J.D. Martinez hit a two-run homer off James Shields, Jordan Lyles pitched six solid innings and the Houston Astros beat the Royals 3-1 on Wednesday night to take two out of three in this series. Lyles (2-1) allowed one run and six hits. Travis Blackley and Hector Ambriz each pitched an inning of relief, before Jose Veras pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save one night after the bullpen struggled in a 7-3 loss.

Shields (2-5) struck out seven in seven innings while yielding two runs and seven hits. He has gone seven or more innings in each of his last six starts, but hasn’t won since April 30 as the offense has given little support–just five runs combined in his last four starts.

The Royals got their only run in the third when Jeff Francoeur hit a leadoff triple to the hill in center and George Kottaras followed with an RBI double. Alex Gordon walked with two down, but Lyles struck out Billy Butler to end the inning.

Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Mike Moustakas singled with the bases loaded and George Kottaras drew a bases loaded walk. That open the flood gates for a four-run inning as the Royals went on to beat the Houston Astros 7-3.

The Royals were down 3-0 and couldn’t get much going offensively against Bud Norris, until the seventh when they cut the lead to one on RBI singles by Alcides Escobar and David Lough.

Eric Hosmer got to reliever Wesley Wright in the eighth when he singled to load the bases. He was replaced by Jose Cisnero, who gave up the one-out RBI single by Moustakas. Cisnero then walked Kottaras on four pitches to put the Royals on top.

They added two more runs when Escobar grounded into a force out to score Hosmer before an error by Marwin Gonzalez allowed Moustakas to go home.

Not even a series opener against the Houston Astros, who have the worst record in baseball with Miami, could help the Royals get out of their funk. Matt Dominguez hit a three-run homer and Jason Castro added a solo shot to give Houston a 6-5 win over the Royals on Monday night.

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (5-2) allowed eight hits and a season-high six runs in five innings, during his shortest start of the season. He had gone 18 games without a loss before allowing 19 hits and 11 runs in the past two games to lose two straight.

Trailing 3-1, the Royals got to Houston starter Dallas Kuechel for three runs in the fourth…ending a 36-inning slump where the Royals didn’t score more than one run in an inning. Salvador Perez singled to start the inning before a one out single by Jeff Francoeur, (who ended an 0 for 11 drought).  Miguel Tejada followed with a three-run shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field and gave the Royals a 4-3 lead.

The Astros answered in the bottom of the inning when Dominguez launched his fourth homer of the season in left field to give Houston a 6-4 lead.

The loss sends the Royals (20-21) five games behind Detroit in the AL Central.

Yeonis Cespedes hit a leadoff homer in the eighth inning and the A’s beat the Royals 4-3 to move back over .500. It was the third straight, one-run loss by the Royals in Oakland this weekend.

Derek Norris hit a leadoff single and raced to third when the ball skipped over David Lough’s glove and rolled to the wall. One batter later Coco Crisp’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 3-3 in the 7th. It’s those little plays that come back to haunt.

Alex Gordon matched his career high of four hits for Kansas City. The Royals have lost 10 of 13 and fallen back to .500.  Gordon hit an RBI single in the third, scored in the fifth and doubled in the seventh. Since moving to the third spot in the lineup on May 9, Gordon is batting .450 (18 for 40).

The Royals, who scored just two runs and stranded 11 baserunners in the first two games of this series, went up 2-0 when Chris Getz singled in Hosmer in the fourth. Hosmer added an RBI double in the fifth.