Carlos Rodon joined Seth Lugo as the American League's lone nine-game winners this season by out-pitching his counterpart in the New York Yankees' 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday.

Rodon held the Royals to one run and five hits over seven sharp innings to move to 9-2 and win a duel with Lugo (9-2), who was tagged for four runs in seven innings to receive his first loss since April 21.

Jose Trevino went 2 for 3 with a two-run single to pace a Yankees' lineup bolstered by the return of Juan Soto. The star outfielder missed the entirety of New York's three-game weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers while plagued by a sore left forearm.

Soto singled in his first at-bat and scored the Yankees' first run when Alex Verdugo followed Gleyber Torres' single with a base hit to center. Torres then advanced home on a sacrifice bunt put down by DJ LeMahieu to give New York a 2-0 lead in the opening inning.

That was all Rodon would need, as the left-hander had a shutout going until allowing three hits in the seventh inning, including Freddy Fermin's single that knocked in Salvador Perez.

The Royals were trailing 4-0 at that point after the Yankees scored twice more in the fourth. LeMahieu singled and Lugo hit Trent Grisham with a pitch before each advanced on a bunt in front of Trevino's single that brought home both runners.

Kansas City got within 4-2 when Bobby WItt Jr.'s two-out double in the eighth scored Dairon Blanco, who had reached base on a single before stealing second.

Michael Tonkin struck out two during a scoreless ninth, however, to earn his first save of the season and close out the opener of this four-game series. 

The win was the Yankees' 10th in their last 12 games, while the scuffling Royals have dropped two straight and are 5-9 since May 26.

Orioles complete first four-game road sweep of Rays

Gunnar Henderson went 3 for 5 with a lead-off home run that sparked the Baltimore Orioles to a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays for their first-ever four-game series sweep at Tropicana Field.

Ryan O'Hearn also had three hits while driving in three runs to support another strong outing from Baltimore's Corbin Burnes (7-2), who notched his ninth consecutive quality start after allowing just two unearned runs and striking out six in seven innings.

James McCann added two hits, including a solo home run, to help hand the Rays a 13th loss in their last 17 home games.

Ryan Pepiot (4-3) struck out nine in six innings for Tampa Bay, though his night began ominously when Henderson sent the game's first pitch well over the center field wall for his 21st homer of the season, which was measured at 430 feet.

The Rays regrouped to take the lead an inning later when Jose Caballero reached on a error and Alex Jackson followed with a two-run homer, his first time going deep in a major league game since August 2021.

McCann's homer in the third tied the game at 2-2, and the Orioles scored twice more off Pepiot in the fifth to forge ahead.

Singles by McCann and Henderson put two aboard for O'Hearn, who laced a double to right to plate both runners for a 4-2 Baltimore lead.

Henderson doubled in the seventh and scored on O'Hearn's single to extend the margin, and Craig Kimbrel held the Rays scoreless in the ninth to record his 15th save and finish off the series sweep.

Tatis extends hitting streak in Padres' win over A's

Fernando Tatis Jr. homered to extend his career-high hitting streak to 16 games and help the San Diego Padres to a 6-1 win over the struggling Oakland Athletics in the opener of a three-game series.

The Padres also got a solo homer from Jake Cronenworth and six strong innings from Dylan Cease to earn their third win in four games and hand the A's a ninth loss in their last 12.

Cease (6-5) scattered eight hits and struck out eight while permitting just one run, a solo homer from Tyler Soderstrom in the second inning that gave Oakland a 1-0 lead.

Cronenworth's blast off Joey Estes in the third pulled San Diego even before the Padres went ahead an inning later. Jackson Merrill doubled for his second of three hits on the night and scored on Ha-Seong Kim's single.

Tatis put San Diego up 3-1 in the fifth with his 13th homer of the season, and the Padres broke open the game with three runs against Oakland's bullpen in the seventh.

After the Padres loaded the bases with one out on a walk, hit batter and Manny Machado's single, A's reliever Michel Otanez walked Donovan Solano to force in a run. Merrill followed with a single to extend the lead to 5-1 before Kim drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly.

Estes (2-2) worked five innings and allowed three runs on eight hits.

Shohei Ohtani had two hits in his official Los Angeles Dodgers debut, including an RBI single during a four-run eighth inning that helped his new team rally for a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea in Wednesday's opener of the 2024 MLB season. 

Mookie Betts also had two hits and an RBI as the Dodgers got a season of sky-high expectations off to a successful start, though they faced a 2-1 deficit entering the eighth before the offence came to life against San Diego's bullpen.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with none out on a pair of walks and a Teoscar Hernandez single before Enrique Hernandez drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. Gavin Lux then reached base on a ground ball that went through the web of Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth's glove, with Teoscar Hernandez scoring on the error for a 3-2 lead.

Betts and Ohtani followed with RBI singles to extend the lead to 5-2 before relievers Joe Kelly and Evan Phillips held the Padres scoreless over the final two innings.

Los Angeles received a total of four scoreless innings from four relievers after another of its big-ticket offseason acquisitions, Tyler Glasnow, allowed two runs over five innings.

Glasnow did issue four walks in his Los Angeles debut, including free passes to Manny Machado and Korean native Ha-Seong Kim to start the bottom of the fourth with the game tied at 1-1. Jurickson Profar followed with a bunt single to load the bases before Machado crossed the plate on a double-play grounder that put San Diego ahead.

The Dodgers had tied the game in the top of the fourth when Teoscar Hernandez reached on an error and later scored on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly. 

San Diego recorded the first run of the season in the third when Xander Bogaerts singled in Tyler Wade, who drew a lead-off walk before advancing on Glasnow's wild pitch.

Bogaerts accounted for two of the Padres' four hits.

San Diego starter Yu Darvish worked the first 3 2/3 innings and allowed one unearned run on two hits while walking three and striking out three.

The game drew an announced crowd of 15,952 at the Gocheok Sky Dome for the first regular-season MLB game played in South Korea. The Dodgers and Padres will play again at the venue Thursday, with Los Angeles sending former Japanese league star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound for his anticipated MLB debut.