Kershaw shuts down Royals

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Clayton Kershaw was asked to assess his performance against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, and the Dodgers ace bemoaned the fact that he didn’t have command of his fastball.

Maybe if he did, he’d have tossed another no-hitter.

Kershaw still managed to follow his first career no-no by going eight marvelous innings, and Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier drove in a run apiece as the Dodgers scraped out a 2-0 victory.

“It definitely wasn’t easy tonight,” Kershaw said.

It only looked that way.

“All night he felt like he was fighting it,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly explained. “His fastball command wasn’t where he wanted it, but typical Clayton.”

Kershaw (8-2) allowed six hits and a walk while striking out eight. The two-time Cy Young winner hasn’t allowed a run in 21 1/3 innings, spanning his near-perfect game against Colorado on Wednesday ― the only runner occurred on an error ― and his previous start against Arizona.

Danny Duffy (4-7) dueled admirably with Kershaw for six innings, allowing one run on four hits and four walks. But the left-hander was done in by a high pitch count, needing a season-high 105, and was eventually lifted to protect his surgically repaired shoulder.

Eric Hosmer had a pair of hits for the Royals, the first with one out in the first inning to end any thought of Kershaw tossing consecutive no-hitters. Otherwise, their offense was sporadic, unable to string together enough runners to pose much of a threat. 


Tigers cruise past Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ― Ian Kinsler homered in the first at-bat of his return to Texas as an opponent and J.D. Martinez had a tiebreaking two-run shot as the Detroit Tigers beat the Rangers 8-2 on Tuesday night.

The AL Central-leading Tigers won their fifth in a row. The Rangers have a season-worst six-game losing streak.

Kinsler spent the first eight seasons of his career in Texas before being traded for Prince Fielder in a swap of All-Stars last winter. Kinsler got more cheers than boos when he was introduced in the first inning, then sent a pitch by Colby Lewis (5-5) into the left-field seats.

Chicago White Sox 4, Baltimore 2

Philadelphia 7, Miami 4

Toronto 7, NY Yankees 6

NY Mets 10, Oakland 1

Pittsburgh 6, Tampa Bay 5

Chicago Cubs 7, Cincinnati 3

Atlanta 3, Houston 2

Colorado 10, St. Louis 5

LA Angels 8, Minnesota 6

San Diego 7, San Francisco 2

Washington 4, Milwaukee 2

Arizona 9, Cleveland 8

Seattle 8, Boston 2