KANSAS CITY -- The Royals continue to ride dominating starting pitching with their seventh quality start in their last eight games.

This time it was back to left-hander Danny Duffy, who held the Twins to one run, while Eric Hosmer's go-ahead RBI double in the sixth was the difference offensively for the Royals in a 2-1 win on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City swept the four-game series with its eighth straight victory. Minnesota dropped to 2-11 in the season series and is 0-7 vs. Kansas City on the road.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yoenis Cespedes smashed a two-run home run to left field in the seventh and Noah Syndergaard pitched eight shutdown innings as the Mets earned a series split and beat the Giants, 2-0, at AT&T Park.

Cespedes's blast to left field was just the second hit Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija allowed Sunday night, but it proved to be the difference. The hit came after Curtis Granderson ended Samardzija's no-hit bid with a double to left field and punctuated the six-year veteran's return to the Mets lineup. Cespedes has hit three home runs in his first three games since returning from the disabled list.

CLEVELAND -- Everyone in the ballpark knew it was gone as soon as it left his bat. Jose Ramirez's eighth-inning, two-run blast over the wall in left lifted the Indians past the Blue Jays, 3-2, in Sunday's series finale at Progressive Field.

According to Statcast™, Ramirez's homer off Jays reliever Brett Cecil went an estimated 401 feet with an exit velocity of 104 mph. It was his 10th home run of the season, with six of them coming in the eighth or ninth inning. It pushed the Tribe past Toronto in the rubber game between two first-place clubs in a potential postseason preview.

SEATTLE -- Chris Carter loves hitting at Safeco Field, but usually when he hits a home run, he knows it's gone. Take, for example, the 465-foot blast the Brewers' slugger slammed in Friday night's series opener between Milwaukee and the Mariners. That one was the longest long ball in the 17-year history of this ballpark.

In the Brewers' 7-6 win on Sunday, Carter came up with another round-tripper, and -- among his 18 career homers vs. Seattle -- this dinger was perhaps his masterpiece. The two-run tater tied the game with one out in the ninth inning.

BALTIMORE -- It was a dream more than 15 years -- plus nearly five hours -- in the making, but borders and politics always stood in the way. Yulieski Gurriel, at 32 years old, knew he was running short on time if he wanted to reach the pinnacle of the sport and play in the big leagues, which is why he took a chance and defected from Cuba with his brother earlier this year.

Gurriel, who defected following the Caribbean Series in February and signed with the Astros in July for $47.5 million, finally stepped onto a Major League field Sunday and made an immediate impact. He singled in his first at-bat and finished 1-for-2 with a walk before leaving with a strained right hamstring in the Astros' 5-3 win over the Orioles. He's day to day.

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis remains upset and shaken that a foul ball he hit into the stands struck a young fan in the face on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

The girl had to be transferred to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for further evaluation. No update was available on her status as of late Sunday afternoon.

ANAHEIM -- Less than 24 hours after Brett Gardner went horizontal to rob the Angels of a homer, Jacoby Ellsbury made a leaping grab of his own over the center-field wall to rob Albert Pujols of a historic home run.

With Mike Trout on first and two outs, Pujols hit a Statcast-projected 101 mph, 395-foot fly ball that would have given him 584 career homers. That would have broken a tie with Mark McGwire for 10th on the all-time list that Pujols achieved Saturday night when he went deep off Dellin Betances in a 5-1 loss.

CLEVELAND -- The Blue Jays have found a creative way to limit Aaron Sanchez's workload this season by deciding to option the powerful right-hander to Class A Advanced Dunedin on Sunday.

The move is designed to protect Sanchez, who has tossed a career-high 156 1/3 innings this season. Toronto's goal is to have Sanchez finish the year in the starting rotation, and the hope is that a little breather now will help that become a reality.

It's not just that the Kansas City Royals' bullpen may again be the best in baseball. Been there, done that.

Nor is it that the Royals are playing the kind of take-your-breath-away defense that helped get them to the World Series the past two seasons. Kansas City has also done that before.

CINCINNATI -- Chase Utley and Julio Urias established the point early that Sunday would be a better day for the Dodgers. Utley gave his team its first lead of the series when he led off the game with a home run and played a part in two other runs in a 4-0 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. That snapped a three-game losing streak for Los Angeles while also ending Cincinnati's five-game winning streak.

The victory, combined with the Giants' 2-0 loss Sunday night against the Mets, lifted the Dodgers back into first place, a half-game ahead of their National League West rivals, who come to Los Angeles for a three-game series starting Tuesday.   

DENVER -- Nolan Arenado's discontent came to a head Saturday night, when he and a hitting confidant argued until finding the cause. Arenado provided the solution Sunday afternoon, when he delivered two three-run homers in the Rockies' 11-4 rout of the National League Central-leading Cubs at Coors Field.

Batting-practice pitcher Garrett Carson, whose voice Arenado listens to, thought he was doing things right without good results. But Arenado, 1-for-16 this homestand before Sunday's 4-for-5 performance, knew something was off. Video revealed a slightly longer-than-recommended stride.

DETROIT -- As Justin Upton simmered over the 420-foot double he hit off the center-field wall Saturday night, denied a game-tying home run by inches in his first game back in the lineup, he was asked if he could still take positives out of his return.

"I try to take positives out of every day," he said early Sunday morning.

BALTIMORE -- The Astros are becoming road warriors when they need it most.

Houston used a solid start from Dallas Keuchel and capitalized on Baltimore's defensive woes in a three-run fifth to take their third straight win at Camden Yards, a 5-3 victory that clinched a series win for Houston in the four-game visit and a 6-1 record against the Orioles for the season series.

PHILADELPHIA -- The homer-happy Cardinals belted four balls out of Citizens Bank Park on Sunday and ended their road trip with an offensive outburst in a 9-0 win over the Phillies.

Brandon Moss, Stephen Piscotty, Jedd Gyorko and Jeremy Hazelbaker all went deep for St. Louis, and the team has now homered in 11 straight games -- 10 of which have been multi-homer contests. Moss and Piscotty hit leadoff homers in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, while Gyorko and Hazelbaker each hit two-run shots in a four-run eighth. Mike Leake pitched seven shutout innings for the Cardinals in the rubber match of the series.

PITTSBURGH -- From spot starter to staple in the rotation. That's what the Marlins are asking of Jose Urena, and the right-hander came through with a composed six strong innings that set the tone in a 3-2 Miami win over the Pirates on Sunday at PNC Park.

Christian Yelich knocked a first-inning home run off Ryan Vogelsong, and the Marlins were able to complete a three-game sweep that puts them 1 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh in the National League Wild Card race. After recording its first sweep at Pittsburgh since 2011, Miami remains 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Terry Collins asked Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen to check on Noah Syndergaard prior to the start of the ninth inning in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Giants. Collins, fully intending to send Syndergaard back to the mound to finish off one of his strongest starts of the season, received a surprising update on his ace.

Syndergaard was tiring.

ATLANTA -- As Nationals manager Dusty Baker often says, "The Braves never give up." And that was proven once again on Sunday afternoon at Turner Field as Atlanta rallied for a 7-6 win on Jace Peterson's walk-off home run in the 10th inning.

With the score tied at 6, Peterson -- who also crashed into the wall in center to make a catch in the third inning -- swung at a 3-2 pitch off Shawn Kelley and hit the ball into the right-field seats for his seventh home run of the season.

SEATTLE -- With rookie closer Edwin Diaz not available after a 34-pitch save in his last outing Friday, the Mariners saw relievers Tom Wilhelmsen and Vidal Nuno surrender four runs on six hits in the ninth inning as the Brewers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 7-6 comeback win at Safeco Field on Sunday.

"This whole week we've been grinding out ABs, grinding out games, and it just hasn't really worked out for us," said Brewers center fielder Keon Broxton. "Today we kept battling with the same mindset. Just go in there and get a win and battle hard. And we came out with a 'W' there."