ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas was pitching in Japan a year ago. Now he’s one of the top pitchers in the majors.

Mikolas pitched a four-hitter for his first career shutout and Tyler O’Neill homered for the third straight game and drove in four runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.

Mikolas needed just 109 pitches to remain unbeaten and struck out a career-high nine. The Cardinals won for the third time in four games and beat the Royals for the fifth straight time.

“Night like tonight, I was feeling good and on top of that we made some great plays on defense, tracking balls down in the outfield, getting dirty on the infield,” Mikolas said. “Everything just kind of came together for a great game.”

Mikolas (6-0) retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The New York Yankees hit so many home runs against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night that they had just about every variety covered.

Gleyber Torres had the game-breaking three-run shot. Aaron Hicks added the inside-the-park kind, the second time he’s done it this season. Giancarlo Stanton crushed the moonshot into the fountains, and Gary Sanchez contributed sheer quantity with two solo shots.

Stanton and Sanchez even went back-to-back to cap the night.

“All-in-all, a good bounce-back night for us,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said after the 8-3 win, which gave the Yankees a chance to win their eighth consecutive series in the finale on Sunday.

All those runs made an easy night for Luis Severino (7-1), who scattered three runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings to run his unbeaten streak to seven. The right-hander is 5-0 with two no-decisions since losing to Boston on April 10.

Danny Duffy (1-6) once again threw batting practice for the Royals, allowing the five runs on seven hits and three walks in four innings. It was the fifth time in six starts Duffy has allowed at least four runs, and he still has yet to complete seven innings in a game this season.

“I’m pitching awful right now. I don’t know what else to say,” Duffy said. “It’s horrible. This is brutal. Talk is cheap. I’m terrible right now. It’s awful. I’m sick of this (stuff). It’s terrible.”

Hicks and Sanchez got the Yankees’ homer-happy night going with some small ball — Hicks led off the game with a single and Sanchez drove him in with a two-out double. But the big binge began in the third, when Hicks bounced a long fly ball off the top off the wall and managed to score easily.

He’s the first Yankee with two inside-the-park homers in a season since Mickey Mantle in 1958.

“Any time you hear your name with Mickey Mantle,” Hicks said, “it’s something good.”

Duffy’s unraveling came after the Royals answered with two runs in the bottom half.

Clint Frazier, making his season debut, drew a leadoff walk in the fourth. Ronald Torreyes followed with a single, and Torres promptly crushed a 407-foot homer over the left-field bullpen.

It helped atone for a crucial error that Torres made in the Yankees’ loss Friday night.

“I’m not a particular guy that homers,” said Torres, who nonetheless has four since getting called up. “I just try for good contact, get the best pitch I can.”

Kansas City tried to answer again in the fifth, when Mike Moustakas drove in Ryan Goins with a two-out single. Salvador Perez followed with a double to left, but Moustakas was thrown out in a close play at the plate — replays appeared to show him safe, but the call stood after a video review.

Sanchez tacked on his first homer in the seventh, and Stanton and Sanchez went back-to-back in the ninth. Stanton’s mammoth shot landed in the fountains, where a fan appeared to dive in after it.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The worst night CC Sabathia has had during 18 years in the big leagues came Wednesday, when the Yankees’ big left-hander had to sleep in the team’s broken-down plane after a rainout in Washington.

Friday night wasn’t all that great, either.

Whit Merrifield had three hits, stole three bases and scored twice off Sabathia in the first four innings, Jakob Junis held down the Yankees’ potent offense, and Kansas City beat New York 5-2 on Friday night to open a three-game series between teams that had been headed radically different directions.

Salvador Perez homered and added three RBIs for the Royals, who had lost five straight and seven of eight, yet managed to stop a team that had won 19 of its last 22 games.

The weather has wreaked havoc on the Yankees’ routine this week, and that breakdown of their plane — combined with other factors that forced players to sleep onboard or in the terminal Wednesday night — hardly left them feeling good about their trip to Kansas City.

“Sleeping on the plan was not good, but I feel good with the rest,” said Sabathia, who allowed two runs and four hits while walking four, along with two unearned runs after second baseman Gleyber Torres coughed up a routine ground ball in the third inning.

Still, Sabathia (2-1) called the night spent on the plane “the worst night I’ve had in the big leagues,” even if he was unwilling to use that or the Yankees’ scattershot schedule as an excuse.

“I’m sure people will take that as part of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “but in 162 games you’re not going to be great every night. We were a little bit sloppy, but whether that was from having a couple of days off, I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Junis (5-3) pitched into the sixth inning, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk. But most of the hits he allowed were relatively benign base hits, rather than the towering, game-changing home runs that the Yankees had been hitting with regularity.

Kelvin Herrera capped a strong bullpen effort with a perfect ninth for his ninth save.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — C.J. Cron homered and scored three runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Kansas City 5-3 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep of the woeful Royals.

Cron extended his on-base streak to 22 games when he was hit by a pitch from Jason Hammel (0-5) in a three-run first that included Brad Miller’s RBI groundout and Adeiny Hechavarria’s two-run single.

Cron homered leading off the third, then singled in the fifth and scored on Wilson Ramos’ double-play grounder for a 5-1 lead.

Tampa Bay had losing six of seven coming in but swept the Royals for the first time since four games from Aug. 8-11, 2011. The Rays had not swept a series in Kansas City since three games from July 17-19, 2009.

Kansas City has lost five straight and seven of eight, dropping to 13-30 for its worst 43-game start since opening with a 10-33 record in 2006. The Royals are 6-16 at Kauffman Stadium.

Matt Andriese (1-1) allowed three hits in three scoreless innings. Alex Colome allowed Abraham Almonte’s leadoff single in the ninth, then retired three straight batters for his third save in three days and ninth in 11 opportunities.

Staked to a 4-0 lead, Rays starter Jake Faria allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He gave up sacrifice flies to Alcides Escobar in the fourth and Mike Moustakas in the fifth, an inning that also included Jorge Soler’s RBI double.

Hammel gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings, raising his ERA to 6.28. He is 0-8 with a 7.28 ERA in 13 starts since winning at Detroit on Sept. 6.