. Xavier Bogaerts also contributed an RBI-double in a three-run seventh.

Merrifield singled in a run in the ninth for his first five-hit game. Bonifacio drove in two KC runs with a third-inning double.

“Anytime you can get five hits, that’s a good day,” Merrifield said. “But a tough day for us as a team.”

Fillmyer allowed four runs, one unearned, on eight hits and three walks. He was filling in for Jakob Junis, who went on the disabled list with back tightness.

“I just try to minimize the mistakes. I think I learned a lot from it,” Fillmyer said. “Hopefully, the next start I can put together a few things and give them a little bit more.”

The Royals, who turned five double plays, lost their ninth straight to match their longest of skid this season and are 4-27 in their last 31 games. They are 38 games below .500 for the first time since ending the 2006 season 62-100.

ROYALS SIGN TEENAGE PITCHER

The Royals signed RHP Kaito Yuki, 16, from Osaka, Japan. He opted to sign a professional contract in lieu of going to high school.

ESCOBAR STREAK ENDS

Royals SS Alcides Escobar was not in the lineup after starting the previous 421 games, which was the longest active streak in the majors.

ROSTER MOVES

Red Sox: RHPs Ryan Brasier and William Cuevas were promoted from Triple-A Pawtucket. Brasier last pitched in the majors in 2013 with the Angels and spent last year in Japan. Cuevas was 5-5 with a 3.65 ERA in 15 starts with Pawtucket.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: DH J.D. Martinez was held out of the lineup after fouling pitches off his right foot and left calf on Saturday. “He’s a little banged up,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It made sense to stay away from him. We’ll give him one day and he’ll be back in the starting lineup tomorrow.”

C Christian Vazquez (broken right pinkie) went on the disabled list and will see a hand specialist Monday in Boston. LHP Brian Johnson (left hip inflammation) was placed on the 10-day DL.

Royals: Junis’s DL is retroactive to July 3.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (10-3, 3.84) will start the series opener Monday against the Rangers at Fenway Park.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (4-8, 5.19 ERA) will start Monday in Minnesota as the club opens a six-game trip.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Francisco Lindor homered twice, including a grand slam, and finished with a career-high seven RBIs as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 9-3 on Monday night.

Corey Kluber (12-4), who failed to make it out of the second inning in his previous start at St. Louis, gave up two runs in the first, but little after that. He allowed three runs and seven hits, walked none and struck out five over six innings.

Lindor homered in the fourth after Yan Gomes singled and Jakob Junis hit Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis with pitches. He added a three-run homer in the sixth to finish Junis’ evening. Lindor has 17 home runs and 54 RBIs in 54 games against the Royals.

Davis had three hits and scored three runs.

Junis (5-10) has lost his last seven starts and is tied with teammate Jason Hammel for most losses in the American League. He has yielded a major league-high 24 home runs, including 12 in his last five starts over 27 innings.

Whit Merrifield homered on Kluber’s third pitch for his fourth career leadoff home run. Salvador Perez singled home Mike Moustakas, who had doubled, in an 11-pitch at-bat for the other Kansas City run in the first.

Jorge Bonifacio logged his first RBI of the season in the Kansas City sixth after being suspended the first 80 games for taking a performance enhancing drug.

The Royals have lost 23 of their last 28 games. They are tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the most losses in the majors with 54. They scored four runs or fewer for the 23rd time in the last 24 games.

ROYALS SIGN FIRST-ROUND PICK

The Royals signed right-hander Jackson Kowar, a first-round compensation selection and the 33rd overall pick, to a $2.118.700 signing bonus. He went 10-5 with a 3.04 ERA as a Florida junior.

GOODBYE LEBRON

LeBron James has left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. “If someone gave me $154 million I’d probably go somewhere too,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He did what he said he was going to do. He got them a championship. When you’re a free agent, you’ve earned that right. I will miss him, because I loved going to games when he played. It’s hard to begrudge somebody. He earned it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: RF Lonnie Chisenhall was a late scratch with a strained left calf. … RHP Danny Salazar underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in Dallas. “It just kind of came to a point,” Francona said. “That’s the last option. You try everything else before you go into somebody’s shoulder. The good side is there was no structural (damage). The rotator cuff was good. They cleaned him out. It’s a shame we lost him for the whole year.”

UP NEXT

Indians: RHP Shane Bieber is 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA in his first four big league starts.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is winless in six home starts this season, going 0-3 with a 6.32 ERA.