NEW YORK — Felipe Paulino blanked New York for the second time in a month, and Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur hit two-run homers to lead the Kansas City Royals over the reeling Yankees 6-0 on Monday night.

New York’s bats fizzled once again, going 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position with five strikeouts and a foulout. Booed repeatedly by their increasingly impatient fans, the Yankees lost for the sixth time in seven games. At 21-21, they have their worst record at this point in the season since they started 20-25 in 2008 — the only time since 1994 that New York failed to make the playoffs.

Batting cleanup for the first time in his big league career, Moustakas homered in the first inning off Hiroki Kuroda (3-6), a drive that clanked high off the right-field foul pole.

Eric Hosmer added an RBI double in the third, and Francoeur homered into the visitor’s bullpen in the seventh on Freddy Garcia’s second pitch of the night as the Royals opened a nine-game trip by beating the Yankees for the third time in five meetings this year.

In a sign of the Yankees’ frustration, Garcia threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth, then spiked the ball in disgust. In the sixth, Mark Teixeira put both hands on his head incredulously after throwing late to third on Irving Falu’s grounder instead of taking the sure out at first.

On a rainy, misty evening, Paulino (2-1) became the first starter to pitch shutout ball against the Yankees in consecutive outings since Boston’s Josh Beckett on April 10 and May 14 last year, according to STATS LLC. Following up on his six innings of four-hit ball on May 5, Paulino allowed six hits in 6 2-3 innings, struck out eight and walked two.

Kuroda had his second straight poor outing, leaving his ERA at 4.56. He allowed three runs, seven hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings, failing to retire the side in order in an inning. After adding Andy Pettitte to the rotation and sending Garcia to the bullpen, pressure may increase on New York to make another move, such as signing free agent Roy Oswalt.

Paulino stranded a runner in the third base in the first when Raul Ibanez fouled out. The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but Robinson Cano took a called third strike, Alex Rodriguez struck out swinging and Ibanez flied out to the left-field warning track. The Yankees are 7 for 37 (.189) with the bases loaded this season, and the empty night at the plate left them 6 for 72 (.083) with runners in scoring position in their last nine games.

Russell Martin’s groundout stranded a runner at third in the fourth. New York advanced another runner to third with one out in the sixth, but Nick Swisher and Teixeira fanned. Then in the seventh, Cano hit into an inning-ending forceout with two on.

After missing three starts because of a bronchial illness, Teixeira was dropped as low as seventh in the batting order for the first time since May 2004 and went 1 for 4. By the time Derek Jeter hit a game-ending lineout, completing a seven-hitter, only a few thousand fans remained.

– Associated Press –

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wade Miley pitched seven sharp innings, John McDonald drove in the first run with a bunt single and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 Sunday.

Miley (5-1) limited the Royals to five hits while throwing 99 pitches. The rookie walked two and struck out three, sending Kansas City to its 17th loss in 22 home games this season.

David Hernandez and J.J. Putz each pitched an inning to finish off the shutout. Putz earned his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Jeff Francoeur had four of Kansas City’s seven hits to match his career high. It was Francoeur’s 10th four-hit game and first since Aug. 23, 2011, at Toronto.

Paul Goldschmidt led off the Diamondbacks fifth with a double, stopped at third on Aaron Hill’s single and scored on McDonald’s bunt single that first baseman Eric Hosmer failed to field cleanly.

Right-hander Nate Adcock (0-2), just recalled from Triple-A Omaha and making his first start of the season, held Arizona to five hits and one run over five innings.

The Royals got four runners to third base — Francoeur in the second and fifth, and Billy Butler in the fourth and eighth — but failed to get them home. They went 0 for 5 with runners at third and 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Francoeur tripled off the right-field wall with two outs in the sixth for Kansas City’s only extra-base hit. Alex Gordon grounded out to end the inning.

The Royals’ best chance to score came in the fourth. Butler led off with a walk and advanced to second on Francoeur’s single before Gordon moved up both runners with a groundout. Miley, however, pitched out of danger by retiring Hosmer on an infield popup and Brayan Pena on a grounder.

The Diamondbacks manufactured a run without a hit in the eighth. Gerardo Parra led off with a walk and Ryan Roberts sacrificed. Greg Holland’s wild pitch allowed Parra to reach third and Justin Upton hit a sacrifice fly to right.

The Royals were shut out for the fourth time. They are 2-8 when the opponent starts a left-hander.

– Associated Press –

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — Bruce Chen weaved his way into and out of trouble over the first four innings against Arizona. The Diamondbacks had eight base runners during that early span but couldn’t get even one run across.

Chen won his third straight start with some help from Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas, who both homered, and the Kansas City Royals beat Arizona 7-3 Saturday night.

The game could have gotten out control early for Chen as the Diamondbacks had two base runners in each of the first four innings, including three innings with no outs. But the Diamondbacks went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position in that span.

“He was working his magic,” Royals catcher Brayan Pena said. “He came out of some pretty good jams.”

Indeed he did.

“The first four innings it was very tough,” Chen said. “I scrambled but my defense did a real good job. That’s the only thing you can do is keep your composure and don’t show your teammates that you are struggling.”

The Diamondbacks’ best chance to score early on came in the second, which Jason Kubel led off with a double before stopping at third on Paul Goldschmidt’s single. After Chen struck out Cody Ransom, Ryan Roberts flied out to center and Jarrod Dyson threw out Kubel at the plate for an inning-ending double play.

“He did a great job of really minimizing the damage to the point where they couldn’t score until the seventh inning,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It’s a sign of a veteran pitcher that can still keep his composure and make pitches when he needs to especially in crunch time and Bruce did that all night long.”

Butler homered to left-center in the third with Alcides Escobar aboard. Butler also drove in Jarrod Dyson with a sacrifice fly in Kansas City’s two-run fifth. Butler’s eight home runs and 31 RBIs lead the Royals.

“It was a 2-0 fastball, basically a pitch out over the plate,” Butler said. “He was trying to come in. Obviously, it’s not a bad pitch if he gets it in there. In that situation, I’m looking for something out over the plate to drive. I got a good pitch to hit.”

Moustakas sent his sixth homer of the season into the right-field bullpen in the fourth.

Chen was chased during Arizona’s two-run seventh, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks in 6 1-3 innings. In winning his past three starts, Chen has yielded six earned runs in 19 1-3 innings for a 2.79 ERA.

“That’s a good offensive club over there and he was at 100 pitches on a hot night,” Yost said. “We didn’t want to give them any footholds. We needs wins bad at home.”

Diamondbacks right-hander Ian Kennedy (3-4) lost his fourth straight May start, giving up six runs on eight hits and a walk in 4 1-3 innings before being replaced by Mike Zagurski. In his past four starts, Kennedy has a 5.92 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs on 22 hits, including five home runs, in 24 1-3 innings.

“Kennedy got himself in bad counts and couldn’t make a pitch to get out of it,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “Chen got into bad situations but he did a good job of getting out of it. He got behind and would throw a cutter or change and get out of it.”

Goldschmidt and Roberts doubled for the first Arizona run. Willie Bloomquist singled home Roberts for the other Diamondbacks run of the inning.

Arizona added another run in the eighth against the Kansas City bullpen with Kubel’s sacrifice fly scoring Justin Upton, who led off the inning with a single.

– Associated Press –

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — The Diamondbacks are finally getting things to fall in their favor.

Chris Young came off the disabled list Friday night and provided a pair of RBIs. Joe Saunders kept Arizona in the game after a shaky start, and Miguel Montero drove in three runs against the Kansas City Royals, including the deciding two in the eighth inning for a 6-4 win.

“Bringing CY back today was certainly uplifting to the team,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “It was a big win for us, two in a row.”

Modest for a winning streak, but something that hasn’t happened since April 29-May 1.

The Royals had pulled into a tie in the seventh before Kelvin Herrera (0-1) gave up back-to-back singles to Willie Bloomquist and Justin Upton to start the eighth. Montero’s second double of the game off reliever Tim Collins gave the Diamondbacks the lead.

Relievers Brad Ziegler (3-1) and Craig Breslow got the game to J.J. Putz, who worked around a two-out walk to Billy Butler in the ninth for his eighth save of the season.

Young had been out since hurting his right shoulder running into a wall during a game against Pittsburgh on April 17. Gibson put him at designated hitter Friday night, allowing him to get some at-bats without having to test his shoulder in the outfield.

It was the first time he’d played DH in 776 career games. The option isn’t available unless the Diamondbacks are playing in an American League ballpark.

“It’s a way different lineup with him in it,” said Saunders, who allowed three runs in the first three innings before shutting down Kansas City over the next three. “It gives us more balance, more power. It gives us more opportunities to do different things.”

Humberto Quintero drove in a pair of runs and Butler went deep for Kansas City, which has lost three straight by a combined five runs after leading in each of them.

The Royals dropped to 4-16 at home this season.

“We’ve got to play better,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We can come up with all the excuses, all the reasons why, but the bottom line is we just need to play better, and put our game together at little better. We need to pitcher better and hit better at home.

“We’ve been really good on the road,” he said. “We need to find a way to do it at home.”

Arizona struck early on Montero’s run-scoring double in the first, but that’s all they could manage until the sixth. Luis Mendoza retired the next 12 batters he faced for Kansas City.

The Royals jumped on Saunders in the second inning with back-to-back singles by Johnny Giavotella and Mike Moustakas. Mitch Maier grounded back to Saunders, but his throw to second base was high, preventing Arizona from turning a double play and putting runners on the corners.

Quintero followed with a two-run double, his third straight two-RBI game.

Butler pushed the Royals’ lead to 3-1 with his homer to center leading off the third. It was his seventh of the year, a total he didn’t reach last season until July 22.

Arizona finally solved Mendoza in the sixth inning.

Gerardo Parra, Bloomquist and Upton all singled in the span of four pitches, bringing the Diamondbacks within 3-2. Montero struck out to bring up Young, who picked up the hot hitting he was doing before getting hurt by lacing a two-run double into the left-field corner.

Kansas City answered in the bottom half of the inning.

Irving Falu doubled to right and advanced to third on Butler’s groundout. Gibson drew in the infield to protect the plate, but the move backfired when Alex Gordon slapped a tying single past first baseman Paul Goldschmidt — a ground ball that he normally could have fielded.

Montero made that a moot point with his go-ahead double in the eighth.

“He understands what he needs to do,” Gibson said. “He got ahead in the count and waited for a pitch to hit and came through with a big one.”

– Associated Press –