Royals’ Win Against Johnson Is a Rarity

Emil Brown hit a two-run homer, and the Kansas City Royals beat Randy Johnson for the first time in 12 years, handing the New York Yankees their fourth consecutive loss with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night at Kansas City, Mo.

D.J. Carrasco (1-1) pitched six shutout innings for his first major league win as a starter, and Buddy Bell improved to 2-0 as the Royals’ manager, with both wins coming against the Yankees. The Royals had not won a series against the Yankees since Aug. 11-13, 2003.

Johnson (5-4), who has 251 major league wins, had been 9-0 with one save and a 3.03 earned-run average in 14 games -- all wins -- since he last lost to the Royals on May 21, 1993.

His lifetime record against the Royals dropped to 12-7 as the Yankees lost their second in a row to the worst team in the majors, and their fourth in a row for the third time this year.

Mike MacDougal gave up Bernie Williams’ home run and Robinson Cano’s double in the ninth before striking out Derek Jeter to record his fourth save in six opportunities.

Before then, the Yankees, the second-highest scoring team in the majors, had been held scoreless for 13 consecutive innings by a staff that ranked last entering the game with a 5.60 ERA.

Detroit 6, Texas 4 -- Brandon Inge’s tiebreaking, two-run single during a five-run seventh inning at Detroit helped end the Rangers’ winning streak.

The Rangers had won nine in a row, matching the second-longest winning streak in team history. They were trying to equal the longest streak in the majors this season -- the Yankees’ 10-game run last month.

Baltimore 9, Boston 3 -- Miguel Tejada and Sammy Sosa hit back-to-back homers, and Geronimo Gil hit a three-run shot to lead the Orioles at Boston. Sosa’s homer was his fifth of the season and 579th of his career, leaving him four behind Mark McGwire for sixth place on the all-time list.

Minnesota 6, Cleveland 2 -- Torii Hunter had a career-high five hits and matched his career-best with six runs batted in to lead Twins at Minneapolis. He gave the Twins a 4-2 lead in the third inning with a grand slam to left against Cliff Lee (6-3).

Oakland 11, Tampa Bay 2 -- Eric Byrnes had a two-run triple and a season-high four RBIs, Barry Zito ended a five-start winless stretch, and the A’s completed a three-game sweep at Oakland. Zito (2-6), who yielded five hits in seven innings, retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced -- including 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh.

Seattle 3, Toronto 0 -- Gil Meche and four relievers combined on a six-hitter at Seattle. The Mariners gave Meche (5-3) all the support he needed in the fourth inning, when Raul Ibanez got a one-out double off Gustavo Chacin (5-4) and Bret Boone followed with a single.