Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Edinson Volquez's seven scoreless innings led the way in the Kansas City Royals' 6-0 shutout over the New York Yankees that wrapped up a series between division leaders.
Volquez (3-3) limited a struggling New York offense to three hits and just four baserunners to halt a four-start winless stretch and help the Royals take the rubber match of this three-game set.
The right-hander was aided by batterymate Salvador Perez's two RBI, one on a solo homer and the other coming on a single during a three-run fourth inning.
Omar Infante and Paulo Orlando chipped in RBI doubles for Kansas City, which dealt the Yankees a fifth loss in six games. New York has scored two runs or less in each defeat during that period.
"We just haven't swung the bats well," said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira. "There's ebbs and flows throughout the season. This was just a bad week for us."
Chris Capuano (0-1) lasted only three-plus innings in his season debut, with the Yankees starter tagged for four runs and four hits.
Capuano, sidelined since spring training by a quadriceps strain, was mostly sharp through the game's first three innings, save for a flat changeup that Perez belted over the wall in left for a 1-0 lead in the second. The veteran lefty came apart in the fourth, though, issuing consecutive walks to Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer that helped the Royals break open the contest.
Kendrys Morales and Perez followed with run-scoring singles that knocked Capuano out of the game, and Infante greeted Esmil Rogers with a double down the left-field line that plated Morales for a 4-0 advantage.
"The first three innings I felt really good and I think I just got away from my aggressive approach to those leadoff hitters in the fourth," Capuano said. "The two leadoff walks came back to hurt me."
That was plenty of support for Volquez, who retired the first 11 New York hitters -- four on strikeouts -- prior to Alex Rodriguez doubling in the fourth. He yielded just a pair of singles and hit a batter over the remainder of his strong stint.
"All my pitches were there today," Volquez stated. "I was able to throw a lot of strikes, attack hitters, keep the ball down. I was able to make some good pitches."
Kansas City tacked on two more runs off Rogers in the sixth. Orlando doubled in Infante after the latter reached on an error by Chase Headley, then scored on Alcides Escobar's sacrifice fly to push the margin to 6-0.
The Yankees loaded the bases with one out against Wade Davis in the eighth, but the Kansas City reliever fanned Rodriguez and got Garrett Jones to ground out to end New York's biggest threat of the day.
Game Notes
Teixeira left the game in the seventh inning due to a bruised right toe ... Davis has now recorded 17 consecutive scoreless outings spanning 17 innings to begin the season ... Volquez had issued nine walks in eight innings over his previous two outings, both of which resulted in no-decisions ... New York's Carlos Beltran extended his hitting streak to nine games with a double in the ninth ... The Yankees fell to 2-14 when scoring three runs or less this season ... New York is 2-5 on a nine-game road trip that continues Tuesday in Washington.
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