KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Cardinals rookie Dakota Hudson tossed six innings of five-hit ball, Royals counterpart Brad Keller allowed a no-hit bid to crumble in spectacular fashion, and St. Louis went on to beat Kansas City 6-0 on Wednesday night for a two-game sweep.

Hudson (11-6) allowed runners to reach every inning but the third, but the 24-year-old right-hander kept getting timely double-plays, groundballs and fly outs. Hudson struck out five and walked two as the Cardinals won for the 13th time in his last 16 starts.

They also won their eighth straight against their cross-state rival at Kauffman Stadium.

Keller (7-13) issued three walks and was victimized by an early error, but he didn’t allow a hit until Marcell Ozuna’s sharp single leading off the seventh. It began a run of five consecutive base hits that not only knocked Keller from the game but ultimately resulted in a five-run frame.

Keller has lost four straight on the heels of a six-start span without a defeat.

The Royals, who were blanked 2-0 on Tuesday night, never got a runner past second base. Cheslor Cuthbert grounded out to strand two in the first, Nicky Lopez stranded runners in the second and fifth, and Bubba Starling grounded out to leave Ryan O’Hearn standing on second base in the fourth.

The Cardinals were following a similar roadmap until Ozuna’s single in the seventh.

Paul DeJong and Matt Carpenter followed with hits to send Keller to the showers, and Yadier Molina and Kolten Wong followed with singles of their own. By the time Randy Arozarena singled for his first big league hit and Dexter Fowler hit a sacrifice fly, the Cardinals had taken a 5-0 lead.

DeJong added a mammoth homer in the eighth for his 20th home run, making him the first Cardinals shortstop with two seasons of at least 20 homers. DeJong hit 25 as a rookie in 2017.

FIRST HIT

Arozarena’s first major league hit came in strange fashion during the Cardinals’ big inning. He cracked a liner that hit Molina as he was attempting to run from second to third, but the umpire ruled that Lopez had touched the ball and that gave Arozarena a hit.

LOTS OF SQUATING

Molina passed Tony Pena for the seventh-most innings caught in major league history when the nine-time All-Star recorded the first out of the fourth inning. Molina has now caught 15,979 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill (left wrist strain) could return this weekend, manager Mike Shildt said, after going on the injured list Aug. 1. “I don’t want to guarantee it,” he added. “It’s a combination of pain tolerance and grip, getting the pain tolerance and inflammation down.”

Royals left-hander Danny Duffy (left hamstring strain) threw a bullpen session Tuesday with another scheduled for Friday. “He’ll do a four-inning sim game on Tuesday and evaluate after that,” manager Ned Yost said. Duffy has been on the shelf since Aug. 4.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals send Michael Wacha (6-5, 5.54 ERA) to the mound in the opener of a four-game series in Cincinnati on Thursday night. The Royals get the day off before Mike Montgomery starts against the New York Mets in the opener of a three-game set Friday night.

DETROIT (AP) — Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler each homered twice, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 10-2 on Sunday for a split of the four-game series between the worst teams in the AL Central.

It was Dozier’s third career multihomer game, all of which have come on the current road trip. He hit two against the Twins on Aug. 2, and then duplicated the feat Thursday in the series opener in Detroit.

Soler went deep four times in the final three games of the series, and Whit Merrifield led off the game with a home run for the second time in three days. The trio combined for 10 homers in the series.

The Royals won their second in a row after losing six of seven. Last-place Detroit fell to 7-23 since the All-Star break.

Jakob Junis (8-10) improved to 7-1 against the Tigers, allowing two runs and six hits in six innings. His seven wins against Detroit in the last three seasons are tied with Corey Kluber for the most in the majors.

Daniel Norris (3-10) allowed three homers in three innings, leaving the Tigers down 4-2.

Merrifield led off with his 14th homer after he opened Friday’s 5-2 loss with an inside-the-park homer against Edwin Jackson. Norris retired the next batter, but Dozier hit his third homer of the series into the Royals’ bullpen in left-center.

Niko Goodrum made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first with his 11th homer, but Soler responded with a two-run drive in the third for his 34th homer.

Soler finished with three hits and five RBIs. He homered again in the eighth against Drew VerHagen and hit a two-run single in the ninth.

HOMER HEAVEN FOR THE ROYALS

Dozier and Soler each have six home runs at Comerica Park this season, more than any Tiger other than JaCoby Jones (seven). Merrifield has four, one more than Miguel Cabrera.

NO SERIES WIN

With a win on Saturday or Sunday, the Tigers would have won just their third home series of the season. They swept the Royals in three games in April and won two of three from Kansas City in May. They are 9-7 against Kansas City this season and 26-73 against the rest of the major leagues.

UP NEXT

Both teams have Monday off before starting a home series on Tuesday. Matthew Boyd (6-8. 4.16 ERA) will start for Detroit against Yusei Kikuchi (4-8, 5.34 ERA) of the Seattle Mariners, while the Royals will have Glenn Sparkman (3-7, 5.71 ERA) starting against the St. Louis Cardinals.

DETROIT (AP) — Mike Montgomery finally got Kansas City a win, 11 years after being drafted by the Royals.

The 30-year-old Montgomery struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings as the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 7-0 Saturday.

“It took a little while to get my first win as a Royal, but it feels good,” Montgomery said. “We needed this one, which makes it even better.”

Montgomery was selected in the first round of the 2008 draft, but went to Tampa Bay in a trade for Wade Davis and James Shields in 2012. He made his major-league debut with the Mariners in 2015 before winning a World Series ring with the Cubs in 2016.

On July 15, he returned to Kansas City in a trade for catcher Martin Maldonado.

“I would have never believed it if you would have told me it would take this long to win for Kansas City,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of experiences since I was last with the Royals, so to win this game and do it with a career-high in strikeouts makes it even sweeter.”

Jorge Soler homered and scored twice for the Royals, who had lost six of seven.

The Tigers were trying to win three straight games for the first time since May 28-31, against the Orioles and Braves.

“He had a great changeup and he came hard inside on a lot of guys,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We really didn’t even hit many balls hard.”

Montgomery (2-5) picked up his first win of the year as a starter, allowing four singles without walking a batter. He struck out 10 Royals for Seattle on June 13, 2015.

“That was enjoyable to watch,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You could tell right from the outset that he was on his game.”

Spencer Turnbull (3-10) pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.

Neither team had a baserunner until Whit Merrifield singled to start the fourth. Turnbull retired the next two batters before Jorge Soler homered off the brick wall behind the stands in right-center.

“I knew he hit it hard, but that’s the deepest part of the ballpark, so I wasn’t sure,” Yost said. “I had to look again to see where it hit. He really crushed it.”

It was Soler’s second homer in as many games and 33rd of the season.

Brandon Dixon broke up Montgomery’s perfect game with a leadoff single in the fifth, but was caught stealing.

“He was really tough out there,” Tigers catcher Jake Rogers said. “He went right after us and we weren’t able to do anything against him.”

The top three in Detroit’s order — Victor Reyes, Niko Goodrum and Miguel Cabrera — went 0-6 with six strikeouts the first two times through the order.

The Royals made it 4-0 off Gregory Soto in the seventh. With two out, Soto misplayed a grounder by Meibrys Viloria. He recovered with time to throw out the bulky Viloria, but threw the ball into right field, allowing Soler and Bubba Starling to score.

“Once the ball hit off his glove, he just panicked,” Gardenhire said. “All he had to do was make a nice, easy throw, but he rushed it.”

The inning could have gotten worse, but right-fielder Travis Demeritte made a running catch of a drive to deep right-center by Humberto Arteaga and got Soto out of the inning.

Hunter Dozier made it 5-0 with an RBI triple in the eighth, and Merrifield added a two-run double in the ninth.

Gardenhire was relieved the Tigers escaped Merrifield’s blooper without major injury. The ball fell between Demeritte, Reyes and Goodrum, all of whom had to take evasive action to avoid a full-speed collision. Goodrum spiked Reyes in the shin, but he stayed in the game.

“That could have been a lot worse,” Gardenhire said. “Merrifield got jammed and it landed in the perfect spot with all three guys trying to make a play. We got lucky there.”

NEGRO LEAGUE TRIBUTE

The Royals wore the uniforms of the Kansas City Monarchs, while the Tigers were dressed as the Detroit Stars as part of Detroit’s annual Negro League weekend.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: SS Adalberto Mondesi (shoulder) is taking grounders and throwing, but has not begun to swing a bat. He’s been out since injuring his shoulder on July 17.

Tigers: LF Christin Stewart (concussion) was recalled from his rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo after his symptoms returned. He was able to do a cardio workout on Saturday. … CF JaCoby Jones missed his second straight game after being hit in the wrist on Thursday.

UP NEXT

The teams finish their four-game series on Sunday with Detroit’s Daniel Norris (3-9, 4.76) facing Jakob Junis (7-10, 4.88).

DETROIT (AP) – It took 864 major league games for Jordy Mercer to hit his first game-ending homer.

As he rounded the bases Thursday, one thought went through his mind.

“All I was really thinking was how cold the Gatorade bath was going to be,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to get to the plate, but they really got me.”

The 32-year-old Tigers shortstop didn’t mind, since his two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth gave Detroit a 10-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

“That’s an awesome feeling, especially since I had never hit one,” he said. “I have a lot of game-ending hits, but you always dream about hitting a walk-off homer. This isn’t the year we hoped for, but there are still good moments.”

The teams combined for eight homers on a rare night where the ball was flying at Comerica Park.

“We don’t get a lot of games like that here,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It seemed like everything was going out.”

Travis Demeritte led off the ninth with his third walk of the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Rogers.

Mercer then hit a 2-1 fastball from Richard Lovelady (0-2) into the right-field stands for his sixth homer of the season.

“I wanted a fastball down and away and it stayed up,” Lovelady said. “Every time I tried to throw a fastball away, I couldn’t get it below the belt.”

The homer was Detroit’s fourth on a night in which both starters struggled.

Joe Jimenez (3-6) got the win with a scoreless ninth inning.

Tigers starter Matt Boyd gave up five runs on six hits, including three homers, and three walks in a season-worst 2 2/3 innings. Boyd entered the game fourth in the American League with 187 strikeouts, but only had one against the Royals.

“I knew right away I was out of sync, and that’s going to happen once in a while,” he said. “Usually, I can make an adjustment and get things back under control, but nothing worked tonight.”

Jorge Lopez, making his first start since May 25, only got four outs. He allowed five runs on two hits, three walks and a hit batter.

Against a Tigers team with the American League’s worst on-base percentage, Kansas City pitchers walked nine batters.

“Walks early, walks in the middle and walks late,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That’s not good for business. We’d been better lately at containing them, but we just couldn’t do it tonight.”

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first. Whit Merrifield led off the game with a double and scored on Hunter Dozier’s one-out homer to right.

Detroit, though, scored five runs on two hits in the second.

After a single and an error, Harold Castro’s three-run homer gave the Tigers the lead.

Lopez walked the next two hitters and, after a groundout, hit JaCoby Jones to load the bases. He then walked Niko Goodrum on four pitches to force in Detroit’s fourth run of the inning before being replaced by Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy walked Miguel Cabrera to make it 5-2 before getting out of the inning.

Dozier led off the third with his second homer of the game, and after Jorge Soler walked, Cheslor Cuthbert hit his eighth homer over the Royals bullpen in left-center field.

Boyd retired the next two batters but walked Nick Dini, bringing Matt Hall in from the bullpen.

Kyle Zimmer replaced McCarthy to start the third and walked the first three batters he faced. Mercer struck out, but Victor Reyes bounced into a run-scoring force at second to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead.

Cabrera led off the fourth with his 473rd career homer to make it 7-5, but Gordon hit a three-run homer over the scoreboard in right-center to put the Royals ahead 8-7 in the sixth.

Demeritte hit his first major league homer to tie it in the seventh.

JACKSON COMES BACK TO DETROIT

After the game, the Tigers optioned LHP Blaine Hardy to Triple-A Toledo and selected the contract of much-traveled RHP Edwin Jackson. Jackson, who has played for 14 major league teams, spent the 2009 season in Detroit and made his only All-Star team.

GORDON’S HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Gordon’s sixth-inning homer was his 15th at Comerica Park, the most by any active visiting player. He is tied with Joe Crede for fifth since the stadium opened in 2000. David Ortiz is the leader with 23 in 55 games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Jones left the game after being hit on the left wrist in the second inning. X-rays were negative.

“We really got lucky, because our trainer was afraid on the field that it might be a fracture,” Gardenhire said. “Instead it is just a deep bruise.”

MEMORABLE DEBUT

Dini, making his major league debut, singled to left in the sixth inning. The catcher is the 10th Royal to play his first game in the majors in 2019.

STREAK FINALLY ENDS

Hall pitched a perfect fourth inning, ending a streak of 43 straight innings where Tigers pitchers had allowed at least one baserunner.

UP NEXT

The teams play the second of four games on Friday evening, with Kansas City’s Brad Keller (7-11, 3.95) facing Jackson (1-5, 11.12).

BOSTON (AP) – The series finale between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals was suspended by rain early Thursday morning with the score tied 4-4 in the top of the 10th inning.

The game will be picked up where it left off – with a 2-1 count on Meibrys Viloria – on a mutual off-day, Aug. 22, at 1:05 p.m.

After entering the series on an eight-game losing streak that all-but eliminated them from the postseason race, the Red Sox led 4-2 after five innings and were on the verge of taking two of three from Kansas City. But the Royals scored one in the sixth and one in the seventh to tie it.

Kansas City had lost nine of its last 11 games.

Rain started coming down in the eighth, though it stopped and started from there. It was coming down heavily in the ninth when J.D. Martinez came up with two outs and a runner on first.

The crowd seemed to relish the downpour, standing and cheering. But the Red Sox slugger, who had already homered once in the game, grounded out to send it to extra innings.

They only got three pitches into the top of the 10th when the grounds crew was called out at 10:47 p.m. The game was called at 12:36 a.m.

EARLY SCORING

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the third on two, two-out walks and a two-run single by Viloria. Martinez tied it with a two-run homer in the fourth, his 25th.

Xander Bogaerts doubled in a pair of runs to give Boston a 4-2 lead in the fifth. But Billy Hamilton doubled and scored in the sixth and Lopez had an RBI double in the seventh to make it 4-4.

STARTERS’ LINES

Eduardo Rodriguez was deprived of his 14th win – one off the major league lead – when the bullpen blew its 21st save. That’s tied for the most in the majors with the A’s.

Rodriguez gave up two runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out one in five innings. Royals starter Glenn Sparkman was charged with four runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out five in 4 1/3.

INSTANT REPLAY REPLAY

Twice in the first four innings, Royals speedster Hamilton was called out at first base. Twice, he was ruled safe by a replay review.

In the second, Hamilton hit a comebacker to the mound to start what could have been a double play. But after he was called out, the Royals challenged and the replay showed Hamilton just beat the relay.

In the fourth, he narrowly legged out an infield single to the shortstop. He then stole second – the 295th stolen base of his career – but was thrown out trying to take third on a fly ball to center.

It’s not the first time one Royal has had two calls overturned in his favor in one game. Lorenzo Cain did it against Tampa Bay in 2017.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia had surgery on his troublesome left knee on Tuesday. Pedroia, the 2008 AL MVP, played only six games this season, all in April. The four-time All-Star was limited to three games last year.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jorge Lopez (1-7, 6.19 ERA) gets the start Thursday night as the Royals open a four-game series at Detroit. LHP Matthew Boyd (6-8, 3.91) starts for the Tigers.

Red Sox: LHP Chris Sale (5-11, 4.68) starts against Los Angeles Angels LHP Dillon Peters (2-0, 3.20). Sale has allowed 14 earned runs over nine innings while losing his last two starts.